Reality Store Offers Financial Literacy Check

Imagine your 18-year-old instantly turning into a 25-year-old working adult, with a family and a yearly income of $30,000. He or she is now responsible for purchasing food, shelter, clothing, utilities, transportation, and luxuries – all of this after paying the IRS first, of course.

This is exactly what happens with Synergy One’s Reality Store, a simulation game in which students learn how to manage their money, purchase the necessities of life and stay within their budget. Plus, going back home to Mom and Dad is NOT an option.

Synergy One began this project in 2005 with the goal of bringing this simulation game to the students of Prince William County. The credit union welcomed the support of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, George Mason University, the PWC Business Partnership Office, and the Greater Manassas Chamber of Commerce, who all agreed to help with the credit union’s endeavor. All organizations were proud to unite to teach basic skills in financial planning, goal-setting, decision-making and career planning in a fun and exciting way.

Each “bill” in the game is represented by a local business. For example, when students pay for their housing, they visit a booth manned by Heltzel-Synergy One Mortgage Company, and when they pay their insurance, they visit a booth manned by local representatives of Nationwide Insurance. SOFCU manned the “financial institutions” booth, where students deposited their paychecks and learned the importance of saving. Having these local businesses represented offers students a personalized focus, while still providing a realistic financial scenario.

Synergy One held its inaugural event in May of 2006 at the Manassas campus of George Mason University. Fifty students from Brentsville District High School participated in the Reality Store simulation experience. Students were surprised, overwhelmed, educated, and awed – they learned first-hand what it meant to live within your means. The project was a great success and the credit union started receiving requests for more Reality Store programs.

Later that year, the credit union submitted a grant to the National Credit Union Foundation and won $25,000, becoming the first credit union in Virginia to win a grant from the Foundation. This money allowed the credit union to continue and expand the program and let more students in the community experience this great learning opportunity.

The program has expanded to three additional high schools, serving a total of 200 students. A part-time coordinator has been hired to help further expand the program and hopefully take the Reality Store model to a nationwide level to help teach financial literacy through future years.

Visit the Synergy One FCU website: www.synergyonefcu.org.