#Adulting
By Jennifer Spirko, Youth Services Manager, Blount County Public Library
July 14, 2017
Adulting is hard. So we came up with a program to help!
We invited a nutritionist to demonstrate making a healthy snack ("Green Monster Smoothie") and to share tips for basics (e.g., what seven things should you have in your pantry?). We invited two personal finance professionals (a professor and finance adviser and a recent college graduate in the field, heading into his Master's program) to talk about the basics of budgeting and investing. And we had a panel of "real adults" (including a minister, a teacher, the financial adviser, a community activist) to share the things they know now that they wish they'd known as teenagers. We had Q&A, and to prevent any embarrassment, we invited the attendees to write their questions on cards beforehand, which we read (anonymously) to the panelists. We started with some basic relaxation techniques that folks (teens and adults alike!) can do even at their desks, and finished with a visit by therapy dogs for added relaxation after all that brainwork. But the climax of the event was an original life-size board game inspired by "Life," where participants rolled giant dice and face a variety of situations and decisions where they had to balance money points and happiness points. We had a lot of people (who couldn't attend) ask us to do it again, so we may have a regular series of #adulting programs!
Type: Active
Age: High school
Optimal size: 11-20
Estimated cost: $1 - $25
Planning time: 5+ hours
Frequency: One-time
Learning outcomes
Takeaways: basic information on personal finance and nutrition (with handouts made available in hard copy and online). The game provided a way to put basic principles and specific lessons into practice.
Competencies demonstrated: Communication, collaboration, retention
Social Justice considerations: Invited speakers included more than one gender identity, more than one racial identity, more than one sexual identity and ages from 21-57 years.
Instructions
Consult with Teen Advisory Board or other teens to determine what kind things they are interested in learning about.
Connect with community partners for panelists and presenters: We had people from area public schools, a nearby college, local hospital's wellness program, and local nonprofits.
Plan the schedule so that your guests will be able to make best use of their time.
Plan the space: For instance, we had a "seminar" room where the panelists and presenters spoke, with snacks set up in the back of the room, but the more active events (game and dog visits) were in the spacious hallway/atrium area outside that room).
Evaluation
Quantitative: Head Counts
Qualitative: Facebook responses and Whiteboard feedback