In an effort to improve financial literacy among youth, Hillside High School in Durham, North Carolina, has opened an actual bank branch on the school campus. The partnership with Woodforest National Bank provides student internships and is a hands-on learning center for students to learn banking skills and finance. Woodforest, while based in Texas, has over 80 branches in North Carolina. The bank’s senior vice president, Jessica Valentine, says that it is the first branch that they have opened in a high school.
According to WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio online, students, staff, and families will be able to use the school branch to open accounts, make deposits, and take care of their banking needs. A staff was hired to oversee the branch, including a manager and service representative. Valentine added, “We’re here on a weekly basis sort of providing any follow-up training or questions or things like that. So, we’re just supporting the staff that’s here, the kids.”
In addition to classes and internships, some students have actual jobs at the bank. Senior Kiara Lowther is not only a student at Hillside, but she is a Loan Officer as well. She has high praise for her finance class and banking experience, and tells how they taught her to balance her money and not waste so much “on fast food and a lot of pointless stuff.”
Read more at: http://financialjuneteenth.com/high-school-students-open-an-actual-bank-on-campus-to-teach-financial-literacy/
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