The Charger Online School Newspaper

CDHS Completes Poverty Simulation

Article by: Molly Barricks 

Video by: Randall Sauceman & Elijah Barker 

Pictures by: Dom Atchison & Tayvin Sexton

Interviews by: Molly Barricks & Dom Atchison 

On March 11, 2025, our seniors did a poverty simulation to demonstrate the real world problems adults and families go through. Poverty is a real thing here in Greene County and all over the world. In Greene County, Tennessee, the poverty rate is 15.18% with the largest demographic living in poverty being females aged 55-64, followed by females aged 45-54 and 65-74. In 2023, 20.2% of children in our county lived in poverty. If a student or family need assistance with anything, there are resources available! Please reach out to some of our faculty members if that is the case!

The poverty simulation showed students how frustrating it can be to juggle the challenges our parents and families face that we don’t know about. During the simulation, students were put in family groups, where they had four, fifteen-minute weeks to take care of their families, work for their family, pay their bills, and make sure they were keeping up with transportation. This simulation also included services like the bank, jobs, free help, healthcare, mortgages, quick cash loans, jail, and child protective services. It gave seniors an opportunity to see what the future could be like in real life during struggles. Not only did the simulation help students empathize with people who live in poverty, it also helped teach our seniors real-world adulting and life skills.

Some seniors that attended the simulation stated towards the end that in the beginning they were very frustrated. Although, as it went on, the students said that they had a lot of fun and were glad that they got to experience it. Overall, they were grateful for the opportunity to be able to do it. Even some of the juniors that recorded the experience stated that they wanted to be able to do it their senior year. We plan to keep the poverty simulation going for years to come for our senior classes. Chuckey-Doak’s Class of 2025 would like to thank our central office who allowed us to have this simulation and helped lead the simulation for our students. 

L to R: Vlogger Molly Barricks, Vlogger Dominique Atchison

Chuckey-Doak High School
365 Ripley Island Rd, Afton, TN
(423) 798-2636