For many teenagers across the nation, life after high school is just around the corner, bringing endless possibilities alongside increased independence and additional responsibilities. To give students a taste of what life may look like soon, the Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC) launched its Adopt-a-School Program through an interactive “Generation Simulation” (GenSim) at Anacostia High School (AHS) on Dec. 4.
GenSim was created by Sheila Ruffin, OPC’s supervisory trial attorney. This activity is a 50-minute role-playing experience set on a fictional university campus during a pretend homecoming season, designed to teach students the importance of balancing school, social life, and bills through budgeting and collaboration.
Through made-up scenarios, participants also learned about how access to energy can sometimes be unfair, experiencing pretend blackouts, high utility bills and Wi-Fi outages, and were exposed to resources like OPC that are available to help them advocate for themselves in the future.
“I wanted to do something that would keep them moving,” Ruffin told The Informer. “I wanted something to empower them so that when they faced a challenge in the scenarios that I made, it may reflect something that they’re going through, so they’d understand, possibly, … what their family is truly going through.”
Before the activity, Sandra Mattavous-Frye, head of OPC, told participants that they must be able to voice their concerns to their representatives and ensure they have equal access to energy and other resources. She emphasized that in a time when a higher energy demand causes higher utility bills, not only in Washington but nationwide, teaching younger generations how to advocate for themselves is crucial.
“You are going to control the future,” Mattavous-Frye told the students. “It’s even more important that you know what the deal is and how to maneuver… to make certain your community and… your children have the things that they need to survive.”
Generation Simulation: A Makeshift Reality Check
In assigned groups, participants played roommates living off-campus, preparing for homecoming. With the option to portray characters such as a DJ/promoter, influencer, homecoming chair and custom merch entrepreneur, each student had their own duties, but still had to work together.
The simulation was divided into three 15-minute periods, each representing one week. Each week, the six participating groups would take care of their essential expenses— rent, utilities, groceries and cellphone and Wi-Fi bills— while facing a dilemma that affected the entire household and another that affected one person. Through these scenarios, students learned what their priorities should be when dealing with these responsibilities.
“Do the stuff that’s major first— your rent, your health— anything that has to do with [keeping] you off the streets,” 16-year-old Sebastian Frederick told The Informer. “They’re trying to prepare us for what’s next so we won’t be out there clueless.”
One of the scenarios written for Sebastian, who played the homecoming chair, was that he had to go to urgent care but left his laptop on the train during the trip there. This caused him to have to turn around and “buy” another Metro ticket to receive it.
During this same week the group was affected by the gas being cut off, requiring a member to go to the Energy Help Hub, where they were to file a complaint with the fictional utility company.
Places like the Energy Help Hub, the bank, the rent office, the Metro station, the grocery store, Urgent Care, a work study, a convenience mart, the mall and more were represented by different OPC staff sitting at tables throughout AHS’s media center.
Aaliyah Thompson, 18, who played the entrepreneur in Sebastian’s group, once had to go file a complaint with the fictional bank due to an incorrect $500 deduction from their account. The high school senior told The Informer she appreciated this scenario because it reflected something she had once experienced in real life.
“In college, you’re not going to have your parents to lean back on all the time, so you’re gonna have to do stuff on your own,” she said. “It’s like a practice run on if you’re going to make it or not.”
Preparing the Youth for their Next Steps
Ruffin thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the innovation and teamwork from the students. She told The Informer that from the beginning of the first simulated week, she had students trying to bargain with her over their expenses.
The trial attorney witnessed participants scolding each other for not taking care of the responsibility assigned to them, prioritizing the essentials over the fictional homecoming concert.
“So, as I phase out in the next 20, 30 years, they’ll be phasing in at a mid-level career, so I really want to plant these seeds now,” Ruffin told The Informer. “And if the seeds have already been planted, I’m hoping to water them and soil them, so I’m really just adding onto what they’re already learning.”
Mattavous-Frye was impressed to see the students so engaged and motivated to take care of their fictional household.
Having grown up in the South Bronx, which the OPC head says is similar to Anacostia, Mattavous-Frye was always reminded that she was above her circumstances and was able to achieve anything she put her mind to. She credits that mindset to helping her succeed, and is committed to helping instill that confidence within the youth so they are efficiently equipped to strive in life.
“That’s critical because the baby boomers, we have to move over to make room to make sure all the Gen Zs are really understanding the circumstances and… their value and… their potential,” she told The Informer. “Once they get a grasp of that, then they can do anything. The world is theirs to change.”
Ruffin hopes that interactive, enjoyable, non-traditional educational opportunities like Generation Simulation help inspire future programming across different fields to help young people better understand subjects like healthcare, family law, criminal law and more.
She believes a fresh take on education, like GenSim, can truly help students better grasp topics they learn in class, and that preparing adolescents for adulthood gives them the tools they need to effectuate change.
“Thank you to the students. I honor them,” Ruffin told The Informer. “If I could leave a last word for them, it would be, ‘Change the country.’ I’m looking forward to them doing big things.”