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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2008 /  Catholic credit union sets up student branches

by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
May 16, 2008

Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic Shannon Daly (center), of Catholic Parishes Federal Credit Union, helps sixth-graders William Kawsky and Victoria Kiers work the credit union software at All Saints School in Canton. Both All Saints and St. Valentine School in Redford Township now have student branches of the credit union.

Canton Twp. — Kaitlyn Birecki, a fourth-grader at All Saints School, is thinking about furniture for her college dorm room. Her classmate, Jacob Grady, imagines a motor scooter. Other students are thinking about cars and gas money, toys or video games.

Whatever their goals, the young students already have started putting their money toward them, using their new accounts with Catholic Parishes Federal Credit Union. The Livonia-based nonprofit, which serves members and relatives of members of 18 Catholic parishes, has established student branches this year at All Saints School here and at St. Valentine School in Redford Township.

"I like saving my money, and I think it's a lot of fun having a bank at our school," Kaitlyn says. "I can see my savings grow and keep it until college and use it then."

The in-school credit unions are student branches in the truest sense — sixth- and seventh-graders serve as tellers, accountants, marketers and customer service representatives. They're employed on a volunteer basis and supervised by the Catholic Parishes Federal Credit Union staff. At All Saints, the credit union is set up in a classroom every other week. At St. Valentine, students use an already-existing branch of Catholic Parishes Federal Credit Union that is located on the school grounds. The accounts they open are the very same kinds of savings accounts their parents would have at the credit union. They can even access their accounts through Catholic Parishes Federal Credit Union's branches in Livonia, Redford Township, and in Canton Township.

For the schools, the arrangement provides students a real-life lesson in finances.

"The life skills that it teaches the students are extremely important," says Joyce Mann, principal of St. Valentine. "And that's part of education, as well — not just learning math, but taking information and applying it to the real world."

For the credit union, setting up shop in Catholic schools is rooted in its mission statement to serve members of Catholic parishes.

"Our charter is to serve the members of the parishes, initially," says Peter Bagazinski, CEO of the credit union. "Once we do that, how can we build on that relationship? If we start early with students, it really solidifies that relationship."

Eventually, Catholic Parishes Federal Credit Union hopes to establish student branches at other Catholic schools within its membership, including St. Robert Bellarmine in Redford Township, and St. Genevieve and St. Michael in Livonia.

The schools can determine various aspects of the credit union's services within the student branch. For example, students at All Saints, at the administration's request, are restricted to making deposits, while St. Valentine students can withdraw funds as well as deposit them.

So far, the student branches have worked well, says Shannon Daly, the credit union's member service and student branch coordinator.

"Learning to save at a young age, especially with today's economy, is a great idea," says Daly, who adds that younger kids, especially, enjoy watching their savings accounts grow.

To help them get into the spirit of saving, Catholic Parishes Federal Credit Union offers incentives for opening accounts. They've given away pencils and have held small raffles for their young customers.

Daly says the result — students excited about saving their money for the future — have been gratifying.

"They're taking initiative to save their money to get what they want, which really shows us that we're doing our job," she says.

Student volunteers had to take extra initiative, as well. As with most jobs, the students had to submit resumes and interview for their positions. The student-employees seem to enjoy their jobs, too.

"It sounded really fun and it's a good chance to work with money," says seventh-grader Victoria Kiers, a teller at All Saints. "And it could go on our school record and show we're responsible."

Her classmate and fellow teller William Kawsky said the job is "pretty hard at times," but he still enjoys it.

"It's fun to do because it's going to help you with a job when you're older," he says.

At St. Valentine, seventh-grader Nicolette Skrzycki says it's satisfying to put her talents to use for a company.

"It's very exciting because you're in an actual work place and if feels like you're actually taking a part in something bigger than yourself — something that will help other kids," Nicolette says.

Her classmate, Emma Rust, says working at the credit union helps her learn more about working on a computer and about relating with customers. Computers and math are her favorite subjects, she says — and she recognizes that volunteering with the credit union offers a not-to-common opportunity to hone those skills.

"It feels really good," Emma says. "Not a lot of kids our age get this chance."