Lessons worth saving

Tylar Brand walked to the credit union to deposit his money.

Coming in he was greeted by a welcomer and helped with his deposit by workers who counted and verified his deposit.

But his credit union has no teller windows, no drive up and no vaults.

He's fine with that. Few of the customers can drive and many couldn't reach a teller window anyway.

Brand is a first grader at Northern Lights Elementary School and his credit union is the Northern Lights branch of Superior Choice Credit Union.

These days many Superior students' first experiences with banking comes within the halls of their elementary, middle or high school.

SCCU has branches at all Superior school district elementary schools and at Maranatha Academy where students and teachers can deposit or withdraw money during the school day.

The first school credit unions were at Blaine and Pattison elementary schools. When they closed a credit union was started at Northern Lights by fifth grade students. That effort died out years ago because the fifth grade teachers felt their students were being pulled in too many directions; now it's started up again with fourth graders in charge, said Melissa Brand of SCCU.

Fourth graders at Northern Lights school reopened their branch Tuesday. The credit unions at various schools are run by student workers under Brand's supervision.

The students work during recesses or study halls for free. What they gain is financial literacy, Brand said.

"The sooner we can teach them about saving the better," she said.

All student workers at school credit unions must apply for the positions and interview with Brand, who then picks students to hire for the jobs each semester.

Once hired, student workers tour an SCCU branch and have training for their new positions.

The first question many students had when they learned about the jobs offered by SCCU was whether they'd be paid. They aren't, but many students applied for the positions anyway, said Lori Foley, Northern Lights teacher.

"We thought it was fun," said verifier Sam Finkbeiner.

"And we're getting ready for real jobs in like 20 years; more like 10," said December Simmons.

It will be nice to see people happy at the end of the year because "they're gonna be happy that they saved up that much," Finkbeiner said.

Some of the Northern Lights Credit Union staffers were nervous during their interviews; others were more confident.

"I knew I would make it because I'm really good at math and stuff," Cerina Cimermancic said.

About 30 Northern Lights fourth graders applied for the jobs, Foley said.

A dozen students were hired to run the credit union -- six for fall semester and six in spring. That's how it works at all the schools, Brand said.

The credit unions are popular at other Superior schools especially at the high school where students have no limits on withdrawals, she said.

At the high school level students and teachers can cash checks and make withdrawals of any size. Elementary school students can withdraw up to $10 with a note from a parent and middle school students can with draw up to $25 without permission.

The credit unions are open for about 30 minutes one day per week at most schools and two days per week at SHS.

Kids can save their money now and use it later to buy a car or pay for college, Brand said.

Tylar Brand, Northern Lights Credit Union's first customer, is Brand's son. He deposited money from his grandparents into his account.

Kids enjoy the opportunity to deposit their money themselves. Some are excited even to deposit a penny, Melissa Brand said.

To make a deposit at Northern Lights Credit Union students must have an account at SCCU. Some of Tuesday's customers learned of the account rule the hard way and were sent packing with change-purses and jars full of coins in tow.

Several other students came to get applications for an account.

"A lot of younger kids think it's cool to bring their money to school and put it in their bank accounts," Brand said.

The kiddy-credit unions are a boon to SCCU as well as for the children because several kids start accounts while in elementary school and keep them going throughout their school years, she said.

Anna Kurth covers education. Call her at (715) 395-5019 or e-mail akurth@superiortelegram.com .