As someone in this experience, tell your story.  Describe your experience. Tell us about the highs and the lows.  What were your major takeaways? What did you learn? How did you like it?  Be sure to explain your answers.

At first, it started as a fun game, we got taxes, rent, salaries. We had a president and we had a supreme leader, that’s it. That was the high because that was when it wasn’t as complicated and it was fun. Then people started taking it really seriously and it got kind of boring because people just kept on needing more money and it just started to not get fun. That was the low, and because it was starting to get not fun, that’s why we stopped.

How did your character’s role/situation in the game affect your ability to take care of yourself?  Think about your income, job, rent, the amount of money you had, any loans you took out, and your health situation.

It was good because I get paid $900 for being a financial adviser, so I had enough money for basic needs. But one day there was a surge of people that made a mistake on their P&L. I was one of them. So I and many others had to pay $2222.22. So I asked for a loan from someone, that is a CEO and makes a lot more money than me and they gave me that loan.

What aspects of your character’s life encouraged success?  What aspects of your character’s life brought about failure?  Explain how that process worked.

I had enough money for basic needs so I didn’t have hypertension disorder because I had enough money, which was pretty successful. What wasn’t successful was when I had the pay the $2000 because of the mistake I made on my P&L.

What attempts did you make to improve your character’s life?  How successful were these attempts? How difficult were those attempts and why?

Before I made $900 I made $200 as a photographer, so I applied to a new job and I made it. I had to answer some questions then take an interview, they asked questions like why should I get this job. I also tried to take a GED test but I didn’t follow through because it didn’t seem like it was worth it.

In bullet points, write a list of what you learned about poverty from this activity.  Be sure to include a brief description next to each item about what you learned, explaining your learning/thinking.

• A lot worse than I thought
• Eviction (You can get evicted because of no money)
• You can get food stamps (The government gives you money for food)
• You can get Medicare and Medicaid (you get free medicare for old people and people that don’t have a lot of money.)