The Rhinelander High School gym was filled Tuesday morning with sophomores and seniors talking about money..Mad Money to be exact.
Rhinelander Partners in Education sponsors the Mad Money event each year along with the school district.
Co-organizer Ben Meyer says the financial simulation is designed to give students an idea what budgeting and living is like when they're on their own...
"...we have dozens and dozens of volunteers from the community that have come to help out today at our vendors and they are helping the students work through..'ok, you have a salary, but money goes to child care. Money goes to utilities. Money goes to a home payment. Money goes to a car payment. Some of these students might go broke at the end of the day which is perhaps it's not the worst thing as it's a lesson of how things work in the real world...."
Senior Erin Ditzler....
"'what am I learning?(ya).."being an adult is overwhelming. But we're doing a lot of the adult things in three hours. So it's not as overwhelming in real life as it is right now..."
Senior Elizabeth Glut..
"Reality kind of sets in. You need that kick in the butt to realize that not everything in life is going to go that great..."
The students also heard from motivational speaker Mike McGowan who talked about leadership, respect and making good personal decisions. More than 30 businesses were involved with the event.
