Student-run Gesa Credit Union branch opens at Ridgeline High School, ‘We’re teaching them how to be independent’

A partnership between Central Valley School District and Gesa Credit Union means students can now do their banking business without leaving their school.

Ridgeline High School became the home to the Spokane Valley district’s second Gesa branch in a school, operated almost entirely by a gaggle of high schoolers introducing their peers to the wild world of personal finance.

The branch opened in January, the credit union paying for the construction of a window facing the hallway in Career and Technical Education teacher and Future Business Leaders of America advisor Kelli Demarest’s classroom.

Kids can create a Gesa account right from their school hallway, where they can go on to cash checks, deposit and transfer, and withdraw money from their accounts.

They don’t need parent permission to open an account, empowering them in their own finances.

“At this age, you’re like, ‘I’m ready to be kind of on my own, but I’m not totally ready to be on my own,’ ” Demarest said. “So this is a safe way for them to do it, because they can’t overdraft, it’s right here at school, it’s very convenient.”

During lunch three days a week, two paid students open the window for the entire student body to do their banking business within the walls of their school.

The credit union pays two Ridgeline student interns to oversee day-to-day operations at the branch, selected from the ranks of the FBLA club.

A handful of students volunteer as tellers in the bank.

“We’re teaching them how to be independent,” said Scarlett Lambert, Ridgeline junior and Gesa intern. “And that they can be independent.”

If a student does enough transactions – five on different days – Gesa will deposit $100 in a student’s account.

A Gesa spokesperson declined to say how many new members have signed up at the school, but students said business is booming, often with a line at their branch during lunches.

That’s likely because of the promise of free money, they said.

There are safeguards for students: They can’t open credit cards through the high school branch and they can’t overdraft.

Upon opening accounts, Gesa adds $5 to students’ checking and savings accounts.

The branch is a piece in the district’s efforts to emphasize financial education in their schools. In a 2022 district survey representing 1,000 parents and caregivers, respondents ranked financial literacy the highest in a list of important education areas for students.

For Rylan Rivera, Ridgeline senior and Gesa intern, it’s enlightening to see how little his peers know about banking and empowering to be the one guiding them.

“I get to help them out with their finances, learn to actually know what they’re doing with their money,” Rivera said. “It’s been kind of surprising how many people didn’t know anything about banking.”

By putting the bank in their school, it instills in kids early a sense of responsibility and ownership.

“I think it’s empowering,” Demarest said. “I think it gives them a sense of independence in having something that’s their own, that they have control over, because I know when you’re young like they are, there’s not a lot that they have control over, but this is theirs.”

In addition to their paid work in their school branch, interns work at the Gesa branch on Sullivan Road outside of school to further learn banking concepts. There, they deal with car and home loans, mortgages and more complicated deposits, the interns said.

Rivera doesn’t plan to pursue a career in finance or banking, although it’s a good backup job in which he’ll have experience.

A finance job was never on Lambert’s radar; she’s interested in forensic chemistry, but her experience at the credit union has opened her eyes to forensic accounting. She’s particularly interested in investigating cryptocurrency fraud.

There’s also a Gesa branch in Spokane Valley Tech, as well as 14 others around the state, mostly concentrated in central Washington. Central Valley plans to open a branch in each of its high schools, although district spokeswoman Marla Nunberg wasn’t sure when they’d open.