Feb 27, 2008 7:00 am US/Eastern
High School Bank Run By Students, For Students
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Students at the Fordham Leadership Academy have teamed up with North Fork Bank to create a bank for students and faculty.
CBS
An innovative program is bringing real life job training and opportunities to high school students in the Bronx.
Students at the Fordham Leadership Academy have teamed up with North Fork Bank to create a bank for students and faculty.
"Okay, who's cashing my check?" asks Principal Richard Bost.
For 10-hours a week, Bost can do his banking from the conveniently located branch.
"It gives our kids the opportunity to do something that they never would have been able to do otherwise," boasts Bost. "Here I have 10 tellers who are actually working in a North Fork Bank branch, opening accounts for kids, talking about financial literacy to other kids."
These student bankers had to apply for the positions, submit resumes, and go through a complex interview procedure.
"We felt that the Bronx didn't necessarily get its fair share of private resources coming in to private and public partnerships," said Stacey M. Cooper, Senior V.P. North Fork Bank. "We have a strong branch network here, [so] we knew we could support it well."
For in school support, these student bankers have opened about 80 accounts.
The interns working at the school bank ask potential customers "what kind of account [they] would you like to open - checking or savings," as well as the options and benefits of opening an account Sk Rashid told CBS 2.
"I learned [how to] be responsible," said Jeffrey Inoa. "You work with people's information. Here in the school, I work with the students, outside of the bank we're friends, when they come in, it's strictly business."
"They talk in a manner to their classmates that makes it more understandable than if I was the one gong out an delivering the message," said Branch Manager David Isaac.
"The goal is to have kids use this as a resource, to think about money management as part of their lives," added Cooper.
But "it's not simple, there's a lot of responsibility, there's a lot of financial issues, privacy issues, and they have been outstanding in everything in terms of everything they put through," Bost said.
There are other cutting edge programs in place at the Fordham Leadership Academy. Bear Sterns mentors about 80 other students.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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