“My husband doesn’t have to drive the car. I just need to buy insurance for myself. I’ll drop him off for work,” Thomas said.

Comments such as those may make Milledgeville resident Sam Watson, who has been working the Reality Check since its inception four years ago, smile — but it also makes him realize that many of these students still need to recognize the seriousness of how much will be needed once high school is behind them.

“I think the students have been great. I haven’t seen any disrespect from them all day, and I think they benefit from this program. I think they’ve really learned a lot, and that they get better and seem to improve each year,” Watson said.

That’s good news for BHS Assistant Principal Teresa McCuen, who spent most of her morning and afternoon assisting students in their fictional financial futures.

“With some of them, this makes them realize what they’ll do after graduation and for college,” McCuen said. “The students seem to be getting something out of it, and I think it’s been a powerful experience and a real eye-opener for them to see the relationship between earning potentials and education.”

Hopefully, that’s the lesson learned by Adrian Puebla, who found himself a car salesman making $2,554 a month as a single parent with two young sons.

“I might have to give up the car I just bought. I’d rather not do that,” Puebla said as he tried to figure out a way to keep the Honda Accord he had just purchased yet still be able to afford rent on his two-bedroom apartment.