3rd Annual Reality Fair: A Triumph!
Above: Students learning about environmentalism from the Vermont Museum of Natural History
The 3rd annual Reality Fair at Leland & Gray High School was, once again, a triumph! Each year, we build in more challenges, more fun. and more learning for our students. This year, juniors and seniors from L&G, Twin Valley, and Bellows Falls Union High School tested their math and critical thinking skills at the Financial Literacy Experience. A new twist included navigating credit card debt. Students picked a credit card payment out of a hat. If they paid in full, on-time, the impact on their budget was minimal. But many scenarios were a bit more challenging – on included “forgetting” to make the credit card payment for a $16 sandwich and a soda for four months. after interest and late fees, that was a pretty expensive lunch!
The Adulting – 101 Experience included a variety of new topics including Gardening for Mental and Physical Health with Liz Kenton from UVM 4-H; Know Your Legal Rights with local attorney Craig Miskovich; Staying Physically Fit into Adulthood with Tammy Claussen; and Sewing and Mending with Liza Cassidy from River Gallery School, just to name a few. These new topics added to our usual line up of stations including Tie a Tie, Change a Tire, Write a Check and Deposit Slip, and more.
Over 80 volunteers from local businesses and organizations attended and over 150 students were served! The Reality Fair is the result of a collaboration between BDCC’s Pipelines and Pathways Program (P3). Leland & Gray is a phenomenal host, mobilizing faculty and administration for a terrific, high-impact day. But every school that sends students works with P3 to prepare students and faculty to get the most of this experience.
About Pipelines & Pathways
BDCC’s Pipelines and Pathways Program (P3) provides career education within the four southeastern Vermont public high schools and the Windham Regional Career Center. P3 helps students develop their personalized learning plans (PLP) by providing work-based learning experiences that increase their knowledge of career opportunities and achieve their postsecondary goals. Students develop soft skills, financial literacy, knowledge about economic sectors and skills that are in-demand through hands-on informational interviews, work-based learning, and mentorships. Pipelines & Pathways is a BDCC Workforce Center of Excellence program based on SeVEDS strategies to increase the size and quality of the region’s workforce. For more information please visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/engaging-with-high-school-students/
P3 was originally launched as a five year pilot, thanks to historic investment from the Vermont Community Foundation and McClure Foundation, the Vermont Training Program, WCEDP Vermont Yankee closure funds, and municipal contributions to SeVEDS. In 2023, at the end of that pilot phase, P3 reached a major program milestone by commitments from the private sector. M&T Bank, whose support was matched by local employers G.S. Precision and C&S Wholesale Grocers joins funding partners McClure Foundation, the George W. Mergens Foundation, the Windham Regional Career Center, the West River Education District, and the Windham Southwest Supervisory Union, in supporting P3 across southeastern Vermont. Portions of the program also receive support through the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) program of the Northern Border Regional Commission.
