Calvin Jellings was met with a stressful and fun task on Saturday.   The Canyon High School freshman was given a piece of paper with a fictitious person’s profile. The one Jellings received was a high school teacher who made a salary of $63,000 a year with a monthly budget of $6,300.   O n the profile, he was also provided with a list of necessary expenses to cover, including transportation, utilities, housing, clothing, personal costs, and more.  His goal was to carefully plan his spending to stay within his monthly budget, as exceeding it would leave him with no money, which could cause financial challenges.   Although it was a fictional scenario, Jellings learned how to budget himself, and even dabbled at the opportunity of negotiating with a salesman when purchasing two used cars for a total of $1,200.  Jellings was participating in a financial literary simulation titled “Get Real: Adulting 101,” where he and other students in the William S. Hart Union High School District were put to the task of navigating concepts such saving, managing debt, and preparing for unexpected expenses.   The event was hosted by JCI Santa Clarita in partnership with the local high school district and held at Rio Norte Junior High School.   Every student gets a randomly assigned profile with their age, occupation, marital status, credit score and possibly even being a parent, according to JCI Executive Vice President Mack Herrera, who is also a financial advisor.   The goal of the simulation is to give students insight on how being a financially responsible adult can come with more expenses than they may think, and the importance of learning how to handle money.   JCI Executive Vice President Mack Herrera demonstrates what the profile students recieve at the start of the “Get Real: Adulting 101” simulation held at Rio Norte Junior High School on March 31, 2025 in Valencia, Calif. Katherine Quezada/The Signal “Imagine, this is your life, this is how you’re going to live. What are you going to buy? What type of house you’re going to live in? What type of car are you going to buy? Are you going to have any pets? How much you can spend shopping for X, Y and Z?” Herrera said.   “I love it, because it’s more than just a lecture or just teaching kids about finances and savings. They’re figuring out this stuff’s expensive. If I go over budget, I’m out of money,” he added.   “It was fun, but it was stressful to be honest,” Jellings said, adding that “the idea that you may not have enough money towards the end,” can be a daunting feeling.   But even then, the Canyon student advised other students to “do necessities first,” and other less important expenses could wait.   More than 500 local students have benefited from the annual event since the program was introduced in 2023, said JCI Community Director Kari McCoy, who cofounded the simulation with JCI alum J.R. Hills.   This year for the first time ever, not only was the event open to juniors and seniors who are soon to be going off to college, but also they expanded to include junior high students as well.   The simulation is put on by 50 to 60 local volunteers including local businesses and nonprofits who sit at numerous tables ready to “upsell” students and make it a bit challenging for them when participating.   “We’re trying to mirror the real world, so what we do is, we train all the volunteers to upsell them. To pressure [the students] the way they would get pressured,” McCoy said, and one small secret as to how students can succeed in this task is to negotiate and self-advocate, she said.   “The more you understand resourcing, the more researching, then you’re more likely to get discounts and know those things. A big underlining thing is self-advocacy and awareness,” she added.   Volunteers Dayana Castillo (left) and Malakhya Shine speak to Hart High Freshman Emma Gomez at the “Pets” table during the “Get Real: Adulting 101” simulation held at Rio Norte Junior High School on March 31, 2025 in Valencia, Calif. Katherine Quezada/The Signal For both cofounders, it’s great to see the students have an epiphany of the cost of things, and some even showing gratitude toward their parents for giving them what they can now knowing how expensive certain things can be, she added.   A few parents have reached out to say that their kids also begin to have conversations they’ve never had before focused on utility costs and such, which is “really eye opening for them to understand,” McCoy said.   “I didn’t have this when I was growing up, and definitely could have used something like this when I was in high school to help me prepare for real life, going out on my own when I went to college,” Hills said.   Not all students perfectly complete the task on the first try. After focusing on their expenses, they then go to the “bank,” which is also a table of volunteers looking through their sheet calculating their purchases and investments.   If the students go over budget, the students must turn back around and try again until they’re no longer overspending. They then win small prizes such as In-N-Out gift cards and other goodies.   “It’s fun watching them. They get into it, especially at the end when they’re calculating what they spent and if they went over you can see them disappointed. Then they go back and figure out what they can do differently to fit within their budget,” Hills said.   With support and interest, JCI Santa Clarita doesn’t plan on stopping the simulation anytime soon. In the future they aim at hosting the “Get Real: Adulting 101” simulation at all nine local high schools across the Santa Clarita Valley, McCoy said.   But it will come with time, she said, as the event is hosted by only volunteers. “They want it at every school, and we want to give it to as many students as possible … So we’re trying to find the right recipe for us,” she added.  The post Learning to adult, local students participate in financial literacy simulation   appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal. ...read more read less