EHS students explore futures through simulation experience

By Andrew Harrington

ELLSWORTH — Reality Check has been put on at Ellsworth High School in recent years, allowing students to go through a simulation experience of what their life and budget might be like under their current career path.

Teaching Assistant Michael Rundle helped create a random distribution of Pierce County data that was used to build the scenarios for each student.

“It really gave me a new look at figuring out and adding every expense up that I didn’t think about before leaving high school,” student Isabelle Johnson said. “I’m planning to move out in the fall, so this is really helpful.”

Students went around from table to table Friday, doing things including budgeting for cars and homes, adapting based on if they are married and have children and dealing with unexpected aspects of life, like law enforcement.

“It’s Reality Check for a reason, because it does give students the opportunity to see into the future,” EHS Principal Oran Nehls said. “What we’ve found is that some students have then made a decision to change classes from their junior year to their senior year based on this.”

It can often be difficult for people who have not had to live on their own to gauge the salary required to do so. Some things can be more expensive than they expect and some can be less.

“We’ve seen a lot of students coming to the realization of how expensive things can be,” DARE Officer Brette Huppert, who volunteered at the event, said. “They’re also realizing that things may not always be bad.”

There are also things students may never have thought they would have to budget for, and this exercise shines a light on every aspect.

“It kind of awakens people to maybe some expenses they haven’t thought about,” Rundle said. “They get to find out that they need to actually budget and pick their vehicle wisely, what kind of housing they’re going to be in.”

A lot of people were sent into the world without getting to learn the lessons taught by Reality Check, which Huppert said would have been helpful.

“If I would have had this when I was in high school, this would have been extremely beneficial,” Huppert said. “We had nothing like this, so we were kind of kicked out when we were 18 and told to go be adults. This gives them a little bit of an idea of what they might be able to expect.”

Nehls was thankful to the community for the support they give for this event and others the school puts on. Many of the tables were filled with volunteers from town who have professional insight on pieces of the exercise.

“This community is awesome,” Nehls said. “That’s one of the things I love about being the principal here at Ellsworth High School is the community support we have here. Any time I need some help from the business people, community people, I just reach out and ask and they just show up.”