Bank-At-School Program Makes Students Wiser—And Richer - program at Arthur Dixon Elementary School in Chicago, IL - Brief Article

Ebony, Jan, 2000 by Kimberly D. Davis

AT first glance, it looks like any other bank. You're greeted at the door by a smiling receptionist. The office floor is filled with contemporary, well-organized desks for company executives to conduct the essential business of the day. And two-teller stations are available for customers to make those all-important deposits and withdrawals.

But take a closer look and you'll see that this bank is different. Take a closer look, and you notice that the smiling receptionist is 12-year-old Krista Wilkins, a seventh-grader, and the customers at the teller stations are actually grade-school students making deposits and withdrawals with real money.

At Arthur Dixon Elementary School on Chicago's South Side, young people are getting an early taste of the high-powered world of finance with a bank-at-school program designed to teach them the merits of saving, budgeting and investing. The Dixon-Eagle Community Bank is a branch of Seaway National Bank, one of the oldest Black-owned and Black-managed banks in the country.

The purpose of the program is to educate young people about financial matters, not only savings, but also investing, borrowing and lending, says Walter Grady, president of Seaway.

"I am particularly proud of this program," says Grady, who has seen bank-at-school grow to include at times more than 10 schools in the Chicago area. "I'm proud of the success that it has had and the benefit it extends to these youngsters."

The 750-student school also focuses on entrepreneurship. Those efforts include not only the bank, but also an African import-export business, and ventures in desktop publishing, video production, and landscaping and gardening, says Joan Crisler, Dixon's principal. This spring, the school plans a new enterprise--a farmer's market that will sell vegetables from the gardens on school property. It's all part of an instructional program intended to bring the curriculum to life.

The idea, says Crisler, is to show the children that they can apply what they learn in the wood-paneled, art-filled walls of Dixon to the real world. The faculty at Dixon also aim to help the young people discover their "creative gifts" in ways that will allow them to be successful in their adult lives.

"We had rich civilizations in the continent of Africa," says Crisler, who's been principal at Dixon for more than 13 years. "So, it was just natural that we would teach our children about that richness, about that enterprising characteristic that is innate in all of us."

Charles Ross, a personal finance expert who lives in Atlanta, says that kids want to learn about money, but the opportunities for them to know and understand the world of finance aren't always available. With this program, and others like it, young people are better prepared for a financially successful future, he says.

"When you think about all the things that can impact your life, you're always going to have to deal with money and what it can buy," says Ross, author of God's Plan for Your Financial Success. "By these kids getting a head start, it will dramatically impact their lives later on if they catch hold of that desire to be successful in managing their money."

Located across from the principal's office in the decades-old school with well-manicured lawns and colorful landscaping, the bank is open to any student in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth to open a savings account with as little as $10 and an approved application. The students also have the chance to explore banking careers by applying for work as a receptionist, teller or even bank officers, who are elected to one-year terms at the start of every school year.

"I decided to work at the bank because this would be a good thing for me to learn how to work with money and deal with people," says Wilkins, dressed smartly in a navy blue suit. "Being a receptionist, people come in and it's different situations for-different people. You get to deal with all the situations, so later in life you know how to deal with whatever happens."

Jarrell Chatman, also a seventh-grader, plans to become the bank's comptroller, a position he held last year. "I took the job [last year] because my mom works at Bank of America, and I was thinking, well, maybe I could try to be like my mom a little bit," says the 12-year-old, who works with computers and accounts. "I tried the bank job, and I like it. I guess she likes her job, too."

The main goal of the bank and the various other enterprises is to prepare students for making a positive contribution to society and to increase their self-worth, Crisler says. "What we certainly hope to accomplish is to help develop adults who are knowledgeable, skilled, marketable, confident, goal-oriented, motivated, and who will be equipped to make positive contributions to their own communities as well as to the global community."

Ross, who is also the author of Your Common Sense Guide to Financial Planning, says the idea of becoming better citizens goes hand-in-hand with practicing good personal finance. Particularly in the Black community, where credit problems and debt are prevalent, successful money management is important. The earlier you learn, the better off you are.