Program Helps Kids Make 'Choices'

Middle school students have choices to make in life, just as adults do, and a program held at the school is attempting to help those students make better life decisions.

The school held the Choices program during the eighth grade students’ world languages program during the week of Jan. 31. It was taught by guest speakers in town, including Katherine VonWolput, Paul Barrechia and Susan Toth (Editor’s Note: yes, that’s me).

“The program is very important for students of this age,” said middle school guidance counselor Karen Staples. “They learn a lot from it about making wise choices in their lives.”

According to the company’s website, Choices is described as an “interactive decision-making workshop that empowers teens to achieve academic success in pursuit of their career and life aspirations.”

The program includes a wide variety of activities, including time management exercises, decision-making role-play situations and money management quizzes. For example, students are given choices of job options, some that require a college education, others that do not. Then they are given play money that corresponds for the salaries for those jobs, and asked to pay such things as taxes, rent, utilities, food and clothing. The exercise teaches students both money management and career choice lessons.