Adulting 101: Students tackle adult decisions across campus

April 29, 2023

By Tamara Gregor, The Duncan Banner

Life skills, budgeting and responsibility took high school students on a expense journey as they caught a glimpse of what’s to come in adulthood. Source: Duncan Banner

Life skills, budgeting and responsibility took high school students on a expense journey as they caught a glimpse of what’s to come in adulthood.

For the second year, students at Duncan High School (DHS) engaged with community volunteers who brought their knowledge and experience to the table on Wednesday, April 26 to help perform a little reality check.

Students learned several helpful ways to help carry them into adulthood, which included budgeting their paycheck.

Emily Prichard, PFC instructor and coordinator, said during the “Adulting 101” event, students received a “taste of life” through the decisions they needed to make.

Prichard said the event was intended to teach students life skills needed after receiving a high school diploma.

Students participated in a hands-on simulation where they were assigned a job, a corresponding salary as well as responsibilities including paying rent, insurance premiums, family obligations and more.

“The following activities will see them making life decisions as they travel from station-to-station,” she said. “Much like real life, these decisions may lead them to destitution or teach them the importance of delaying gratification and saving for future needs.”

Aside from the simulation activity, there were additional community volunteers who offered 14 workshops for students to choose from.

Prichard said this engaging event is a great opportunity for the students to learn basic skill sets, some of which they haven’t had to obtain or utilize up to this point in their life.

“It gives them a chance to think about potential barriers they may face in the near future,” she said. “It also gives them the information or skills needed to help deal with those barriers in a responsible and efficient manner.”

DHS Principal Lisha Elroy said the importance of hosting an adulting event will bring enlightenment and understanding to students as they transition out of high school.

“It’s teaching them how to manage a budget,” she said, “which is super important.”

In the workshop segment, Elroy said students engaged with a variety of career fields.

“It’s just real world application that’s important for our kids to know,” she said. “We are so fortunate to have a community who supports this. I think they see the value in it.”

According to Elroy, the event was successful in the previous year when Lesa Hefner started it and it continues to be successful under the direction of Prichard.

Nicole Punneo, second-year volunteer, said this is a great event for the high school juniors.

“They get to see what it is like to make income, have bills every month, pay for your children,” she said. “All of the adult things you have to do.”

Last year, Punneo said she helped with the bank where students would come with all of their expenses and find out if they overspent and needed to go back and adjust what they purchased.

This year, she said she had the opportunity to help with the fun stuff, such as selling trips, concert tickets and housing.

During the housing segment, Punneo said she helped students decide if they want a purchase a house or rent an apartment and the difference between the two.

“Whenever they get finished, they’re like ‘wow’ — I overspent,” she said. “It really does show them what real life is like.”

Sandy Stewart said this was her first year participating in Adulting 101 at DHS.

“It was an extraordinary experience,” Stewart said. “I spent the day helping students learn life lessons by budgeting their finances. I can’t say enough about the great work being done by Emily Prichard and Pathways to Future Careers. If you get the privilege of spending a day at our local high school, I promise you will walk away knowing that the future looks so bright for Duncan.”

Students participated in the following “Adulting 101” classes:

• Interviewing and Employability Skills

• Maintaining healthy relationships

• Renter and vehicle insurance

• Police basics

• Career assessments

• Sexual and mental health

• Tax help and banking

• Cooking on a healthy budget

• College survival skills

• Basic vehicle information and how to change a tire

• Next step opportunities and preparing for senior year

• Kid Care

• Buying a vehicle

• Shopping

• Fun stuff

• Eating and feeding their family

• Buying clothes

• Buying a house or renting an apartment

• Home stuff

• Debt

• Life events

• Banking