Eau Claire Area Test Drive Reality Fair

Holiday Hours - Royal offices and Member Service will be closed Monday, Oct. 12 and open normal hours Tuesday, Oct. 13. Royal's online and mobile banking are available 24/7. Give your students a chance to test drive their futures by using one of our highly interactive reality simulation programs. Contact us if you would like to learn more about Test Drive Programs at [email protected] Learn more about volunteering opportunities Test Drive gives high school students a real-life simulation of money and finances and lets them test drive their future to see what it takes to make it on their own as a 25-year-old. During the simulation, students choose their education level and career, are randomly assigned a family status, and calculate their net monthly salary. They are then tasked with managing their budget by paying for various expenses the average adult is faced with each month. They have to make decisions within each expense category, with the goal of getting through the month without running out of money. Through their participation, students gain a better understanding of what it takes to make it on their own and prepare for their future. Test Drive...Next Stop Reality® is proudly fueled by Royal Credit Union Foundation. This sponsorship supports our mission to provide impactful financial education experiences to high school students through immersive, hands-on learning. NOTE: Sponsorship by Royal Credit Union Foundation applies only to the full Test Drive...Next Stop Reality® program. Mobile, Digital, and Express versions are not included under this sponsorship Test Drive…Next Stop Reality® is a day-long, in-person event meant for groups of at least 200 students or more. The event occurs in a large space, such as a gymnasium, and utilizes over 80 community volunteers to run successfully. Each wave of students spends approximately two hours visiting 22 different stations and making their purchase decisions. The Test Drive… Next Stop Reality® classroom curriculum allows students to choose a career and research the required education for that job. They then calculate the average monthly starting salary for that career and their expected student loan debt. Lastly, the students are randomly assigned a family status. They will use this information to make their purchase decisions on the day of the event. During the hands-on simulation, students visit a variety of stations to make key life decisions and manage a monthly budget. Students are required to live within their selected career’s monthly salary while paying for things like student loans, insurance, housing, and groceries, as well as accounting for additional expenses like entertainment, pets, and life’s surprises! The event is staffed by Royal team members and community volunteers who offer advice and help guide the students, but participants ultimately make their own purchase decisions. Many students find out that making it on their own isn’t easy, and learn that the choices they make today will have a lasting impact on their future. Students’ knowledge of basic financial terms and concepts is assessed before and after the program to measure both knowledge and attitudinal gains. Contact us if you would like to learn more about Test Drive... Next Stop Reality® at [email protected] Test Drive Digital gives students the reality fair experience through virtual programming. Schools that are unable to host an in-person event or that are located outside of the communities that we serve can still offer a reality fair program to their students through incorporating Test Drive Digital into their curriculum. There is no minimum or maximum required number of students to be able to participate in this version of Test Drive. Test Drive Digital can be delivered either synchronously or asynchronously using Google Classroom, Xello, Canvas, or other avenues. Once we have determined the platform you will be using, Royal team members set each teacher up with their own unique classroom and necessary links. Students begin with a short pretest. They get to choose their level of education and career, but they are randomly assigned their marital and family status, as well as their credit score. Using the Income and Transaction Log, students calculate their net monthly salary and track their expenses. There are 11 short video lessons and a few surprises along the way, helping students learn that life is anything but predictable. The lessons covered are: Once the students have finished the lessons and turned in their Income and Transaction Log to their teacher, they finish the simulation by completing a posttest. Many students find out that making it on their own isn’t easy, and learn that the choices they make today will have a lasting impact on their future. Students’ knowledge of basic financial terms and concepts is assessed before and after the program, allowing measurement of knowledge gains and attitudinal changes. Royal’s financial education team is avai