Windsor Central Middle School students are getting an authentic taste of the cost of their wants on Wednesday and Thursday as Visions Federal Credit Union is bringing its Life is a Reality exercise to the middle school.

“It’s a budgeting simulation activity to help middle school students understand how much things cost and what they need to do to budget for those activities,” said Nick Minier, Financial Wellness Officer at Visions Federal Credit Union.

The exercise had cost breakdowns for food, savings, entertainment, and savings goals for items such as a car, devices, or college tuition.

“This is to open their eyes to see how much things cost and what to do to budget for what they want to have,” said Minier.

Visions runs a similar event at the high school level, breaking down the costs of adulthood. Windsor Central High School interns at Visions helped adapt the presentation to the middle school students.

“We want to introduce middle schoolers to the expenses of high school-age kids. We want to prepare them to be financially independent and give them an expectation of the expenses they’ll have to pay,” said WCHS Visions student intern Grace Deyo.

What did the middle school students learn?

“Everything is expensive,” said Keegan Leonard.

“I won’t get everything I want,” said Kalani Hale.

“I Have to be cautious about how I spend,” said Kamel Wilson.

“You have to make sure you spend your money wisely,” said Oliver Stolarcyk.