Savannah-area business leaders survey financial literacy simulation for students

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTGS) — The Junior Achievement Discovery Center opened six months ago on Georgia Southern University's Armstrong campus.

Since then, Camille Russo, vice president of Georgia Junior Achievement Grand Strategies, said that nearly 8,000 students visited the center for financial literacy and budgeting simulations.

These programs introduce these relatively young students, middle school kids, to them at the level that they can understand it," Russo said.

On Tuesday, members of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce got to see the program first-hand and learn more about the new curriculum.

Emy Crinklaw-Bunch, owner of Emily Ruth Health, said that the simulation is too close to her own reality.

“We’re looking at mortgage, savings, auto insurance, childcare, credit cards, education, furniture, gas and maintenance. It’s all the things," said Crinklaw-Bunch.

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Cason Reynolds, a former Junior Achievement Participant, said that the program helped him and his classmates understand more about adult responsibilities.

“I need the experience for when I grow up because I can’t just go out trying to get a job and be like, 'How do I do this?'," said Reynolds.

During the simulation, each student is assigned a job, salary, family-size, and life circumstances that they have to navigate all while paying the bills.

“They learn all of these things that we, as adults, deal with in our financial realities every day about how it is to live in the world and be a consumer and even be a producer," said Russo.

Russo said the program is designed to give students a first look at adult life and show them how to plan for their futures.