Think you can survive at the poverty level? These students saw what it was like
Key Points:
Students engaged with simulated real-life scenarios designed to illustrate the daily struggles faced by individuals living in poverty.
Over 100 middle and high school students from across New Jersey came to Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison on Tuesday to understand poverty.
No one can solve poverty overnight.
But teenagers from schools across New Jersey did the best they could in an hour and a half.
That one small step is a good start, said Morgan VonHaden, who led students through the "Poverty Escape Room," a workshop held Tuesday on Fairleigh Dickinson University's Florham Campus in Madison.
"So, during our time together, you guys, these next hours together, we're not going to eliminate poverty," VonHaden said. "But what we're going to do is start the conversation, because .... when we start to have these conversations, I've seen impacted policies and procedures be changed at a local level and also at a state and national level."
The students in the workshop had to live a day in the life of a person experiencing poverty and figure out how to survive. They were provided fake money and documents to navigate a day from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., from taking their kids to school to getting gas cards to travel in an area where accessibility to services can be a challenge.
"It was very exciting. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like when I entered it. It was definitely unexpected," said Jordan Titus, 17, a senior at Ramsey High School who leads her school chapter of TEEEM, or The Empathy Equality Entrepreneurship Mission, which sponsored the event. It's a nonprofit based in Ridgewood that provides resources to teach students about global issues, humanitarianism, leadership and business skills through education and action. "I came to it thinking I know it's going to be difficult, but I thought I might be able to do it, but it was much more difficult, and it was very frustrating.
"You never really know what people are going through," she said. "I think especially around here, people are very blind to the challenges that people face, and so I definitely gained a better understanding of what people are going through all around the world."
Students from the Diana C. Lobosco STEM Academy in Wayne talk to Heather Ferris, Director of Operations at the nonprofit TEEEM, during a “Poverty Escape Room” workshop held on the FDU Florham campus
The students were split into two groups, one doing the workshop in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Teachers who escorted students took part in professional development sessions where they learned more about TEEEM, which has chapters in more than 85 schools throughout the U.S., Canada and Ecuador and works in communities in eight countries, including the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Students during the morning workshop were guided by VonHaden, the deputy director of community and family services for the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative in South Dakota, who has led these workshops across the country in the past.
She showed a PowerPoint slide on the South Dakota poverty guidelines, or annual income thresholds used by the U.S. government to determine eligibility for federal programs and benefits. The guidelines ranged from a $15,060 income for one person to $36,580 for a family of five. According to the U.S. census, New Jersey has nearly 10% of its population living below the poverty line.
VonHaden was assisted by Taylor D'Alessio, TEEEM executive vice president; Heather Ferris, TEEEM director of operations and development; and Michele Barto, a senior lecturer at FDU's International School of Hospitality, Sports, and Tourism Management.
Morgan Von Haden, the Deputy Director of Community and Family Services for the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative in South Dakota, led a workshop on poverty organized by the nonprofit TEEEM
The youths were given a half-hour (representing an eight-hour day) to move around different areas of a room marked as a school, a gas station, a friend's house, a food bank, a pawn shop, and a WIC program office to represent the various places a person in poverty has to visit to survive. Then they discussed how they felt about their experience.
After the workshop, Gabriel Naranjo, 16, a junior at Somerset County Vocational High School, told NorthJersey.com that the experience was "eye-opening" and reminded him of when he emigrated with his family from Ecuador several years before and they lived in one bedroom in his grandmother's house in Somerset.
"I really hope that this brought more awareness to the people that are more privileged in this community and make us understand a little bit more of how the people that we're helping live their day-to-day lives," Naranjo said.