Reality Store:

Reality Store is a program designed to teach students the importance of education by placing them in the shoes of an adult for a shot time. Students are given a scenario that includes a career, salary, expenses, children, and the ability to make decisions on purchasing everyday items. The concept behind the program is to show youth the importance of having certificates that show there are qualified to carry out the tasks being asked from an employer. This program teaches youth that they have options, weather it be though a collage education or attending a trade school and earning a certificate. The program is also designed to help students think about and make smart decisions with their money. It is also a good way for the youth to learn about adult responsibilities by understanding the expenses behind having children. For several years now we have facilitated the program by assigning students their career based on their GPA as it currently stands. This is meant to motivate those that are not performing well as well as to continue to motivate those that have a higher GPA. The goal is to motivate youth to do better in school as fare as grades and extracurricular activities.     

During the pandemic we were not able to hold our traditional reality store program for the 8^th grade students. Typically, we facilitate the program for all three middle school 8^th grade students at one time hosted by one of the schools. The week before the program is to take place, I spend time in the classrooms preparing the students for the store. We talk about why what we are doing is important, and we establish their salaries, so they are ready to start the event.

During the pandemic we shifted to a modified version that kept us in one classroom. Unfortunately, because of the time constraints and having to minimize large group gatherings we only facilitated the program for one middle school. It was decided that the best class to host this program would be the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) classroom. The program was facilitated for two days on four different weeks, each during a different nine week of the school semesters. The program, although modified was well excepted and the students were able to have more one-on-one instruction. According to the FCS teacher, majority of the students showed an increase in their overall grade after the program was completed.

This year we were able to hold the program as normally performed. However, only two of the three schools chose to participate. This year we also decided that we would incorporate the high school teens as the store front volunteers. This was in an effort have those students that have been through the store as participants return and be on the other side of the table. We also decided to randomly assign the students their careers, as apposed to basing it on their GPA. The idea behind this change was to take those youth that are performing with a lower GPA and show them what their possibilities could be if they start making more of an effort. On the flip side to that, we wanted to show those youth that are performing with a higher GPA what their possibilities could be like if they decide not to continue their had work. Overall, the students responded well to the changes, all teachers communicated that their students took the program more seriously than their observation from the past groups. The high school youth communicated that they appreciated the review of the program and contributed part of their success to this program. In total there were 575 students that participated in the program this year. The responses from the students and teachers were positive, and encouraging.