Students face ‘financial reality’ at fair

TORRINGTON — Northwest Connecticut’s Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the Credit Union League of Connecticut, will present the ninth annual Northwest CT Financial Reality Fair on Wednesday, April 25 at Torrington High School.

The Financial Reality Fair provides high school students with a “hands on” budgeting experience to gain practical knowledge about personal financial management in a one day “real world” environment. The Fair is designed to teach students the value of using money responsibly. This “real world” exercise requires each student to choose a career and salary and then budget their money wisely to make ends meet. The hands on practical aspect of this initiative will occur at the Reality Fair.

Connecticut is not one of the 50 states in the country to require financial literacy standards for high school students. Last year, more than 80 high schools participated in this unique, handson learning experience.

Connecticut’s credit unions and credit union volunteers from around the state, launched this program in the 2008-09 school year and have served nearly 27,000 students since the program launch.

To date, more than 5,000 high school students from Northwest CT have gone through a financial reality fair at Torrington High School and there have been more than 75 fairs in CT and 4 in both Washington, D.C. and Trinidad.

For more information, contact the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, 333 Kennedy Drive, Suite R101, P.O. Box 59, Torrington, CT 06790, call 860-482-6586, or email lauren@nwctchamberofcommerce.org.