Whiz Kids: Banking on Their Future

Nonnewaug High School students are getting some real world financial experience in the confines of their own school building.

Since 2008, Nonnewaug High School has had a full service, student-run branch of the Naugatuck Savings Bank right down the main hallway tucked in next to the school store.

There are currently eight bank tellers ranging from sophomores to seniors who spend their lunches and/or their study halls tending to the financial needs of their peers and the staff and faculty at their school.

The job is an unpaid internship for the students chosen to participate. The bank is open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and offers the school population the ability to deposit and withdraw money, set up accounts and get financial information on things like money markets and mortgages.

"I love working at the bank," said Chrysanthe Kaloidis, a senior who is currently completing her second year of working at the bank.

With a course load that includes finance and business classes, the chance to work at the bank is a great experience for her, she said.

Kaloidis said her experience as a teller has taught her more than she ever realized about the many intricacies of banking.

"I learned so much about how it can help me in the future, how to manage my finances," she said. "I tell everyone I know to open an account here."

Devon Bares, the NHS business teacher who helps oversee the student-run bank, agrees that this is a hugely valuable tool for both the students who run it as well as the others who use the service.

"It is good to bring the real world into the high school," Bares said. "And this is as real as you can get."

Money Managing

Getting students to learn the fine art of managing their own money even before they are off on their own at college is invaluable, Bares said.

"High schools are trying to promote financial literacy at a younger age," he said. "And it makes it easier when a student run bank is part of the school environment."

The students apply for the bank internship and are chosen based on a variety of things:

• Academic eligibility
• Scheduling availability
• Their course interests, like business and math classes

Once chosen, they complete a 40-hour training session at a bank branch over the summer where they learn the ropes. Then the students take one or two shifts per week to cover the hours that the bank is open.

There are opportunities for students to work at of some of the area’s Naugatuck Savings Bank branches over the summer.

Tiffany Swiatlon, the Naugatuck Savings Bank representative who oversees the school bank while it is open, has been there since the bank and school partnership began in 2008. She is there every Tuesday and Thursday to help the tellers and any students, faculty and staff with financial questions.

"It’s nice because we have a branch in Woodbury too and a lot of parents are pushing their kids to open their own accounts here," Swiatlon said.

As for the student tellers, Swiatlon said, watching their financial knowledge grow during their internship is definitely well worth it.

Sophomore Kassi LoPresti, who is in her first year working at the bank, says she wanted to get involved because of her interest in the business field as a career.

"I thought that working in the bank would be an amazing opportunity to get hands on learning experience," she said. "So far, I love working in the bank. In addition to the experience I will gain at school, Naugatuck Savings Bank also gives me an opportunity to work summers at a branch outside the school. Though it is not guaranteed everyone gets a job, the possibility is there."

Student tellers Matt and Jonathan Nelson say they feel fortunate to be a part of this banking team because not many schools have this program.

Matt, a junior, was able to take the school bank experience into the real world this summer as a teller in the Southbury branch of Naugatuck Savings Bank. He said he gained excellent work experience learning the ins and outs of a financial institute and getting great experience working with the public, all while earning a paycheck.

His brother Jon said he is hopeful that by the end of his sophomore year internship, he can also secure a summer banking job.

Trend Setters

Nonnewaug High School is among the first high school in the state to have the student-run bank, Bares said.

Since then, Bares says he is seeing more and more high schools adding them into their school environments.