Houghton students put lessons to the test at Financial Reality Fair

Web Desk April 7, 2026

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Houghton students put lessons to the test at Financial Reality Fair

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) – As students prepare to graduate in the coming weeks, the cost of living continues to grow around them.

One Houghton County school hopes to prepare them to financially face those obstacles.

“It’s all really mundane things that you wouldn’t usually think that you would need a class to learn,” Senior Katie Manchester said. “But then you’re in the class, and you’re like ‘Oh, this is actually really helpful’”.

Manchester is among the juniors and seniors at Houghton High School who participated in its third annual Financial Reality Fair on Tuesday. Each year, students in the school’s Personal Finance class get a glimpse into what independent life could be like after graduation.

Personal finance teacher Jennifer Rubin says that students learning personal finance skills is more important than ever.

“Everyone’s pocketbooks have been stretched,” Rubin said. “I think people see it in their own households. They see it with their parents struggling with finances, and they see gas prices. They’re seeing all of these things having much more of an impact than maybe it used to be a few years ago.”

Rubin says students got hands-on training during the fair, making financial decisions and budgeting. Senior Elli Sommerville found this particularly useful.

“I knew about budgeting beforehand, but actually getting to do it was really helpful,” Sommerville said. “We worked on it for about a month.”

Student Kylie Hatman said the fair helped her better understand her habits.

“Budgeting is a main thing for me,” Hatman. “I figured out that I don’t spend as much as I think I do. I liked the ‘Budget Down to Zero’ method. Figuring out how to format that really helped me.”

Rubin notes that these students will soon take these skills and teach them to a younger generation at Houghton-Portage Elementary School.

“Tomorrow, all seniors in personal finance are partnering with an elementary classroom, and they’re going to be teaching the elementary kids,” Rubin added. “They’re going to be the teacher.”

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