Throughout their time in the classroom, students’ minds are filled with knowledge about arithmetic, science, language, history and a plethora of other subjects.

In between lessons about the periodic table and the Trojan War, lectures on practical financial skills like learning to balance a checkbook or living on a limited budget can often fall to the wayside.

Thanks to an ongoing partnership between Cassopolis’ Midwest Energy, Southwestern Michigan College and a number of businesses in the Dowagiac and Niles area, a number of students got a taste of what its like to manage one’s money once they leave school and enter the “real world” Friday morning.

Midwest and SMC hosted their third annual “It’s Reality” event at the Dowagiac community college that morning. Students from Dowagiac Union High School, Niles’ Brandywine High School, Cassopolis’ Ross Beatty High School and other area districts attended the educational event.

For the main exercise of the morning, the students were tasked with creating a monthly budget, simulating what it is like to manage one’s finances after they graduate college, similar to the popular board game “Life.”

To begin with, the students picked out a random career from the industry they are interested in entering, such as jobs in healthcare or education, which determined their monthly income. After that, they visited different stations around the room to figure out their monthly expenses, ranging from basic necessities such as housing, transportation and utilities to luxury costs such as entertainment and furniture.

“The students have to make the best possible choices, based off their lifestyles and their monthly income,” said Lori Ruff, a spokesperson with Midwest Energy.

The most exciting station was the “wheel of reality,” which contained potential windfalls, including bonuses on their tax returns, as well as pitfalls, such as having their house catch on fire.

Guiding the students through exercise were representatives from several community businesses, including Honor Credit Union, the Greater Niles Federal Credit Union, Chemical and Fifth Third banks, Kemner Iott Benz insurance, C. Wimberley Automotive, Integrity Realty and AEP.

Ruff was inspired to bring the event to the area several years ago, after seeing a similar event hosted in another part of Michigan, she said. The exercise is a way for Midwest and other institutions to give back to the communities they serve, she said.

“It is one thing for students to try and learn these types of lessons in the classroom, but it  is another thing for them to experience them through an activity like this,” she said. “It makes it a little more real to them.”

One of the students who participated in the event Friday was Dowagiac Union High School senior Christianna Schommer, who had selected a career in preschool education for the assignment.

“It was kind of scary,” she said about learning how difficult it would be to make ends meet with her projected salary.

While it may not have been an easy task, Schommer said she felt going through the process of creating a projected budget definitely helped her see what life is like after college.

“If the kids walk away with one or two nuggets of wisdom from the event, the it has been a success,” said Patty Nowlin, another representative with Midwest.