04/16/2026
On April 14th, the Adams-Friendship High School hosted a Reality Day event for the Junior class and the 8th grade class. Reality Day is an interactive day for students to get a glimpse into life!
The event was organized by school staff, local business partners,and Adams County employees, led by Tori Babcock of the Adams County Child Support Agency. Their goal was to bring real life financial scenarios to the students to prepare them for the future.
The day’s events were based on Reality Day Financial information, with updates that reflect local businesses and purchases that would be available in our area. The Reality Day is supported by the schools through Personal Finance at the high school and other classes at the middle school.
Reality Day allows participants to practice managing a budget, making real-world financial decisions, and understanding the consequences of those choices. Students navigated situations such as depositing money into their bank accounts, managing debt, and prioritizing expenses.
To make the event more personalized to the students, the careers were assigned to the students based on their interests. Each student was then assigned a life scenario in which they were 27 years old, they were randomly assigned marital status, children, and pets. Using their net monthly income for the household, they were then tasked with making decisions about spending based on the household needs. Students started the day by purchasing housing and a vehicle, then progressed to insurance, groceries, clothing, day care and utilities to name a few.
As in real life, life happens, so students also had to spin the Wheel of Fate to see what may happen! Law enforcement was on hand to issue citations for speeding, dogs running at large, and other infractions that may happen.
Over 60 individuals from Adams County, law enforcement, area businesses and community organizations volunteered their time to make the day run smoothly! Their support and involvement from the planning stages to the actual event were important in providing students with this financial learning experience.
The committee uses information gained from this event to make improvements to the event for 2027, in addition we are always looking for volunteers to help each year! If you are interested in helping, please contact Tori Babcock at [email protected].
