SALISBURY — Candy Hovis was a bit surprised the morning of April 27 when a six year-old brought three items to her register and presented cash for the purchase. Gracie Hauser, a second-grader at North Hills Christian School, set a record by being Hovis’s youngest customer in the four years she has worked at Food Lion.

“It’s good to learn at their age how much money groceries cost,” Hovis said.

Gracie and seven additional students from a second grade math class were each given $6 to make purchases. The teacher instructed the group to choose items they would like to purchase to have lunch with a friend. Students used the grocery circular that came in the mail to select the items they wanted before they came to the store. Students wrote down prices and added the sales tax to make sure they would stay within their budget.

Angela Rodriguez bought Sundrop soda, Sourpatch kids and a Klondike Oreo Bar. Her classmate Alec McGrail used his $6 to purchase bagel bites, fruit punch and Klondike ice cream. Corbin Cross thought four party pizzas for five bucks was a good deal, and quickly put them in his basket. When it was time to make the purchases, some of the students went to a register, while others chose to do self-checkout.

On the bus trip back to school, Keegan Merrell opened his bag of doughnuts and shared with everyone, while listening to Dylan Carter say, “this trip was awesome.”  Jayden Hilton had $1.36 left over from his $6, and pondered what to do with his change. The group decided to combine all of their change and purchase ice cream for the other second grade math class, which did not get to attend the trip.

“That was so much fun! I would like to do it again,” student Jackson Hall said on his way to his next class.