Members of the MidTown Chamber Council were recently seen peddling health insurance and child care to Brainerd High School ninth-graders for Reality Check, an in-school program of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.
“It helps them realize how important it is to have an education,” said BHS graduation coach and East Brainerd resident Nicole Gillum, whose full-time position is funded by the county for the first time this year.
Gillum said students given a “dropout” education soon realize they can’t afford groceries or have to choose between name brand clothing and having electricity and water at home.
Brainerd High School students and faculty talk money at Reality Check, a recurring financial management program of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. From left are ninth-grader Jiana Barnett, ninth-grade counselor Terri Bonnick and BHS graduation coach Nicole Gillum, of East Brainerd.“A light bulb goes off. This is how life is going to be,” she said. “They start to understand the basic reality of being an adult as a ninth-grader.”
Student Jiana Barnett spent an hour as a fitness instructor without a college degree who has two toddlers and a husband who doesn’t work. She said after renting a home and paying for utilities she was down to $96 a month, and she found herself in the red after finding a second job and going back to school.
“I have to buy everything discount – my food, my clothes. I had to get a bus pass. I’m broke,” she said.
Barnett really wants to be a singer, and she said in real life she’ll stay in school and go to college and also law school as backup before getting married or having children.
Her Brainerd High classmates, given a variety of scenarios, spent an hour milling amongst booths to buy a car or draw cards to see if they’d pay $100 to rent a tuxedo for a friend’s wedding or inherit $2,000 from a relative.
“That’s what happens in life,” said Memorable Events owner and MidTown member Stacy Hiera, manning a Monopoly game Chance-type booth. “It’s fun to hear the kids’ reactions.”
Hiera said many who choose to buy a Hummer in the beginning are trading it in for cash and a bus pass as they see their monthly budget dwindle.