Students and staff at the new Athens High School will be able to enjoy all sorts of amenities at their new state-of-the-art school, including their very own bank.

Thanks to a partnership with First Metro Bank in Athens, students and faculty will be able to cash a check, open a savings account or make deposits at the student-run branch.

First Metro Bank has pioneered the school banking concept throughout the state and already has locations in Muscle Shoals and Florence high schools.

When Gia Russell, assistant principal at AHS and director of career technology for the district, heard how successful student-run banks were in other parts of the state, she decided the idea would work well at the new high school.

After looking at several student-based banking programs in the area, she settled on First Metro Bank, which opened a branch in Athens last December.

“First Metro has a long history of outreach,” she said. “They have a reputation for being experienced in student banking and they had some things we were interested in.”

The school bank

The Athens bank will cover the operating costs for Golden Eagle branch, including a cash vault, teller drawers, a security system, computer with internet access, teller training, a temporary onsite employee, teller stamp for each teller, shredders and the construction of an ADA-compliant teller line on school grounds.

Russell said they haven’t determined where the bank will be located in the new school, but they will chose a highly visible, accessible area.

Student tellers will undergo a modified teller training program where they will learn banking principles such as privacy regulations, robbery prevention, counterfeit identification and customer service. Russell said somewhere between five and 10 students will be hired to staff the bank during the 2018-2019 school year.

“Although the students won’t be paid, they will be paid in experience,” Russell said. “The experience they will get working at the student bank will be invaluable and will look great on their resumes.”

Both students and school employees will be able to use the bank, which will be open for business during the school’s new power hour. For safety reasons, students will be limited to $25 transactions, while school employees will be limited to $50 deposits and withdrawals.

“This is going to be a full-functioning bank that will provide our students with real-world experience,” Russell said. “It will work in conjunction with some of our other classes so that we can immerse our students in the vocabulary unique to business and finance.”

According to Alana Parker, education and training director for First Metro Bank, the program is designed to further financial literacy education for all students.

“The bank isn’t just there to teach the student tellers about fiscal responsibility, we put it on school grounds so all of our students will have a chance to learn the importance of money management.”

“Part of our goal is to prepare students as they leave high school and go into the workforce or onto college,” she said. “Having their own savings and checking accounts, knowing how to balance their checkbooks and manage their money will give them an advantage long after they graduate.”