For additional information, please contact Tom Weichel, 405-643-3203

Area freshmen received a glimpse of their future, learning a lesson in money management, monthly bill paying, and unplanned expenses. Rent, mortgage and car payments were some of the things that more than 400 students from local school districts learned about when they participated in Get Real 2006l.  

Get Real was sponsored by the Educate Tech Prep Partnership and was held at Caddo Kiowa Technology Center in Fort Cobb.

Students from Anadarko, Binger-Oney, Boone-Apache, Carnegie, Cement, Cyril, Fort Cobb-Broxton, Lookeba-Sickles, Mountain View-Gotebo, and Washita Heights attended the program.

The goal of the was to help the students develop career awareness and begin the career exploration process.  Prior to attending the on campus session students completed a worksheet where they picked a career, estimated their gross income, taxes and take-home pay.  When they arrived at the Get Real sessions they budgeted money for transportation, family life, money management, leisure and entertainment and housing.  Transportation expenses included loan payment, insurance, tag, title and taxes, gasoline, repairs and maintenance, and accessories.  Family life expenses included groceries and dining out, insurance, dependent care, clothing and personal care and education.  Retirement, savings and investments led the way for the money management section of the activity.  It also included credit payments, gifts, contributions and the unexpected expense.  Leisure and entertainment, although the favorite area of the students, was one of the first areas that had to be cut if their expenditures out paced their income.  The category included home entertainment, vacation and travel, sports and fitness, outdoor activities and hobbies.  Housing took the biggest chunk of the budget, it included rent or mortgage payments, insurance and taxes, utilities and telephone, repairs and maintenance.

To help the program take on a more realistic feel local business leaders served as facilitators.  The business leaders spoke to the students about each of the subcategories and answered their questions as they helped students develop a budget.  Presenters included:

Sandy Bellamy, Western Famers Electric; Keith DeVaughan, Caddo Electric Cooperative; Tammy Frizzell, Shamrock Bank, Mtn View; Ranel Lasley, OSU Extension Office; Trina Liles, Anadarko; Rodney Palesano, Western Farmers Electric; Dwayne Pate, Legacy Bank, Binger; Keith Propps, Legacy Bank, Hinton;  Bill Sims, Mtn. View; Rod Smith, Shamrock Bank, Apache; Barry Squires, Don Tyson, Washita Valley Bank.

Students were asked to evaluate the program.   Comments from the evaluation form ranged from   “I liked the way we are able to look ahead into our future and prepare for what will happen” ;  “I found how much I would spend “;  “Makes me want to go to college more” to  “I realize that life is not as easy as it seems” &  “I am broke and kids are expensive”