The new Summit Credit Union branch at East High, shown here on opening day, Feb. 1, is staffed by students; each service comes with a lesson in money management.
For Tyrone, cashing his checks from Ella’s Deli where he works used to be a hassle. He had to sign his checks over to his mother, who would have to cash them and then give him the money.
Getting his wages became even more difficult after Tyrone moved out of his house because he wasn’t getting along with his mom. (Tyrone’s last name is being withheld to protect his privacy.) But thanks to a new Summit Credit Union branch that opened in his school, East High, Tyrone now has control of his own money.
“It’s a way to let kids manage their own money instead of having to go through their parents,” Tyrone says of the bank. “Ella’s Deli doesn’t do direct deposit, so before I had to sign my checks over to my mom, but now that I’m not really in contact with her I needed an account for myself.”
The new Summit branch is a project aimed at increasing financial literacy among students in a place students spend a majority of their days.
David Kruchten, the business education teacher and school store manager, approached Summit after learning that both La Follette and Memorial had branches. The East High branch opened on Feb. 1.
“Financial literacy has always been a focus of mine and the other business teachers,” Kruchten writes in an email. “Having Summit involved allows financial literacy to permeate into other curriculums as well. They have been great about helping promote good money habits without specifically mentioning or pushing Summit.”
The East High branch operates throughout the lunch hour and provides a plethora of services, from making deposits and withdrawals and cutting checks to opening new accounts — each accompanied by a lesson in money management and a quick explanation of how each process works.
“Those getting the biggest benefit are really the students,” says Hans Wiedenbeck, the branch’s manager. “There has historically been a huge gap in how much financial education is available to students. We found that a lot of younger people really struggle coming out into the world understanding how money works.”
To ensure that students are getting the most out of the new bank, Summit hires them as tellers, entirely in charge of running the branch.
Shelby Brendler is one of those interns. A senior at East High School, she learned about the opportunity in her career internship class with Kruchten.
“What really made me decide to apply was the fact that Summit does so much to give back to the community, whether it be through financial education, scholarships or volunteering, and that sounded like something I wanted to be a part of,” says Brendler via email.
In order to apply, Brendler had to interview like a teller at any branch would. Once selected, she and her fellow interns went through two weeks of training that included class discussions on financial literacy and practicing bank tasks in Summit’s mock teller room.
“Having a credit union in a high school is a good thing because it reaches students who may not otherwise have access to a financial institution,” Brendler says. “High-schoolers are getting to the age where they have to start taking responsibility for their money and start making smart financial decisions for their futures, and that’s where having a Summit branch really helps.”
Kruchten plans to take full advantage of the new branch, working it into his personal finance course.
“I plan on utilizing Summit to discuss everything from basic savings/checking accounts, to credit applications, to retirement planning,” Kruchten says, predicting that other programs, like East’s AVID college prep program, will use the bank to discuss saving and paying for college. “It’s a safe and easy way for students to learn how to save and budget their money.”
