From left, Dyersville police officer Andrew Siitari locks up Cole McDermott in the dog kennel which serves as a simulated jail for the Real Life Academy.
Karla Thompson, director of the Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce, back, walks Cascade students through their sheets and how Real Life Academy works. From left, Ben Gehl, Laura Rollinger, Lilly Keenlance and Bella Rode.
From left, Dyersville police officer Andrew Siitari locks up Cole McDermott in the dog kennel which serves as a simulated jail for the Real Life Academy.
Karla Thompson, director of the Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce, back, walks Cascade students through their sheets and how Real Life Academy works. From left, Ben Gehl, Laura Rollinger, Lilly Keenlance and Bella Rode.
Seniors from Cascade High School attended the 18th annual Real Life Academy at Western Dubuque High School, Jan 17. This single-day event held by the Dyersville Area Chamber of Commerce takes high school seniors through a simulation of sustaining themselves financially in their 20s.
Before the event, students had the opportunity to fill out what they wanted to do as a career and whether they had a cat or a dog. The Chamber then gave them marital status, credit score and the number of children to present a whole life scenario without them planning the full experience.
Chamber Director Karla Thompson said, “This is an excellent opportunity for them to be their parents, to understand what bills need to be paid and what the prices are. It’s an opportunity for them to understand life insurance, or other things they don’t normally learn at school — a brief overview of what it is and how much it is.”
The Academy consists of 22 booths to represent standard and unexpected expenses. Each booth is run by local Chamber members who volunteer their time to provide the students with information on what they do for a living, such as selling insurance, providing daycare or running banks.
One station staffed by Dyersville police officer Andrew Siitari showed students the financial ministrations of legal matters by giving fines, jail time or community service for crimes like speeding or intoxicated driving.
Siitari said, “When I pull people over here, I think a lot of them don’t realize how much tickets cost, what you can go to jail for or what the possible ramifications may be, so it’s good to educate them on that. I also try to educate them on what impaired driving looks like to us so they see how bad people are getting while behind the wheel. Speeding and seat belt tickets reinforce the safety factor.
“We want to show them the consequences of certain actions now, so in real life, they don’t have to make those mistakes.”
Cascade High School Councilor Kyle Webber said the Real Life Academy helps drive home concepts learned in their state-required personal finance class which ties into many of the same concepts.
“We teach it in personal finance here at school, but applying it isn’t really an option in class — this is a chance for them to actually apply some of those things, see where their money goes and figure out how to survive life, especially with kids or a spouse.”
Webber said the seniors learned a lot from the experience and walked away with rather mixed emotions from experiencing financial frustrations and failures in the game.
“If you asked them in the moment, it was frustrating for them, but that’s part of the experience — seeing that it’s not a simple process and life isn’t always easy. I think they enjoyed the time to fail a bit and see it’s not simple and easy. In my conversations with them after, they thought it was fun and enjoyed the game itself even if it was frustrating at times. That’s life.”
According to Webber, going through the Real Life Academy altered some students’ goals for their future after realizing the importance of earning an income to match their life expenses.
“We had some great conversations afterward about how it applies to their life. Maybe some of them won’t go into the career they’re thinking of because the financial piece is a scary part for them, or they might because they think it’s a great field to go into.”
