IRONWOOD -- What if you could get a glimpse into the future and see all the responsibilities and decisions that go with it?

More than eighty 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students got that opportunity during the fourth annual Transition Expo at Gogebic Community College.  Six schools in the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District sent students for a reality check.

"I think it's important for the students because it gives them an opportunity to participate in something that is hands on,” said Transition Expo Coordinator Paulette Niemi.  “It's realistic for them, and with the way the budgets have gone in the schools, there aren't a lot of field trips or opportunities like this presented."

In the simulation students are 25 years old and assigned a marital status.  Then they must make financial decisions from buying a house to getting day care.

Ontonagon 10^th grader Carl Batchelder chose a career as a singer, but realized he might need a second job.  He said the expo has given him an accurate view of the future especially with 40 volunteers from local businesses giving advice.

"I think it's doing pretty good because they have, like, actually specialists in that certain field,” said Batchelder.  “They're having some volunteers who know what they're doing, telling you, like, what you should spend."

One of those volunteers is Kim Jaeger, a personal banker with Wells Fargo.

"It's absolutely wonderful experience for them to go through because this really is like real life,” said Jaeger.  “Everything that they go through here is a definite reality; what you're going to find out when you grow up and you are in the process of paying back student loans, getting married having children."