Area 8th graders learn real life skills | Community | ehextra.com
MARINETTE — Area students participated recently in the annual Life Skills: Game of Life Expo presented by the Marinette Menominee Area Chamber of Commerce.
More than 250 eighth-grade students from Marinette Middle School, Menominee Junior High School, Stephenson Area Public Schools and Wausaukee Middle School took part April 19 at the UW-Green Bay Marinette Campus Max E. Peterson Field House.
The Life Skills: Game of Life Expo‘ is an educational initiative that is coordinated by the chamber’s Education and Workforce Development Committee, and is designed to give students a sneak preview of life’s financial challenges and opportunities. Students who attended the Expo‘ were asked in advance to imagine their life at the age of 29 years old and fill out a survey that gathered more details on their lifestyle: occupation, marital status, parental status, etc. The chamber committee then issued students their yearly income, student loan rates and health insurance rates based on the occupation and lifestyle they chose.
Students made decisions on how to spend their monthly income; selecting and making payments on housing, vehicles, insurance, groceries, phones, pets and more. Students also attended a presentation given by Lexi Bretl, a Marinette High School graduate, who had the opportunity to attend the Expo‘ during her 8th grade year, and is now attending college to become a veterinarian.
The “Game” proved to be an eye-opening experience for many of our students as they worked with the finances of the occupation they had chosen, and for their specific lifestyle, according to a press reease from the chamber.
Major sponsors are: Caterpillar Fluid Transfer Solutions; Supporting sponsors:, Tri-County Credit Union and Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust; and in-kind sponsors, UW Green Bay, Marinette Campus, Cellcom and Weichert, Realtors — Place Perfect.
Committee Members: Amy Bretl- Chair, Weichert, Realtors — Place Perfect; Cindy Bailey, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College; Koreen Denowski, The DAR Boy’s & Girl’s Club; Michell Hampton, Greater Marinette-Menominee YMCA; and Amanda Zahnow, M&M Chamber of Commerce.
To learn more about Life Skills: Game of Life Expo and other chamber educational programming, people can contact Zahnow at Amanda.zahnow@mandmchamber.com.
Source: Area 8th graders learn real life skills | Community | ehextra.com
