THE BASIC SETUP OF THE PROJECT:
Each group working on this project had the same job, Administrative Assistant to the District Manager at the local Big Box Store* in Durham, NC. Below are the job description, job requirements, and hourly wage:
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Administrative Assistant at The Big Box Store* in Durham, located at 4037 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, Durham, NC.
Administrative Assistants provide support and perform a variety of administrative duties for the District Manager of the store and other regional managers as assigned. They also maintain a high degree of confidentiality, handle a high volume of work, and adjust to the ever-changing environment of the company.
This job requires 39 hours per week (Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM until 5:30 PM with an hour for lunch and two 15-minute breaks) and pays $7.50 per hour. No medical benefits or retirement incentives are associated with this job, but employees do receive a 20% discount on all purchases from the store.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Specific job requirements:
- High School Diploma (GED accepted), some college preferred
- At least 1 year relevant work experience
- Proficiency in Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Visio
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Detail oriented task management skills
- Ability to manage multiple tasks with independence and flexibility
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Strong work ethic
- Appropriate business attire
- Punctual attendance
Working 39 hours per week at $7.50 per hour would bring in roughly $292.50 per week, which is roughly $1170 per month before taxes. Based on average tax deductions for any North Carolina worker, approximately $230 will be taken out from the monthly pay for taxes. The NET pay, therefore, is roughly $940 per month.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Though each group had the same "job," they each had a different "situation" to work with. When you visit each group's page, you'll see The Situation each group had to work with and each group's attempt at making ends meet given the job above. Each group sketched out a budget and identified potential snags in that budget as well as helpful community resources that could help in a pinch. In the Blog posts, students commented on their "experiences."
AND THEN LIFE HAPPENS:
At the half-way point of the project, a change in circumstances (Life's Curveball) was introduced to each group. In some way (some big and some small), the scenarios groups were originally given changed. Each group had to go back and re-evaluate the work it did to make ends meet, finding new sacrifices to make and additional community resources that might help. Each group had to revise its budget to accommodate the change.
EVALUATIONS:
Probably the most significant portion of the project were the final evaluations done by each group. Each group was required to reflect on the 4 weeks spent "in poverty" and comment on an issue or question raised during their "experiences."
