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Freshmen to get dose of 'Reality'
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
October 28, 2009 |
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Reality Town became a reality Tuesday morning when school officials and community leaders were sold on the program and agreed to cycle every high school freshman in Lincoln County through the workshop.
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Approximately 500 ninth-graders from city and county schools and Brookhaven Academy will attend the late January program, designed to stress the relationship between academic and financial success. Students attending the program will be given a "salary" based on their first semester grade point averages and be asked to purchase utilities, transportation and other necessities of life from a series of booths set up by local businesses. Grade-makers should be able to "live" comfortably in Reality Town; those lacking will have trouble making ends meet.
Such is the kind of real world teaching that should be done more often in public education, said Brookhaven School District Superintendent Lea Barrett.
"That's something I've wanted to see us do for kids for a long time," she said. "Talk about personal finances, help them understand taxes and insurance. We need to do more real-world activities with our kids so they're better prepared when they graduate."
Pending parental permission, Barrett said all 217 freshmen at Brookhaven High School will attend Reality Town, scheduled for January 20, 21 and 22 at the Lincoln Center. They will be joined by the ninth-graders from Bogue Chitto, Enterprise, Loyd Star and West Lincoln attendance centers - another 200-plus freshmen from the county schools.
"We're going to play a role in it," said Lincoln County School District Superintendent Terry Brister. "We've gotten away from those things because we're channeled more with our basic subject areas and so tied up in passing state tests. This is so vital to us, and it's part of everyday life."
Brookhaven Academy Director of Student Services Teresa Reed is the catalyst for bringing Reality Town to Brookhaven. She has seen the event in action in Kentucky, and was the voice that persuaded Mississippi Scholars officials to look into the program.
Now, Reed is making arrangements for the academy's 45 freshmen to attend.
"I'm hoping this will be an activity that will be exciting for them, and bring some awareness that their GPA, right now in ninth grade, is important," she said. "A lot of times, kids in ninth grade don't realize the grades they're making now factor into their overall GPA for high school. They think, 'That's four years away and I have plenty of time.'"
Dr. Greg Paczak, a guidance counselor at the all ninth-grade Rosa Scott School of Madison, will be helping Lincoln County organize the workshop.
"The bottom line is we're helping students reach their potential," he said. "If there's anything we can do here... then we're going to be glad to share it with others."
Emily Henderson, president of the Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven, which is sponsoring Reality Town, said Reality Town would be open to ninth-grade level home-schooled students as well as those from the public school. She said any parents of freshman level home-schoolers could get involved in Reality Town by calling the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce at 601-833-1411.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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