John Webster’s eyes widened when Arrowhead Mall marketing director Penny Kampf “paid” him $1,375 for his work.

Then came the tax man, then $710 for rent, then the electric bill, then $275 for groceries and other sundries. The Muskogee eighth-grader quickly discovered the consequences of choosing to drop out of school and get a part-time job.

“How about I move to a cheaper apartment,” he remarked when confronted with how he would pay an imaginary cell phone bill.

Kampf used John’s paycheck misfortune as a lesson in choices for him and his classmates at the 7th & 8th Grade Center. She and about 20 other members of Muskogee Rotary are spending two days at the school this week showing them the value of making sound decisions through the Choices Program. Choices is a nationwide interactive program geared to helping teens learn how to take charge of their lives. Through two 50-minute sessions, local business and community volunteers take students through real-world exercises about self-discipline and money management. Rotarians will return today with the second session.

During their Tuesday session, Kampf and Rotary member Renee Fredrick guided students in Pam Morgan’s history class through lessons in self-discipline, time management and budgeting.

In one lesson, students shared their ideas on what self-discipline means, including “being able to control your words and actions” and “not eating too many cookies.”

“It’s not yelling at my brother,” one girl said.

Again and again, Fredrick and Kampf stressed the importance of staying in school.

John learned it a hard way when he played the drop-out in the budgeting lesson. Under the scenario, he drops out of eighth-grade, gets thrown out of his house and finds a “job” at the mall.

“I need someone to scrub and clean toilets,” Kampf told him, offering him $8 an hour, about 75 cents above minimum wage. The first chunk of his $1,375 monthly paycheck goes to taxes. After paying classmate tax collectors, landlords and utility workers their bills, John comes up short when he buys groceries and home supplies.

“Do you think you might want to talk to Mom and Dad about going back to school,” Kampf said.

When classmate Bryan Berdel taunted him about staying in school, John joked, “You don’t know everything.”

“At least I’m not broke,” Bryan said.

Morgan called Choices a wonderful program.

“It makes kids think, especially with the money exercises,” she said. “So many kids drop out and discover the consequences.”