On Wednesday, March 27, the 8th grade students attended the Reality Store at Northwestern Middle School.  This is an event designed to give the students an idea of what it is like to live within the means of a monthly budget in the “adult world”.  Prior to the event, students randomly selected a career, whether they were married and how many children they had. They had to determine a monthly income based off of an annual salary that went with the career they selected.  They also had to plan for taxes to be taken out of their monthly income. Once the students got to the Reality Store, they had to visit different booths to purchase their monthly items. These included a house payment or rent payment, car payment, electricity, water and sewer, groceries, daycare, clothing, and household items.  If they still had money, they could choose to purchase items for entertainment, “toys” such as 4-wheelers, or pets. During this time, a fate fairy may visit the students and surprise them with an unexpected bill, or they may get ticketed by the police. These items needed to be factored into their monthly budget. Overall, this experience is designed to give the students an idea of some of the things they may need to plan for when thinking about life after high school.   Carter Lulich said, “It was very fun and interesting as my first time going.”  Maggie Ostrenga adds, “It was very fun.  It was entertaining.”