Creek Valley Elementary, Adams Bank & Trust Open Student Branch

Creek Valley elementary students will soon have a program in their academic arsenal. It is a program that could benefit students for the rest of their lives.

The Nebraska Council on Economic Education partnered with Creek Valley Elementary School and Adams Bank & Trust to offer a hands-on opportunity to learn about banking. As part of the program, Creek Valley Elementary students and staff, representatives of the Nebraska Council on Economic Education and local Adams Bank & Trust representatives held a ribbon-cutting this morning (Wednesday, Jan. 23) to announce the opening of the bank’s student branch at Creek Valley.

“Our role is to help schools plan engaging economics and personal finance education that sticks. The in-school savings bank is a program that provides a real life, hands-on experience that provides an opportunity for students to better understand the importance of savings, understand where money comes from and its value, and even acquire some job skills,” said NCEE President Jennifer Davidson.

The opening of the student branch is the result of a six-month planning process involving school faculty, NCEE representatives and bank personnel.

Transactions at the student branch will be limited to savings deposits for Creek Valley Elementary School students.

The goal of the partnership between NCEE, Adams Bank & Trust and Creek Valley Elementary is to provide students with opportunities to learn about money management and how financial institutions work. The student branch is designed to introduce the practice of saving money at an early age and reinforce the concept throughout the elementary curriculum. It will also demonstrate to students that saving money should be part of their personal financial plan and it will increase parental involvement in a child’s life through savings and banking activity.

According to an Adams Bank & Trust news release, the student bank is modeled after “highly successful bank-in-the-school projects at 27 other programs operating across Nebraska.”

“We are very excited for the opportunity for our students to learn about savings, how financial institutions operate and to become better savers themselves,” said Creek Valley Elementary Princial Tessa Fraass.