HUMBOLDT — Students caught a glimpse of their future selves Tuesday, getting a few lessons on the (virtual) realities of adulthood along the way.
Humboldt High School students took part in a pair of projects coordinated by guidance counselor Carol Larson.
The Future Maker Mobile Learning Lab, developed by Wichita State University and Goodwill Industries of Kansas, Inc., served up a number of career demonstrations through the magic of computers.
There, students tried their hands at various careers currently in high demand both regionally and nationally.
One station, for example, had students pretend to weld two pieces of metal together while wearing virtual reality goggles. Another station had the students learn the proper technique to paint a piece of industrial metal.
Their “work” was then shown on an overhead computer monitor, and graded by WSU instructors.
The program was made available for ninth- and 10th-graders and centered on careers utilizing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.
WITH Reality U, a personal finance simulation, students imagined life as a 26-year-old and faced with various life scenarios — including marital and family status — while learning to allocate money for such things as food, clothing shelter and other basic needs, and then determining spending priorities with leftover funds, provided there were any.
Students filled out an extensive lifestyle survey, along with their grade-point average and other information to formulate their own unique future scenarios.
The event engages students to help them understand the importance of how what they do in school today affects their futures years down the road, Larson explained.
“I had one girl come up to me afterward and say how she now realized what her parents are going through,” Larson said. “There were some powerful lessons.”
Reality U was developed by the Pando Initiative, a Wichita-based organization dedicated to connecting students and teachers with others in the community to help them thrive in and out of the classroom.
Reality I was made available Tuesday for students in eighth 10th and 11th grades.
