Perry County seventh graders learn budgeting at hands-on reality store event

The reality of rent, groceries, transportation and utilities hit Perry County seventh graders in a setting that looked more like the adult world than a classroom.

Perry County Central High School highlighted the hands-on reality store held April 22 at Hazard Community and Technical College, where Perry Co Central ROTC cadets and Beckie Dobson, the district MTSS coach, spent the day helping Perry County 4-H staff run the event. The participants were seventh-grade students from across Perry County, moving from station to station as they tried to make decisions with a limited monthly income.

The exercise put students in the middle of a lesson that reaches far beyond math class. UK Extension describes Reality Store as a Kentucky 4-H-supported program for middle and high school students that helps them understand how career choice, required education and lifestyle connect. In practice, the activity usually includes stations such as banking, groceries, insurance, transportation and utilities, giving students a chance to weigh necessities against wants before the money runs out.

That lesson matters in Perry County, where schools are trying to connect early career awareness with the choices students will soon face about training, work and further education. Kentucky 4-H says the goal is to give students a glimpse of their future and build financial-planning, goal-setting, decision-making and career-direction skills. The setup also makes the tradeoffs feel immediate: a car payment or transportation cost can affect what is left for food, utilities and other basics.

Hazard Community and Technical College gave the program a local anchor, while Perry County 4-H brought the youth-development model and Perry County Central High School added student leadership through ROTC participation. A UK Extension plan of work shows Reality Store has been used with middle and high school students and supported by paid staff, volunteers, students, district board funds, school facilities and youth service centers, underscoring that the Perry County event fit a long-running statewide approach rather than a one-day novelty.

Perry County Extension, part of the University of Kentucky and Kentucky State University off-campus information network, lists 4-H Youth Development among its program areas. That connection places the reality store squarely at the intersection of education, workforce readiness and family economics, where the lessons students learned at HCTC will follow them into high school and beyond.