BANGOR – Students from three area high schools experienced a financial reality check Monday during a simulated exercise that had them choose a career and make spending decisions based on salary, family size and some of life’s surprises.

“I have a husband who doesn’t work and four kids,” moaned Vanessa Leture, a 17-year-old senior from Orono High School.

At the Reality Store event at the Cole Land Transportation Museum, Leture chose a career in special education, which came with a starting salary of slightly more than $29,000. In a random drawing of “life’s surprises,” she also received an OUI charge with a hefty fine.

“I’ve had some bad luck,” Leture said. “Now I need a second job.”

After choosing – or in some cases of indecision, receiving – an assigned career, the students found out how much of their salary likely would be deducted for health and dental insurance, Social Security, Medicare, and state and federal taxes. Like any newcomer to the work force, the students had to decide whether to purchase additional life insurance, and how much to contribute to a 401(k) retirement package and a local charity.

After making those decisions, the students entered a conference room packed with several booths of bill collectors and volunteer educators. At each booth, students received information on the costs of housing, food, clothing, transportation, utilities, child care, entertainment, legal assistance or financial planning.

“Oh, my God, I’m going broke,” was an exclamation overheard several times.

Marie Saucier, president of Uptown Business and Professional Women, the statewide group that organized the Reality Store event, said the aim was to show students how their educational choices affect their ability to enter their desired field and how different occupations afford various standards of living.

“We want to get them thinking that everything they do in life has consequences,” Saucier said.

Also taking part in Monday’s event were students from All Saints Catholic School in Bangor and the Good Samaritan Agency’s teen parent education program in Bangor.

Dustin Goudreau, an 18-year-old senior at Orono High School who plans to study business at the University of Maine in the fall, said he was surprised at how quickly his money disappeared during the exercise. As a manager of a small business, Goudreau was excited to learn he could expect to earn $45,000 a year, and he chose to set aside 10 percent of it as his 401(k) contribution.

“I also have two kids. The little Dustin juniors put me back with food and clothing, and I had to buy a house, so I’m pretty much broke,” Goudreau said.

aravana@bangordailynews.net

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