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Danville Area High School Students Test Budgeting Skills
Jess Rubenstein, Marketing Assistant
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Some of life’s most difficult lessons relates to money and how to spend, save and budget it wisely. While a few of these lessons can be taught in a traditional classroom, a group of local credit unions partnered together to provide students a “real world” experience at the NEPA Financial Reality Fair. The fair was held Wednesday, October 3 at the West Side Vo-Tech School in Wilkes-Barre.
The NEPA Financial Reality Fairs are being hosted throughout the month of October across the state by The Real Solutions Program, started by the Pennsylvania Credit Union Foundation. These Reality Fairs teach area students about the importance of budgeting, planning for the unexpected and provide them with real world scenarios where they would be forced to make tough financial decisions.
Approximately 200 students from local schools participated in a mock budget experience at the Wilkes-Barre Financial Reality Fair. Danville Area High School students Chelsea Taylor, Dadchira Negron, Jared Daku, Natasha Baker, Danay Knorr and Zachary Schutter attended with representatives from Service 1st Federal Credit Union. These students are currently enrolled in the Living Single Class. Students chose a career and developed a budget based on their individual salary. Booths were set up to simulate all aspects of an actual monthly budget, including temptation items.
Service 1st operates an in-school branch at the Danville Area High School where Coleen Snover, Service 1st’s Student Services Coordinator regularly conducts classroom presentations on various personal finance topics. However, the Financial Reality Fair offers students a hands-on learning experience unlike anything they can experience in the classroom. “This is a great opportunity for students to find out what their dream job’s salary can actually afford,” said Coleen Snover, Service 1st Student Services Coordinator. “Students had the opportunity to decide on a budget, and encounter unexpected expenses along the way.”
Service 1st Federal Credit Union is a member-owned and operated, non-profit financial cooperative with offices in Danville, Lewisburg, Loyalsock, Shamokin Dam, and Wilkes-Barre.
Danville Area High School students attended the NEPA Financial Reality Fair hosted by the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association at the West Side Career and Technical School on October 3. Students created a budget based on a salary of their chosen profession and visited booths to help them choose from a variety of monthly expenses, including what cell phone plan they could afford, where they could live, if they could afford a pet and more.