Reality 101 held for four area schools; Event held for first time in six years

Reality 101 was held at the Waukon High School Friday, March 7, for all the senior high school students in the Lansing, Monona, Postville and Waukon schools. This was the first time this event has been offered since it was canceled in 2020 due to COVID. Approximately 175 students participated, visiting the 20-plus stations that all represented a different monthly living expense. The students had to choose a career and then received a paycheck for one month of income, then pay taxes, open a banking account, find a place to live and a vehicle to drive, then continue to visit all of these stations paying their monthly expenses. After making all these choices and paying all these bills, they had to be sure their budget was balanced with at least a small profit by the end of the month.
Reality 101 began in 2004 when it was introduced by Cheryl Livingston, who was then Personal Banking Officer & Marketing Coordinator at Citizens State Bank in Waukon and Postville. After Cheryl became a paramedic and began her new career at Veterans Memorial Hospital, she brought the program with her.
“This program teaches so many practical life concepts involving financial choices. It provides the students an opportunity to test drive their chosen career’s income with a month of expenses, allowing them to see what they would actually be able to live like as a 25-year-old. Over the years I’ve had students come to me to say they changed their career path because Reality 101 made them realize they wouldn’t have enough money to live how they wanted to with a particular career.”
Cheryl coordinated the event for Veterans Memorial Hospital since 2007 and had the program all ready to go in 2020, when COVID hit and it had to be canceled. Due to staffing constraints and the demand for Cheryl’s time working in the ER and with EMS education, the hospital has not been able to host the event since then.
“Reality 101 is such an important life lesson for the students before they graduate and we knew it was an experience that needed to be offered to area students again. Since the basis of Reality 101 is a financial program, it only made sense to reach out to the four banks in Waukon to see if they would team up to host this event once again,” explains Cheryl. “They all said ‘yes’ and did an amazing job working together to make it happen. We were very excited that all four schools sent all of their seniors to participate. These students were very engaged and professional while participating in the event, which allowed them to learn some great life lessons.”
Kelli Mudderman of FreedomBank, Elisha Marti of Kerndt Brothers Bank, Lesa Moose of Peoples State Bank and Mason McMillan of Waukon State Bank all teamed up, dividing the numerous parts of this program, and pulled off a great event March 7. Waukon High School Guidance Counselor Amy Wasson also helped in the coordinating and hosting of the event.
“These five took the program and worked hard to understand how it all worked and really pulled off an impressive event. We are so thankful for their dedication,” adds Cheryl.
Over 80 volunteers and business representatives from the area played the various roles making this event as real as possible.
“More than 20 years ago Reality 101 was a pipe dream that I would have never imagined could grow to the event it is now with so much community and school district support. I very much appreciate all the dedicated volunteers who have helped make Reality 101 a success over the years. It was nostalgic walking around seeing many of the original volunteers working their magic, remembering years past, and knowing that Reality 101 would be carried on in great hands for years to come,” adds Cheryl.