While students were out for fall break, school was in session for Appling Middle School teachers.
They were the ones learning, and the lesson went beyond the classroom.
"We have roughly 75 percent of our students that experience living at the poverty level or even below," Principal Shandrina Griffin-Stewart said.
That's why she made it a point for her staff to part in a "poverty simulator" to better understand the students.
"I was excited to go through it, because I really want to feel what my students go through on a daily basis," 8th grade teacher Shevetta Thomas said.
She and 44 other staff members got a new identity of a person living in poverty. They lived through a month in 12-minute weeks.
Their identities were all different ages, ethnicities, and living situations. Some had children. Others had health problems.
All dealt with their own poverty issues in addition to dealing with the daily challenges life throws along the way.
Mary Alice Morgan is the Senior Vice Provost for Mercer University's Service Learning Department. She usually runs the program with Mercer students.
"The goal of the poverty simulation is not only to help one another understand, but actually to try to encourage community action and social justice," Morgan said.
Some of the teachers learned more about themselves.
"This was a real-life experience for me. It was reliving some of the things and understanding now what my mom was going through to make sure ends were met," 7th grade teacher Teleah Jackson-Walker said.
Morgan said the kit for the Poverty Simulation costs around $500, which is paid for by Mercer.