Credit union at Otsego High School aims to improve financial literacy

Apr. 24—BOWLING GREEN — This school year when Otsego High School students said they were heading to their local credit union, what they really meant is they were just going down the hall.

Since September, Otsego has had its own student-run branch of Sun Federal Credit Union and ATM.

The credit union, open on Tuesdays and located in the school's Spirit Store, is part of an effort by Sun Federal to partner with local schools in Wood and Lucas counties to teach financial literacy to students.

"We did our first (student branch) back at Clay High School in 2017 and put an ATM in at that time," Dave Wilde, vice president of marketing & business development for Sun Federal, said. "Last year we started our dialogue with Otsego and launched our second one last fall."

On Wednesday, Lake Local School agreed that next year it too will have a student-run credit union branch and in-school ATM.

Sun Federal currently is close to having branches in two more schools next year, potentially giving it five.

Mr. Wilde said the whole effort is Sun's way of generating more financial literacy in the primary counties that it serves.

"At Sun — and every employee of ours can tell you this — our mission is that we're very passionate about equipping our customers with the tools they need for all their financial transactions," Mr. Wilde said. "That includes financial literacy.

"We have 16 school districts in the areas we currently serve. We believe equipping our future leaders with financial literacy today will help them be better leaders tomorrow," he added.

At both Otsego and Clay, students take shifts working at the credit union and helping other students make deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions, such as opening a checking account or obtaining a debit card.

Students do most of the work, but Sun Federal employees are there to oversee and process each transaction. The credit union is set up so that student financial privacy is maintained.

"They take care of the transaction. Everything they do is manual and they take a log. But I have a computer and take care of final transactions," said Gretchen Fisher, a Sun Federal business development officer who works with schools.

Through a partnership with Banzai, a free online financial literacy program that can be used to show the value of money, Sun Federal offers schools interactive and engaging programs that provide practice, real-world experiences, and tools that help make sense of money management.

Sun has provided other methods to teach finance, including in-classroom lessons, a Twitter account to discuss finances, and a monthly discussion topic chosen by students. Topics have included savings and checking, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), student loans, credit cards, credit reports, fraud and identity theft.

Jessica Vollmar, a family and consumer science teacher at Otsego who teaches personal finance, said she was thrilled at having the credit union and Sun Federal resources to augment her classes.

"When I was a student at Otsego we had a bank that would come to our school and I thought it was the coolest thing. Every month I would save my money so I could make a deposit, so I've always been very excited by this."

Students chosen to run the credit union already have a great deal of financial savvy but enjoy being able to add to their knowledge, Ms. Vollmar said.

"The kids love it. They know it's a great resume builder. They are learning so much so it's been a really great partnership with Sun Federal," the teacher said.

At first, most of the Otsego student body thought the credit union was just a mock-up.

"They thought it was pretend, that we were just playing," Ms. Vollmar said. "Once the ATM showed up they said, 'Oh! This is real!'" she added.

The program has worked so well that next fall Otsego plans to expand the credit union's service area to the school district's junior high and elementary schools.

"We'll be the only school district in Ohio to have this kind of program across all our schools," Ms. Vollmar said.