Banking program teaches hands-on money management

Date: 11/23/2011

Nov. 23, 2011

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Editor

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Thursday mornings are a special time for students at Tatham Elementary School. It’s when Westfield Bank Branch Manager Jamie Smith pays a visit to help them get a hands-on lesson in handling money.

Starting around 8:15 a.m., Smith and her team of student-tellers set up a table in the school gym, preparing to process this week’s bank deposits from fellow students enrolled in the bank’s Ready, Set, Grow savings program.

“They love it. They come prepared,” Smith said of the 32 children currently participating in the weekly banking program.

Smith explained that when a student joins the Ready, Set, Grow children’s banking program at the school, he or she is given a small zippered bank bag that contains a register card for recording deposits, special deposit slips and stickers for decorating the bag. During banking time, the student tellers help their banking customers to count their deposits and fill out deposit slips.

“Both tellers and depositors are learning to count cash and coins,” she noted.

The tellers then enter the deposit into the student’s register and calculate his or her new balance.

Smith said she and parent volunteer Andrea Gariepy oversee each transaction to ensure accuracy. Smith then takes the completed deposits to the branch for final processing.

“I’ve seen deposits of as little as 50 cents and a much as $50,” Smith said.

Though the Westfield Bank program isn’t the first student banking opportunity at the school, Smith said it is the first that offers students an opportunity to participate in the process first hand.

“In the past kids brought their deposits to the office [and] the bank would pick them up to process them,” she said. “Here, they see it from start to finish.”

She added that the Ready, Set, Grow banking program also offers students — and young depositors who open an account at a Westfield Bank branch — an option of viewing their deposits online, with parental help. Westfield Bank Marketing Manager Cathy Jocelyn said in addition to the online viewing option, the program has a webpage that “gives [young bankers] a monthly, age-appropriate fun fact about banking and some games to play.”

Tatham Principal Paul Heath said though the banking program doesn’t figure into any teacher’s lesson plans at this time, he supports what he sees as an enrichment activity because “it shows kids how money is used in real life.”

He added, “When they get to the money part of our math lessons, that’s the real life connection they have.”

Debbie Gardner can be reached by e-mail at debbieg@thereminder.com