INA, Ill. (March 6, 2024) — Rend Lake College was excited to host local high school students for the annual Kickstart Your Journey event held Friday at the Ina Campus. 
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At Kickstart Your Journey, students see for themselves where some of their upcoming career and educational decisions may land them.
The annual event returned to campus on Friday, March 1 and again on Monday, March 4. 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. There was also a "Wheel of Misfortune," where a random spin could bring an unexpected expense or income that could hinder or help their budgets.
How much students spent on monthly expense choices directly impacted the amount of money they had left at the end of the exercise. Officials say it was a great exercise in helping students learn to navigate a budget. RLC is happy to be able to provide such an event to its local high school population.
