Eighth Grade

The PEAK Program sponsors eighth grade early college awareness activities that reach more than 400 students in all three Newark City School middle school buildings. Outreach at this grade level focuses on three priorities: career education, financial literacy and expanding college knowledge. The main activities are:

• 3C's (College, Careers and Cash). During 5 lesson plans and using a specially designed workbook, every eighth grader is introduced to the basics of career exploration. A portion of the programming, utilizes the online resource, Ohio Career Information System (OCIS). By the end of the programming, students will discover career clusters, take interest assessments, complete a budgeting exercise and explore pathways, as well as programs and majors at our local campuses.

• Reality Store. A financial simulation game in which the students assume an adult identity and for purposes of the game, each is randomly assigned a level of educational attainment, an occupation, monthly earnings and certain life/family characteristics (married, single, children).  Through participating in Reality Store and the two classroom lessons that precede it, students learn some valuable lessons: how to budget, how much it costs to live, that education is highly correlated with earning power, and most importantly, the serious financial consequences of dropping out of high school.