Nipomo High School seniors build important life skills during financial literacy activity

NIPOMO, Calif. -- Nipomo High School seniors had the opportunity on Friday morning to help build important life skills during a financial literacy event that was held by the school in partnership with CoastHills Credit Union.

For about an hour, students participated in a hands-on app-based simulation, which allowed them to balance a budget with a predetermined amount of money.

"Each kid has an app and the app is called Bite of Reality," said CoastHills Credit Union Chief Financial Officer Tim Jensen. "They'll log in and it will give them a persona. It will say here is your situation, here is your job. Here is your salary. Here is the child you have and how old your child is. Here is your credit score and then they go to each of the stations and make purchases and they are basically trying to fit all their purchases into their budget, and the job of all the people in the stations is to upsale them as much as possible to have them break their budget, and get that bite of reality, and then they go over to the credit union station and figure out how they need to change things around to work within their budget."

The Bite of Reality program is a nationwide educational event held by local financial institutions that teaches teens how to make significant financial decisions and give them a better understanding of the challenges of living on a budget. 

"We brought in Bite of Reality, which is an event, a real-life budget simulation that helps students learn how to manage their money," said Nipomo High School math teacher Starla Morgan. "They are each given a job, an income and a family, and they have to make their way through different stations, making financial decisions that meet their monthly budget."

Nipomo High School will hold its graduation ceremony in just six weeks on Friday, June 9, highlighting the importance of the life skill, guiding teens on how to make financial decisions and give them a better understanding of the challenges of living on a budget. 

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