Taylor County
RECC
A Trial Run for Life
March 1999
It’s sad when
Ann Beard, manager of member services at Taylor County Rural
Electric Cooperative headquartered in Campbellsville, sees someone
who can’t afford to pay their utility bills because they bought
such a large house with large heating costs.
Fortunately, on
April 6 at Taylor County Middle School, it will just be part of a
game that could help avoid this kind of problem in real life.
It’s called the
Reality Store, a two-year-old program supported by the
Kentucky 4-H and the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension
Service.
The program
involves eighth-grade students spending time learning in school
about home budgeting and financing. That coursework leads to a day
of role playing in which tables, or “stores,” are set up around
a room. The students select a job from a cross-section of jobs
available in the area, then draw for the number of children in their
family. They receive a “paycheck,” then they go from store to
store making choices in their practice life. They stop at the real
estate store to buy a house, the IRS store to pay taxes, the car
dealer for a vehicle, the grocery store, and all the other places
where money seems to go. A “chance” store brings an inheritance,
lottery winning, a traffic ticket, a roof-damaging hail storm, or
other surprises.
From her
perspective at the utility store, Ann Beard says, “It’s a fun
day for them, but they learn. A lot of them say, ‘I didn’t
realize Mom and Dad spend so much money.’”
Beard says
vehicle operating costs are a particular eye-opener for many of the
students, who never before thought about how expenses like gasoline
and insurance add up.
Barry Myers,
manager of the Taylor County electric co-op, says the co-op’s
involvement with the Reality Store “gives us a chance to get out
with the kids and let them know we do provide a service for them.”
The cooperative
utility distributes electricity for nearly 21,000 homes and
businesses in nine counties.
“We get a lot
of good feedback from teachers,” says Myers. “And it gives the
students an opportunity to see what it takes to be out in the world,
have a family, and survive in the real world. It’s a big benefit
to the students.”-Paul Wesslund |
