Janeen Tramble, Trigg County 4-H extension agent for the University of Kentucky, said 30 volunteers from local churches and businesses have booths where the students will then spend their money, and all the booths have at least two volunteers. The program was held at the Trigg County Middle School gymnasium from 8:30 – 11 a.m.
For the life skills program, the students take a survey in their classrooms to decide on careers, and then their family sizes are drawn, Tramble said. The students may have from no children to six children.
“When they come in today, they have a green sheet that has all the booths that they need to go to, how much salary they have, and how many children they have,” said Tramble. The students also have a checkbook that they use to figure out their balance after going to each booth.
When the students come in, they find out what their starting salaries are, said Patti Purkes, a math teacher at Trigg County Middle School. Purkes works the program into her class for a few days every February by working on a unit that talks about practical living and the math involved.
“We talk about budgets and the responsibility of having a checking account,” Purkes said. “We also talk to them about what it’s like for their families, and when their parents say ‘no, I don’t have the money’ then they will get a better understanding of that as of today.”
The class also talks about budgeting with low, middle and high incomes, as well as basic needs that must be met before they can spend money on luxuries, and a career inventory is taken, said Purkes.
(For the rest of the story, check out this week's edition of The Cadiz Record.)
