High School Students Kickstart their Journey at RLC

INA, Ill. (April 16, 2025) — Rend Lake College was excited to host local high school students for the annual Kickstart Your Journey event on April 10 & 11.

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Pinckneyville Community High School students pay their income taxes.

Benton Consolidated High School students budget for gym memberships.

True Claytor (Benton Consolidated High School) buys a phone and streaming plan.

Callie Shaffer (Benton Consolidated High School) gambles.

Keyonna Folden (Pinckneyville Community High School) using remaining income at the merch stand.

Benton Consolidated High School students show off their RLC sunglasses.

At Kickstart Your Journey, students see for themselves where some of their upcoming career and educational decisions may land them. In addition to listening in on several breakout sessions about preparing for college, the freshman and sophomore students visited a "Reality Store" in the RLC Event Center.

After choosing a career path and receiving a month's salary for that career, the students visited a series of tables where they got the opportunity to pay for and choose some of the basic expenses of adult life — things like housing, income taxes, student loans, car options, etc. Students were also able to 'gamble' with dice, where an unexpected expense or income could hinder or help their budgets.