On Thursday, about 30 students in the Project LYNX summer camp at Osborne High School in Marietta learned how to balance a budget as an adult while participating in Reality University.
"For most of them, this is the first time working with a check book and real life costs," said Emily Lawery, Project LYNX administrator. "A lot of them are only a couple years off from buying a car or a cellphone if they want. Plus, it's never too early to learn about what it costs to live."
Students selected what job they'd like to have when they are 26 years old and, based on their current grades, were given an idea of what career they could have.
Then their projected monthly income was calculated. Their potential credit score was also determined based on grade point averages.
Students had to visit more than 10 different areas, including cars, insurance, cell phones and entertainment, to figure out how to live within their means.
Volunteers from Sandy Springs-based UPS helped students picked their options based on their income and credit score.
At the housing station, students selected whether they wanted to buy a house or rent an apartment.
For automobiles, students could choose between a range of transportation options including a bus pass, scooter, used Oldsmobile or a Hummer.
At the grocery store, students came up with a budget and decided whether they wanted to purchase name brand or generic brand groceries.
"I have expensive taste," 15-year-old Darius Moore said of his choice to buy high-end clothes and groceries.
Darius, a rising ninth-grader who lives with his Aunt Charmaine Davis in Marietta, picked rapper as his profession and was allotted $1,430 per month. He opted for fancier clothes and more modest necessities.
"I got a studio apartment," he said. "With my job, I needed a car, so I went to the dealership and got a reasonably priced car and got insurance."
Darius also had to find a roommate to share the cost of the apartment and cable.
Learning to make decisions on how to spend their money while balancing their lifestyle with finances is the purpose of the exercise, Lawery said.
"It's a game of real life," she said. "They decide what their priorities are and what to spend their money on, but they have to go to every station. If they run out of money, they have to go back and figure it out."
Rising ninth-graders Maria Colin, 15, and Clifton Childs, 14, were working as a married couple team. Between the two of them, they made more than $5,000 a month as a paralegal and a preschool teacher, but still felt the pinch of balancing their needs along with two hypothetical children. They decided to share a car and use childcare facilities.
"Daycare is so expensive," said Clifton. "It's hard having to figure out how to split everything up evenly."
As the pretend couple sat down at their next to last station, the two learned they didn't have enough money to purchase health insurance for their family, so they had to go back to the entertainment table to adjust their balance sheets.
"It's true to life, because as an adult with a paycheck, I could opt to pay for a lot of entertainment, but then I couldn't pay my bills," Lawery said. "It gives them an understanding that for a full life, you have to pay for all these things and make them work."
But the program not only teaches students an exercise in balancing budgets, she added. It gives them perspective on the long-term impacts of their education.
Daneila Rodriguez, a rising eighth-grader, chose to strike out on her own and found her current grades didn't put her on a path to be a special victim's lawyer, which is her dream job.
"I was surprised how I'm not a lawyer because of my grades," the 13-year-old said. "I learned I need to keep my grades up so I can be better prepared."
Darius said his reality check came when his credit score was calculated from his GPA.
"If I had done better (in school), I would have been able to afford what I wanted and been able to be more flexible with my money," he said, noting his goal is to have an A/B average in school next year. "I've just got to keep working."
Project LYNX is a year-long program administered by the Cobb County Community Service Board. Through a three-year grant, the program provides selected youth at risk of failing in high school with in-school and after-school programs in addition to the summer camp. The 45 students in the program come from Smitha and Campbell middle schools.
The Reality University, hosted by Communities In Schools Marietta/Cobb County, is just one activity students participate in during the four-week summer camp.
Each day they take classes in subjects such as engineering and health along with field trips on Fridays, said Lawery. They also get to choose to participate in afternoon activities including drama, sports, photography and fashion design.
"We have some students that say they're not going to come anymore, and then they show up a day later saying they were bored," she said. "We get them engaged."