10 months ago
Inside Hamburg High School you can now find a brand new Meridia Credit Union Branch.
Students are getting class credit and introduced to the business world all at the same time.
"A great opportunity for everyone here," said 10th Grader Bonnie Ball.
The High School branch is completely managed and operated by 32 Finance Academy students and is open during lunch periods.
"There's no teacher involvement at all," said Ball.
The branch already has 100 customers and counting and only offers savings accounts.
Money can be withdrawn from an ATM located right in the school's hallway. But before a customer can get an ATM card, they have to take a seminar.
"We teach students how to safely handle their money, know how much money is in their account so they don't bounce checks or they don't overwithdraw on their accounts," said 10th Grader Samantha Bugaj.
So why did Meridia decide to do this?
"Credit Unions are not-for-profit so we're not in it to necessarily make money off of this. It's not a money-making endeavor. We've seen a lot of problems rising with the economic downturn and we felt it was a good opportunity to get in and get kids started at an early age," said Meridia Credit Union CEO Mike Hoffman.
Click on the Video link above to watch Thea Tio's report.
