NDSU Students Experience Poverty
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The NDSU community is getting a look into the life of a family living in poverty. More than 60 students, faculty and volunteers took part in a poverty simulation.
Students were broken up into families that were based off of actual families that have sought help through community action agencies. Each group had a different lifestyle from single parents taking care of their kids to senior citizens struggling to live on Social Security. But no matter what the situation was, it was an eye opening experience.
Imagine having one minimum wage income with three kids to support and each week you run the risk of having your home taken away or utilities shut off. NDSU senior Nicole Smith stepped in to those shoes.
“The stereotype and notion that people living below the poverty line are just being lazy and sitting around, that’s super dispelled after this,” Smith says.
Every 15 minutes of the simulation represented one week. The tasks she was faced with? Go to work, pay bills, take care of her kids, all while on a single minimum wage income.
“It kind of gave us an insight into all the different stresses that build and how quickly they build,” says Smith.
But these are real life scenarios that people living in poverty face on a daily basis.
“I think the biggest thing is we just need to create more awareness to find allies for people that are living in poverty,” says Hailey Goplen, NDSU Assistant Director for Service-Learning.
But it wasn’t just a learning experience for the students. The volunteers that worked at each station say they were surprised by the struggles of each family.
“I noticed a big struggle with being able to afford food and it was pretty clear that a lot of families were making sacrifices when it came to food,” says Nate Bailly, an NDSU Graduate Assistant.
Most people involved in the simulation have never experienced what living below the poverty line is like. But, after role-playing for just three hours, they are motivated to find a solution.
This was the first time this simulation has taken place at NDSU. Goplen says she has already had other students reach out in hopes that there will be a second.
