Adulting 101 helps Virginia teens build life skills, financial confidence
Created through Virginia Cooperative Extension, the hands-on program is already making an impact on students while offering a model that could grow into communities across Virginia.
On a Saturday morning in Southwest Virginia, a group of teenagers crouched around a car, taking turns loosening lug nuts with a tire iron.
For many of them, it was the first time they had changed a tire. By the end of the weekend, they had also cooked multiple meals, practiced job interviews, and began thinking about retirement for the first time.
That’s the idea behind Adulting 101, a new Virginia Cooperative Extension program designed to give teens a hands-on introduction to life after high school. Held at the Southwest Virginia 4-H Educational Center each spring, the weekend program brings together students ages 14 to 19 from across Southwest Virginia for a crash course in the practical responsibilities of adulthood.
The program gives teens experience in a wide range of practical life skills, including planning and cooking meals, professional dress and sewing, managing basic home and car maintenance, building a budget, and practicing job interviews. It wraps up with a career fair, where local professionals and volunteers gave students a chance to put their new skills to the test and talk through career paths.
Emma Darnell, a student from Scott County who attended the program’s first session in 2025 and returned in 2026, said the experiential approach has made a lasting impact.
“It’s important to learn the right way to do things,” she said. “You can try something on your own, but if you’re doing it wrong and not learning from someone who knows how, you’re not really getting anywhere. Over the past year, I’ve used some of the sewing and maintenance skills I learned here. It’s amazing how often they come up.”
Adulting 101 was created and coordinated by Extension Agents LeAnn Hill and Sarah Gardner and Southwest Virginia 4-H Educational Center Program Director Abbigail Moore with support from additional agents and volunteers.
Hill said one of the driving motivations behind the program was recognizing how many everyday skills students are missing opportunities to learn.
“Programs like this fill a gap,” she said. “Many young people in Southwest Virginia haven’t had the opportunity to learn day-to-day skills, from hammering a nail to addressing an envelope. It’s easy to assume those lessons are happening somewhere, but for a lot of students, they aren’t.”
For just $25, each student received meals, lodging, a T-shirt, and skills that could last a lifetime. In total, 44 teens have attended the program’s first two sessions, and organizers are already planning additional sessions for 2027.
For Hill, one of the most noticeable impacts was a shift in confidence.
“You could see it grow throughout the weekend,” she said. “Students who started out unsure were proud of what they could do by the end. Some even asked if they could come back for another session.”
Erin Cox, associate Extension specialist for family and community economics, taught courses at the program in 2025 and emphasized the importance of financial literacy in the curriculum at Adulting 101.
"Even in nutrition or wellness programming, financial literacy is at the foundation," Cox said. "We want young people to understand budgeting, saving, and how early investing can impact their future."
Cox led a class on retirement planning for teens using an interactive aging simulation. Students aged themselves using Snapchat, visualized their older selves' lifestyles, and calculated the long-term results of investing $50 a month starting at age 14.
"Extension is about building stronger communities through education," Cox said. "When young people are confident managing money, maintaining their homes, or making career decisions, that lifts up all of Virginia. Even if they just remember how to jump start a car or save $50 a month, that's a win."
Though Adulting 101 was born from the efforts of a local team in Southwest Virginia, its structure has already begun to draw interest from other parts of the state. Organizers hope to expand the model through new partnerships with schools, churches, and community centers.
“We’re working on building a curriculum through Virginia 4-H so this can grow,” said Gardner. “Nationally, 4-H is really emphasizing the idea of being ‘Beyond Ready,’ and programs like this help give young people the independence and confidence to get there.”
For Hill, the motivation behind the program is personal.
“My own kids have just come through this age group, and there were times along the way when they said, ‘I wish I had known this,’” she said. “Seeing that and working with youth who may not have the resources at home to learn these everyday tasks really pushed me to be part of this. If we don’t teach the next generation these skills, that knowledge starts to disappear.”
Students who came in unsure or lacking skills left with something simpler and more lasting: the confidence to try.
“Believe in yourself,” said Darnell. “You’re more capable of learning new things than you think. Just because you haven’t done something before, or maybe your parents haven’t either, doesn’t mean you can’t figure it out.”
To learn more about future Adulting 101 workshops or Virginia Cooperative Extension's resources on financial literacy, contact your local Extension office.
