To the Editor:
On behalf of the Marlborough Rotary Club and Marlborough High School, I would like to publicly thank some folks who worked hard to make the “2019 Reality Fair” on October 29th at Marlborough High School a success.
The Reality Fair is an interactive, financial literacy event for the senior class at Marlborough High School, designed to give teens a taste of reality before they graduate. Students at the Fair get a paycheck, a budget sheet and a calculator in a pad folio. Community volunteers, set up throughout the library conducting the business they regularly do – banking, insurance, apartment rentals, electric utility, supermarket, auto dealer, etc. The students need to go from vendor to vendor, seeing to their needs and their budgets. They encounter temptations like a travel agent, a pet shop, and amusements, as well as spin a wheel of fortune – or misfortune as the case may be. Most students say that the Fair is a real learning experience for them. Furthermore, it’s interactive, engaging, and fun.
On behalf of the Marlborough Rotary Club, I initially contacted the high school and Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce to take on this project of financial education, now in its fifteenth year. Many of the business volunteers are Rotarians and almost all are Chamber members: Al Brodeur Auto Body, Apex Entertainment, Ashland Public Health Dept., Avidia Bank, Aykanian Law, DCU, Employment Options, Kathleen Enderlin, Main Street Bank, Marlborough Fire Department, Marlborough High School, Marlborough Public Library, Metro Community Development Corporation, National Grid, New Horizons, Quinsigamond Community College, Remax Executive, Rotary Club of Marlborough, Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, Rotary Club of Northborough, RTN Federal Credit Union, St. Mary’s Credit Union, Supporting Strategies, Travel by Tatten, and Vin Bin.
St. Mary’s Credit Union is equally committed to financial education. Their support as the Reality Fair’s major sponsor has been outstanding. The Rotary Club of Marlborough, the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Marlborough High School Chapter of the Business Professionals of America were the coordinating sponsors of the Reality Fair.
Sincerely,
Marguerite Thorsen
Reality Fair Chair, Marlborough Rotary Club
