Solvay Teens Get a Taste of "Real Life" With Mad City Money

Prior to the end of the 2017-18 school year, ACMG Federal Credit Union and SHS teamed up to give SHS seniors in economics classes a taste of the real world.

When students gathered in the SHS gymnasium on May 18, they were temporarily transported into their future lives in a simulated town called "Mad City." This town was staffed by "merchants" or volunteers from real, local Solvay businesses. Students were given packets complete with their future occupation, salary, spouse, and/ or children, student loan debt, credit card debt, medical insurance payments, and their credit score. The challenge was for seniors to visit each of the merchants to purchase food, clothing, housing, transportation, daycare, and other household necessities, all while maintaining a budget. Learning to save for the future was an important part of the activity as well.

The Mad City Money event came at the end of an eight-week period of financial education classes SHS. Each week, ACMG marketing director, Wendy Wheelock visited SHS economic classes to educate seniors about various topics such as saving, investing, establishing credit, tips for buying a car, and students loans.
 "The lessons taught in class were something we can actually use in our near future," said one SHS student who completed the eight-week session.

“As an Economics teacher, I believe the goal for our students is to have them learn financial responsibility, and the importance of budgeting and saving their money before even leaving high school,” said SHS Economics Teacher Karen Harmon. “If we can accomplish this goal, we have done our job as educators.”