Sunday, April 21, 2024
STAYCATION
Pin Sly answers questions for those checking out the display on her native Thailand at Thursday’s Cultural Fair, hosted at Shelbyville Middle School. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
Students Experience Dose of ‘Reality’
Shelby County seventh graders last week paid taxes and scrambled to find money for bills and emergencies. Thankfully, it was all just part of the annual Reality Store program, hosted at Shelbyville Middle School and organized by the Shelbyville Business & Professional Women. The Reality Store gives local students an interactive glance at life as an adult.
A favorite station was finding out your “fortune,” which involved the realities of budgeting, or even getting into legal trouble.
Noah Norman, an SMS student, had to cough up $200 for eyeglasses replacement. Halle Parker was “arrested.”
“I would never!” she said, but added that she appreciated learning about living independently.
“The Store gave me a good outlook on life,” she said. For her, the Reality Store was an extension of the numerous lessons already taught by her parents. “I know my parents will always be willing to help me when I need it, but we all need to know how to do things on our own.”
Outside of life surprises, students had choices about their careers and finances.
“My favorite part of the experience was getting to make my own decisions, as well as receiving my own consequences,” Chloe Caldwell said.
They also commiserated.
“I enjoyed sharing with my friends how much money I had left,” Ariza Zermeno said.
That wasn’t much for Layden Fitzgerald, who proudly bought two houses and a sports car.
The presence of community volunteers and students from other county schools were bonuses. Bram Kolkmeier said he enjoyed seeing friends from across the county, and Renee Gooding saw her cousin from Morristown. Kat Ahmad, upon purchasing a car, was thrilled to learn her “Nana” was “the banker.” Ahmad said that while she and her friends were initially nervous, seeing familiar faces made it a great experience.
The only complaint Daniel Shaw had was the lack of time. But even one hour of “Reality” provided useful insights.
“I thought it was really cool, and it helped me rethink what I wanted to do when I am older,” Jayda Powell said.
The program was certainly instructive, Caldwell agreed. “I enjoyed getting the opportunity to foresee what life after high school is like. I also enjoyed seeing what happens when you blunder.”
NOTEBOOK:
Shelby Senior Services will introduce the 2025 travel schedule at their offices, 2120 Intelliplex Dr., Suite 101, Thursday May 9, 6:30 p.m. Call to reserve your free seat, 317-398-0127. Seating is limited.
NATIONAL NEWS: A new working paper posted to the National Bureau of Economic Research sought to examine the polling data that indicates 22 percent of Americans reported attending religious services on a weekly basis. They did this by looking at geodata from smartphones of 2 million people in 2019, and found that while 73 percent of people did indeed step into a place of worship on a primary day of worship at least once over the course of the year, just 5 percent of Americans studied in fact did so weekly, significantly smaller than the data people reported to pollsters. (NBER/Numlock)
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This Day in Shelby County History
2014: The Shelbyville High School Alumni Hall of Fame Class of 2014 was announced, which included Judge Charles O’Connor, a 1964 SHS graduate who had served as Shelby Circuit Court Judge since 1982. He had been the first Shelby County Court Judge in 1976. That court became Superior Court II in 1989. O’Connor and his wife, Brenda - in a news article he called her “the glue who holds this whole operation together” - had five children: sons, Chris, Jeremy, Adam and Nick, and daughter, Amanda; and five grandchildren with a sixth on the way. While O’Connor expressed gratitude for the honor, he said the real Hall of Famers were the teachers he had at SHS.
2004: Cash Bash, a Chamber of Commerce fundraiser, was returning for the 18th annual edition. Only 250 tickets would be sold for the chance to win $10,000. The previous year’s winner was Veanna and Gerald Kessler.
1994: Local drivers and car owners Matt Lux of Manilla and Gene Niebel of Mount Auburn were among the United Midget Racing Association drivers who appeared at a fan appreciation show at K&R Motorsports in the Belaire Shopping Center.
1984: W.S. Major Hospital purchased stress test equipment. The treadmill would be bought to monitor patients who had suspected cardiac problems, lung malfunctions or high blood pressure. Doctors from the Inlow Clinic would monitor the equipment while tests were being given.
1974: A controversy arose at the city parks and recreation board meeting concerning a proposed concession stand at Kennedy Park. At an earlier meeting, the park board had given tentative permission to the Men’s Softball Association to begin a concession stand at Kennedy Park with the profits used for the softball program. Carl Muncy, who had operated a concession stand on private property near the park for several years, challenged the proposal. After lengthy discussion, the board tabled the matter.
1964: A newspaper photo showed third grade students in Mrs. Thompson’s room presenting a skit titled “Vegetable Salad” at the annual spring program at Charles Major School. Representing the carrot was Jackie Conway; the spinach, Rosemary Burton; the radish, Willeta Hackworth; and the cucumber, Gary Howery. Others participating were Gregory Merritt, Terry Childers, Rebecca Burton, Jackie Crowe and Donald Mossman.
1954: Local manufacturing industries and stores announced plans to go on daylight saving time beginning April 25 and ending in September. “Despite the fact that this community has been on daylight saving time during the late spring and summer months for a number of years, the change-over from slow to fast time always seems to create some confusion among a minority,” The Shelbyville News said.
1944: Mrs. Major Jester was appointed civilian recruiting chair for the Women’s Army Corps. “Many eligible women are urgently needed for army service immediately so that a greater number of men can be released for combat duty,” The Republican said.
1934: The federal government hired 41 men to widen the right-of-way on State Road 9 south of Shelbyville from the city toward Hope. Over 200 men were working on county relief employment projects.
1924: An appeal for clean rags was made for Major Memorial Hospital to help clean it before the building’s opening. The city also paid $1,000 for dirt to be used to fill and grade the hospital lawn.
1914: The large plate glass window in the north side of the O’Neil saloon at the corner of Jackson and Harrison streets was broken when a horse belonging to Ernest Fortune crashed into it. The horse had been hitched to a delivery wagon and was standing in the alley west of Public Square. The animal became frightened and ran straight into the window.
OBITUARIES
None today.