Fair Grove eighth grade students recently had the opportunity to experience real life scenarios and to learn how their decisions can positively or negatively impact their future.
The REALL (Reality Enrichment And Life Lessons) Simulation is a program that is provided by the Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation known as OACAC. This program has students go through two different real life scenarios and learn how to make the best choices for themselves.
Fair Grove Middle School Counselor, Kristie Lepold, explained when asked why the simulation is beneficial for students, “It teaches students the importance of the decisions they make now and what those decisions could lead to in the future.”
Students participating in the REALL Simulation make their way through a reactive lifestyle and a proactive lifestyle simulation. Lepold elaborated, “In both scenarios, students must try to make ends meet by paying bills, taking care of their kids/families, and navigating a month of life.”
The first simulation that students get to experience is based on a reactive life where the students have made poor life decisions. In this part of the simulation students may face difficulties such as legal trouble or financial problems.
“Many students become very stressed and some even become emotional due to the stress of navigating the first simulation, but quickly realize life doesn’t have to be that way once they begin the second scenario, ” Lepold stated.
The reactive life simulation shows students the difficulty and the bigger picture that comes with poor choices. Lepold shared, “They realize that their future is a result of a series of decisions and those decisions begin now.”
In the second scenario, students encounter what it’s like to live a proactive life. The examples for this life include people who have made positive choices such as planning ahead for higher education, employment, and housing.
Students learn in the proactive life that there are benefits and positive outcomes if they start planning ahead for their future. According to the OACAC website, the developers of the REALL Simulation say that the program is an innovative method for teaching students valuable life lessons.
OACAC launched the program in 2010. Since that time school districts throughout Missouri and all over the United States have utilized the REALL Simulation.
This experience is not just to help prepare students for real life situations, but to give them a better understanding of the importance of making thoughtful and wise decisions for the rest of their lives.
