SANDPOINT — Sandpoint High School student Bob Stevens and his fellow seniors got to learn about money management in a hands-on yet risk-free environment at the Bulldog Finance Fair Wednesday.

“I paid off as much credit card debt as I could, and I paid for all the expenses I needed to, so I felt like I did pretty well,” Stevens said.

Host Keith Appleton from STCU aims to give students a perspective on real-life finances through a simulated experience to prepare them for life in college and beyond.

“There’s not a lot of financial education for teens unless they’re paying for that education,” Appleton said. “Learning experience can come when you overdraw your debit card and have to pay for it, but we want to educate (students) on that now so they don’t have to pay for it later.”

Coming in excited to miss a day of all-school testing, seniors were greeted at First Christian Church with a “card of fate” that gave them information about their new lives for the simulation. Information included occupation, income, number of children, monthly student loan payments, and spouse’s financial information.

“I had a bunch of extra money that I gave to charity, but I realized at the end that I had forgotten about my credit card payment and had to dip out of savings,” Joshua Kramer said of his experience in the “My Life, My Money” simulation.

Appleton walked students through the calculations of minimum monthly credit card payments, monthly household income, and using a checkbook register before the approximately 250 students split into two groups for the remainder of the day.

While one group stayed in the auditorium to do a game show-type activity the other group went to the “My Life, My Money” simulation in the gym. During the game show students worked together to guess answers to questions about most common types of debt, average food expenses, entertainment costs, and what goes into a credit score. In the “My Life, My Money” simulation students went through nine stations to determine how much they would spend in categories like housing and utility, meals, entertainment, children, and other categories that play into everyday life.

“I already have a little bit of money managing skills, but this gave me a real life experience of what it’s actually like,” Stevens said.

Stephanie Rief, a volunteer from Selkirk Association of Realtors, believes strongly in the impact the Bulldog Finance Fair makes on the community.

“(The event) is an eye-opener for students, because a lot of (students) probably don’t pay attention to what their parents are paying out for mortgages or payments each month, and this gives them an opportunity to see what being out in the real world is really like,” Rief said.

Volunteers across the community believe in the program and have kept it alive through their investments over the past eight years.

According to Jeralyn Mire, the Finance Fair is a labor of love by the Sandpoint community.

“When Coldwater Creek was no longer in business (the event) was going to fall apart, because there was no place to do it, and everybody stepped in and said ‘no, we really need to make this happen,’” Mire said. “It’s great because all the community members said ‘we can’t let this die’ and then stepped in and made it happen.”

Supporters and sponsors for the event included First Christian Church, where the event was held, Taylor and Sons Chevrolet, Horizon Credit Union, Second Avenue Pizza, Alpine Shop, North 40 Outfitters, Lewis and Hawn Excellence in Dentistry, Yokes, Mr. Sub, Selkirk Association of Realtors, Panhandle Alliance for Education, Community Assistance League of Sandpoint, Evans Brothers Coffee, Lake Pend Oreille School District, Larson’s, Dub’s, Super 1 Foods, and STCU.