Fairmont Senior High students get crash course in 'Adulting'

May 16—FAIRMONT — For two years, 18-year-old Ella Gregory has held a job, bought a car, paid her insurance and budgeted her money.

So, when Gregory, a graduating senior at Fairmont Senior High, enrolled in Robin Salai's Personal Finance class, she had a knowledge base and a comfort level with the subject matter.

"I like to think I'm pretty good with money. I like to think I'm a pretty independent person, even just through my whole life, I kind of like to do things on my own because if you want to get something done, you do it yourself," she said and laughed.

On Friday, Gregory and her fellow classmates were given awards for completing "The Budget Challenge," an internet-based simulation that is designed to teach students how to be independent jobholders, how to budget money and plan for life's financial ups and downs. Gregory was the first student Salai said to ever earn all six trophies in the challenge during the three years she has taught the class.

"It starts with the scenario that you are six months out of college and now you've got a job," said Salai. "They're all widget engineers, so they get a fixed salary of $1,600 every two weeks."

The 10-week challenge forces students to develop a budget while maintaining a minimum of $250 in their simulated bank account. They learn how to save for retirement, how a 401(k) works, how to purchase the proper insurance coverage and other money-based decisions such as choosing between a bank or a credit union, buying top-tier high-speed internet or normal broadband and what to do if you face a costly crisis.

"They broke into my apartment and stole my laptop, but I had the premium insurance, so everything was covered and I actually got money back from the insurance company because it covered the replacement value," Gregory said.

She liked the challenge so much, it helped solidify her future career goal. She is enrolling at Fairmont State University where she plans to major in accounting.

"I took [the class] mainly just because I wanted to learn more about finance since I am going to school for accounting and the class and the challenge set in stone what I wanted to do and I know I want to work with money in college," Gregory said.

In her real life, Gregory has had to deal with adversity on her own. She said she wrecked the first car she bought, but handled it pretty well.

"I did think the whole challenge in itself was pretty easy — it got a little rocky at times because I ran out of money at one point, but I only had one fee in the whole entire game and I think I did pretty well," Gregory said. "I got to a point where I had about $250 and about 50 cents until my next payday, so I was a little bit scared at that, but I never let it happen again. So, I just waited it out."

Gregory's classmate, Zach Toothman, 18, has also held down a job and had experience handling his own money. He said "The Budget Challenge" taught him how to handle his money better.

"I learned how to finance better. I don't spend money on useless stuff anymore, like getting food as much and stuff like that," Toothman said.

Toothman, who plans to enter the U.S. Army after high school, said currently he doesn't have any bills, but is saving up for a car. He said the challenge made him think about money differently.

"Whenever get my paycheck, I kind of split it up. So, if it's $450, I take 50 out and put the 400 in the bank [for savings]," said Toothman, who was awarded five trophies in the challenge.

And despite admitting that he wasn't prepared enough at the beginning of the challenge, Toothman said he believes the class should be a requirement for every student.

"I would totally recommend the class. I think it should be a core class to take," he said.

Salai said of all of the classes she teaches, personal finance is her favorite because it helps student learn lifelong lessons.

"It's called personal finance, but I call it my 'adulting class' because it teaches them how to be financially responsible," Salai said.

She said some students admitted during the semester that they didn't realize "it took this much to do what needs to be done."

"Adulting's hard," Salai said.

To help her students continue living what they learned, Salai gave her students budget planning notebooks and other similar tools to help them budget into the future.

Reach Eric Cravey at 304-367-2523.