Like many school districts in Washington state, the Tumwater School District will implement new financial education learning standards from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction over the next few years. And students in the district’s high schools will be in a better position than ever before to achieve these standards because of the expansion of their involvement with the Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU) Financial Reality Fairs.
WSECU Financial Fairs for High Schools
During the WSECU sponsored reality fairs, high school students get a real-world taste of their potential earnings and expenses after they’ve graduated from high school or college. Suzanne Klenk, a financial educator and coach for WSECU, began offering the fair at the New Market Skills Center almost 20 years ago. When schools reduced travel during and after the pandemic, Klenk began holding the life simulation fairs at other local high schools too.
For several years, Klenk worked individually with Black Hills and Tumwater high schools to hold fairs primarily for students in the personal finance classes. For the 2025-2026 school year, Tumwater district Career and Technical Education (CTE) staff helped coordinate efforts and they were able to open participation to any CTE program that could include it in their class schedule. And the district’s third high school, Cascadia High School, held a fair for the first time.
Hundreds of students turned out for the three fairs with more than 30 volunteers from evergreenDIRECT Credit Union, O Bee Credit Union, Our Community Credit Union, and Peak Credit Union helping to manage the larger crowds. “Once it was scheduled,” says district CTE Coordinator Melissa Stussy, “We brought as many students as we could.”
“Our community partners made that possible by helping students experience the real impact of financial choices in a safe, engaging, and authentic environment,” Cascadia High School Principal Heidi Johnson says. ”We are incredibly thankful for their investment in our students’ futures and for the partnerships that make experiences like the reality fair possible.”
Students Receive Packets Detailing Their Financial Life After High School or College
At the start of each fair, students are told, “You have moved out of state, away from family and friends, and you start work on Monday,” says Klenk. Students receive a random packet that details the job they would begin in a few days, along with the salary they will earn, and information about related financial obligations, such as student loan debt. They also receive a credit score, and a credit card with no limit but with a balance between $500 and $3,000 from purchases such as books and travel.
Then they “step into this life after college,” says Klenk. They visit tables where they can find housing, buy a car (or a bus pass), purchase food, clothing, cell phones and computers, and from a table called ‘Fun Stuff’ they can purchase dogs or other pets and trips to Las Vegas or other destinations. “The rule is that you have to go to every single table,” Klenk says. At the tables, the volunteers try to upsell the students. At the Life Happens table, you receive mostly bad financial news, such as you have to take a sick day without pay before your leave kicks in, but occasionally good news, like your mom sends you $100 for your birthday. Students sometimes avoid the Life Happens table, in which case volunteers will roam the room and hand out their cards.
Students Learn Lessons About Decisions and What They’ve Been Receiving
After all this, students meet with someone who helps them figure out how much money they will need to pay for one-time and monthly expenses. “Even though the students knew overall what the point was they would still get talked into things that they really couldn’t afford,” says Johnson. So they would try to sell back the new truck, only to find it now worth a fraction of what they just paid for it. “In just that little activity, right there, the students learned the importance of that sort of decision, and that it’s a little bit permanent.”
Students leave the reality fair with a list of talking points to use with the adults in their lives, in order to better understand their situation and perhaps become problem solvers and stakeholders, like making sure the heat and lights get turned off. And some students get very emotional when they realize how ungrateful they’ve been for what they’ve been receiving.
Although students filled out an evaluation form following the fairs, Stussy says she hopes they’ll be able to add a follow-up lesson after future fairs for teachers and staff to use during which students can sum up and reflect on the experience.
“Some kids take it quite seriously,” say Marcy Procter, career connected learning coordinator. While others seem to take it less seriously as they see themselves “explode out of their budget.” They might buy themselves the best car and make their spouse get a bus pass, for instance. “But what I love is, no matter how kids are perceiving the event, everyone’s learning something.”
Besides receiving feedback from students about the positive impact of the reality fairs, “They all actively engaged in the event,” says Danielle Longmire, CTE specialist and teacher on special assignment. She said there weren’t any students who checked out and escaped into their phones.
“We’ve already had people asking about it for next year,” Stussy says. Teachers are asking, “When is that coming next year? I want to make sure that I have that on my calendar so that we can bring our kids.”
To learn more about Tumwater School District’s Career and Technical programs, visit the Tumwater School District website.
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