INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS TO OPEN EDUCATIONAL SCHOOL BANKING OFFICE AT NEWBURYPORT HIGH SCHOOL
Newburyport High School (NHS) students will have a unique opportunity to learn firsthand what it takes to be a real-life banker when the Institution for Savings opens its newest Educational School Bank within NHS in January of 2012.
The NHS Educational School Bank was unanimously approved by the Newburyport School Committee earlier this year. Planning and construction is already underway to renovate existing space adjacent to the Clipper Café, the school’s cafeteria. Like the Bank’s established school banks within Triton Regional and Ipswich High Schools, the NHS School Bank will be a fully functioning banking office, offering checking, savings and other personal banking products and services to students, staff and the public for several hours a day when school is in session. The Educational School Bank will be staffed by fully trained NHS students and supervised by a bank employee.
“We are pleased to take our longstanding commitment to the education and financial literacy of Newburyport students to the next level by opening this new school bank within NHS,” said Michael J. Jones, President and CEO of the Institution for Savings. “Our experience with our two existing school banks in Ipswich and Triton is that this innovative venture gives high school students a stronger sense of financial responsibility while also teaching them much-needed skills they need to work in a real-life professional environment.”
For the first year student bankers will be trained and scheduled through the school’s school-to-career internship program overseen by NHS staff member Cheryl Zaino. Future plans are to expand the program to incorporate a classroom component similar to the programs the Bank underwrites at Triton and Ipswich, beginning with the 2012-13 school year.
“We’re thrilled that the Institution for Savings has stepped up to offer this exciting opportunity for our students,” said Newburyport Superintendent of Schools Marc Kerble. “Given the current challenges in our global economy it is clear that teaching our students critical lessons in financial management and literacy is vital to their future well-being. The Institution for Savings continues to be a great partner in this endeavor, and we look forward to expanding our current partnership with this new venture.”
“This venture is a prime example of the commitment of our school to work with community businesses and organizations that will allow our students the opportunities available in career partnerships,” added NHS Principal Michael Parent. “This bank internship partnership will assist our students in meeting our mission to prepare our students to make informed personal, life, and career decisions. I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with the Institution for Savings.”
The NHS Educational School Bank is one of several financial literacy initiatives launched by the Institution for Savings in recent years in local public schools. Earlier this spring, the Bank organized the area’s first Credit for Life Fair for area high school juniors, an interactive nationally recognized half‐day event when 11th graders assume the role of 25 year old professionals and make financial choices about everyday expenses such as housing, transportation, insurance, groceries and more. Mr. Jones, along with Executive Vice President Kimberly Rock, annually conducts ‘Get Smart About Credit’ assemblies for high school seniors on the important of good credit. And bank employees teach third and fourth grade students saving skills during ‘Teach Children to Save’ workshops at local elementary schools.
“As the oldest local community bank in the region, we are well-equipped — and very willing — to help students develop personal financial management skills that they will use throughout their lives, said Mr. Jones. “It fits in nicely with the Bank’s comprehensive financial literacy initiative we launched last year to educate different segments of our community about financial skills, and we are happy to be able to bring it to our hometown high school.”
