Petersburg High School hosted a teen health fair on Friday. Students learned about managing finances at booths set up in the high school gym. Several local vendors were in the commons area handing out free items and information.
In the community gym, students put on “drunk goggles” and tried to walk a straight line, drive a cart, and shoot baskets.
The teen health fair was organized by Carlee Johnson McIntosh and the Petersburg High School. Vendors from WAVE, Sing Lee Alley Bookstore, Petersburg Dental, and Petersburg Medical Center participated along with many volunteers.
KFSK’s Angela Denning stopped by and talked with some of the teens. Freshman Oliver Peterson and sophomore Zander Jones were at an entertainment booth, trying to figure out which activities to budget for. Selling them on it was teacher, Dave Owens.
Dave Owens: So Gentlemen, gentlemen, tell me a little about yourself.
Zander Jones: I’m a photographer.
Dave Owens: You must get out and really see some great things, awesome. And how about you?
Oliver Peterson: I’m a counselor.
Angela Denning: (to Oliver) Can you tell me what you’re doing?
Oliver Peterson: We’re basically given a character. We’re making a budget for that character. It’s like, the age of the kids and then the spouse you have, everything is covered.
Angela Denning: Did you get to choose your occupation?
Oliver Peterson: Yes, I chose counselor.
Angela Denning: Okay, and how much does it say you make?
Oliver Peterson: Only $1,979 a month.
Angela Denning: How do you think your budget looks so far?
Oliver Peterson: Um, I think I’m in debt. (laughs) Yeah, does not look fun.
Angela Denning: Zander, how are you doing in this whole budget thing?
Zander Jones: I don’t think very good. I haven’t, like, calculated everything, but I don’t think it’s going to be good.
Angela Denning: Why is that?
Zander Jones: Because, you know, I only have like $4,000, maybe $5,000 a month.
Angela Denning: Okay, what do you do for a job?
Zander Jones: I’m a photographer. I have a lot of expenses.
Angela Denning: So what’s listed as some of them?
Zander Jones: You know, like a house costs quite a lot of money, like almost a fifth of the money I have, and then you know, like taking care of a child costs a lot of money. And, you know, a dog and health care and all that.
Angela Denning: Is there anything specific that you’ve learned today?
Zander Jones: It’s a lot of money for, you know, to live.
Jared Popp: My name is Officer Jared Popp from the Petersburg Police Department. Right now, we’re doing an alcohol awareness type course. The State of Alaska, State Troopers, and the police department got together and purchased these drunk goggles as they’re called. I’ve got a set of five goggles. And the way they work is like they’re an increased level of intoxication and progression of time. So they get darker, the higher level of intoxication they simulate. The first step is they’re doing a little puzzle designed for like toddlers. Now they’re drawing like a simple drawing of a bug. The next one is they walk a line, heel to toe. And then there’s a driving car where they have to drive through a course. And then finally, there’s just going to shoot some hoops at the last one. And the idea of this is. . . we can’t stop people from drinking alcohol, that’s not something government can do. But the idea is making good choices if they do end up choosing to drink alcohol, maybe they know better to not drive.
Lakell Deinhardt: Hi, I’m Lakell Deinhardt.
Angela Denning: You’re in line here for what?
Lakell Deinhardt: To wear the black goggles to drive around cones.
(After drive) That was hard. That was difficult. There was like two of everything. Like, everything’s blurry. I could kind of differentiate where the cones were but like there was not enough room for me to turn. I thought the cones were closer than they were. (laughs)
Angela Denning: So out of all the drunk goggle activities, what was the most difficult?
Lakell Deinhardt: The most difficult is definitely the driving one. . . Well, I don’t know. I would honestly. . .either the driving goggles or the walking the line goggles were the hardest. I was like falling over. (laughs)
