The Belle Fourche High School Gymnasium was staged. The floor space was divided into stations, each demarked by a placard. Each placard offered an engaging, larger than life visual. Altogether, the placards represented a composite of normal adult life expenses.
The stations included: buying or renting a home, furnishing and maintaining a home, transportation, clothing, savings and retirement, groceries, dining out, vacations, educational expenses, child-care, cable, medical expenses, telephone and internet expenses, self-care, and a few more. It was a lot of information to take in.
A full-scale activity to help students manage money was about to take place.
The important event was a simulation activity called Finance Park.
At each station, a professional volunteer was on hand to discuss budgeting money in each respective area. There were chairs for the students to sit to replicate a real financial consultation appointment.
One-hundred and twenty high school seniors from Belle Fourche, Sturgis, and Spearfish transitioned from station to station in small groups during the day-long simulation activity. The students were asked to create an avatar and were provided curriculum soft wear and devices to “simulate” the budgeting process.
Students move in groups of two to four through five timed sessions.
Tessa Wilber, Senior Manager of Student Experiences at Junior Achievement, and Jennifer Aman, Senior Manager of Experiential Learning at Junior Achievement were on hand to explain how things work in the simulation:
“It’s a lot like the game of Life.” Tessa noted. In the popular board game, all players begin with similar assets and opportunities to pull ahead. Belle Fourche High School students had an opportunity to play another more realistic game of “Life” with larger stakes but with a modicum of control and choice.
Coincidentally, the date for this first Finance Park Simulation Activity at the Belle Fourche High School was April 15, the deadline to file income tax forms with the IRS as well as the hallmark deadline for financial accountability in America.
Finance Park is the product of Junior Achievement USA, a nonprofit organization committed to teaching kids in grades K-12 how to manage money. Although the Finance Park simulation is relatively new, Junior Achievement has been around for some time. Junior Achievement USA was founded in 1919 and has offered business and economic education to more than 100 million young people around the world.
Junior Achievement Curriculum is free to schools. The curriculum and programs are financed by businesses, philanthropic doners, and government agencies too.
Junior Achievement’s goal is to encourage financial responsibility through grade level appropriate curriculum. It’s never too early to start.
Thanks to the generosity of local sponsors, 20 professional volunteers, 120 high school seniors were invited to participate the first Finance Park Simulation activity offered in western South Dakota.
The simulation allows students to see the long-term impact of their education, savings, and credit decisions.
In Session 1 each student receives a randomly assigned unique ‘Life Situation’ consisting of a personal account number, family status, job title, gross annual income, and monthly Federal Tax, Social Security, and Medicare amounts.
Each student then calculates his/her Net Monthly Income. Some students will receive a Lucky Chance Card, which will in- crease their Net Monthly Income. During this session, students also learn to calculate percentages that will later provide guidelines for spending in each personal budget category.
In Session 2, students explore JA Finance Park, enter each business, listen to salespeople introduce the respective budget category. They collect “Option Sheets” that outline options available for purchase in each of the areas. They will later use these option sheets to determine primary and secondary expenses in each area.
Session 3 presents a challenging core activity in the Finance Park Virtual simulation. Students must view each option sheet consider all available choices for that budget category. They must select the items or services on that Option Sheet that fall within their minimum and maximum monthly spending range.
Students are instructed to aim for a remaining balance of $0 after all decisions have been made,
but they may move on to the next session if they achieve a balance of $25 or less. Left over money goes into the student’s virtual savings account.
During this session, some students receive an Unlucky Chance Card, which requires them to spend some of their Net Monthly Income on expenses they did not plan for in their budget.
During Session 4 Students pay their monthly bills. All bills must be paid using either a check or a debit card. Following the completion of each successful payment transaction, students must record the amount spent in the business and keep a running balance on their Account Ledger.
There are extra rounds too. If students finish a session before the allotted 45 minutes have passed, they have access to the “Extras” supplementary activities.
These supplemental activities begin with a Stocks Round, during which the student receives a stock portfolio and tracks the value of five stocks on the JAX Stock Exchange stock ticker. Over the course of four sessions, those students electing to complete the “Extras Round” will witness their stock portfolio values rising and falling just as they studied in the classroom.
Belle Fourche Principal Mathew was very pleased with the activity. “I thought the Junior Achievement Finance Park Simulation was excellent. It was eye-opening for the students, and they were all engaged. It couldn’t have been possible without the help of so many community volunteers, and I am so thankful to them for providing their time so our students could have this opportunity. I’d really like to make this an annual event.”
Fiscal responsibility need not make young adults cower. It can be empowering. And that’s the whole idea behind the Financial Park Program.
Financial Park was sponsored by First Premier Bank, Sammons, Finance, South Dakota Community Foundation, Wells Fargo, Ramkota, First Interstate Bank, Build Dakota Scholarship Fund, Ramkota Companies, Vern Eide Motorcars, Showplace Cabinetry, Midco, and Xcel Energy.
Read the full issue of the Belle Fourche Beacon by clicking here.
