Adulting 101 made its debut last year, and this year it’s continuing with help from the community.
“This is a hands-on experience for our kids to experience what life after high school may look like, and some of the things that life may send their way,” Carthage High School principal Justin Smith said.
CHS seniors were given the opportunity to go around several different stations to learn about what they will face in the real world after graduation.
“Changing a tire. That’s an experience if you’ve never done it before, and all of a sudden you have an emergency,” Smith said. “(They learn) those things as well as financial literacy, how to balance a checkbook, what’s credit all about. Just those life experiences, and then ‘How do I engage in my community?’ That civic engagement, that piece where I give back and serve my community. It felt like that was important, and then job success. After you leave high school, pretty much everybody’s going to have a job, and so how do I become successful on that job, and so we’re giving those skills out working on students with that, and then the coolest part is balancing that life.”
At one station, students are given a sheet of paper giving them an example of what their life could be.
“Our students are given a life where they could be married, they could be single, they could have a certain amount of kids,” Smith said. “Paying the bills, the housing, the childcare, all of those and balancing that and trying to stay within budget is one of the coolest experiences our students have, and so it’s a great day at CHS, and we love this Adulting 101 simulation.”
Smith is excited to see the community engaging with their students, and made special thanks to the sponsors, Carthage Improvement Corporation, East Texas Professional Credit Union, First State Bank and Trust and KGAS Radio.
“We just appreciate them sponsoring these events and giving our kids these opportunities… It’s again validation that our community loves to invest in students,” he said. “The community came back out again and they’re just really supportive of this initiative. We have so many people here, from our city officials, county officials, just our local businesses, insurance agents, banks, you name it. We have those people here ready to engage our students in making the transition into adult life.”
