Personal banking took on a new meaning Wednesday at the Emporia State Federal Credit Union.
Second-graders participating in the Wonderful Walnut Wednesdays after-school enrichment program toured the bank as a wrap-up event for a study of money they had been doing intermittently throughout the school year.
Susie LeGault, ESFCU marketing director, worked with second-grade teacher Donna Russell and WWW coordinator Sarah Wyrick to create a money unit to help the children, who are just beginning to understand the differences in coins and the value of money.
“This has been so much fun,” LeGault said, as she waited for the children to march from Walnut School to the bank.
Within a short time, 21 second-graders, Russell, Wyrick and a student teacher trooped into the bank.
LeGault had set up a large glass jar of coins and asked children to guess how much money was in the jar. The top three guessers closest to the total later would win commemorative gold dollars as prizes.
“How much do you think it’s worth?” she asked them.
“Millions!” “Trillions!” Kazillions?” the children called out.
They wrote their names and guesses on pieces of paper, slipped them into a container and went on to other activities while the automatic coin-counting machine tallied up the coins.
The children divided into two groups to go on separate tours of the bank, which was built in 1919 as home to the Warren family. Parts of the bank still retain a hint of a homey atmosphere.
Bank Manager Angie Miller led her group through a walled-in former stairway that she called her secret passage to the board room.
Seated in cushy leather chairs circled around the table, the children voluntarily took on roles of the bank’s board of directors.
“Let’s do business here, people,” a dark-haired girl said forcefully as she pounded her fist on the table. “This is an awesome bank. I wish I lived in this house.”
Each group visited the vault to see computers and the alarm system, and toured the drive-through areas, offices and the board room. In the vault, teller supervisor Joni Vaughn showed them how the bank can check currency through a black light machine that reveals a white stripe to prove it is not counterfeit.
“Do you have a fake dollar?” a second-grader asked.
“I hope not,” Vaughn replied.
Soon after the tour, the group gathered back around the coin-counter to find out who had won the guessing game. The actual guesses were more realistic than the shouted-out estimates, and ranged from $25 to $1,020. Alessa Torres was closest with a guess of $194. Teacher Donna Russell came in second, and Isaac Gavrilys placed third. LeGault handed each of them a gold presidential dollar encased in a commemorative holder.
LeGault has acted as a resource for the class during the months-long process. She visited the school to talk to the youngsters about money and brought packets of coins for the children to familiarize themselves with.
LaGault recommended the teachers have a look at the Web sites of the U.S. Mint and Kansas Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.
“They both have great Web sites, where you can download lesson plans, and easy things to put together,” LeGault said.
“We’ve sort of become a business partner at that school,” LeGault said.
Several of the ESFCU employees for about three years have been reading books with children during lunch hours. When PTO money ran low, the bank also provided bus transportation for Walnut students to attend the city’s 150th anniversary celebration last month at the civic building.
Bank manager Angie Miller is a member of the Walnut site council.
“It’s kind of like our neighborhood school,” LeGault said.
The bank also has provided checkbooks and checks to Emporia Middle School students to help teach them “financial literacy” — managing money and balancing checkbooks.
“We’re trying to develop ourselves to be a resource for the five-county area,” LeGault said.
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