Bank of the Bear: Giving Students Hands On Banking Experience

When McMinnville High School students sign up for the “Banking Business” class, they often think it will be an easy elective. To the surprise of many students, the class is far from easy - but it's also far more engaging than your typical trigonometry class.

For the past 10 years, Wells Fargo has partnered with McMinnville High School to bring students a practical and educational experience by “hiring” them to manage, market and maintain their own bank branch in the high school. Named the Bank of the Bear in honor of the school mascot, the school bank branch employs students to handle real banking transactions. Students and faculty with Wells Fargo accounts can make deposits and withdrawals and even cash checks at the two teller windows located in the school's commons area.

Through the Banking Business class, the students learn how to process these transactions using classic banking machines, without the aid of computers.

And they've had a great success rate; the bank hasn’t had a loss in 10 years. But the true success is found in the students themselves. “We’ve seen students who were on the edge of not even coming to school suddenly motivated to not only come to the banking class, but also to improve their attendance and performance in all of their classes,” recalls Cindy Johnson, Wells Fargo’s Community Bank President and one of the founders of the Bank of the Bear.

Students in the class have gained a real sense of ownership and have become very motivated by their work at the bank. As Johnson recalls, “There was one student I remember who was very disengaged with school. He had poor attendance and grades. But he became dedicated to the bank and his school work really improved. He even got a job with a local bank right out of school.”

Students must pass an interview process and are “hired” for bank positions in operations, marketing or as tellers. The students run the bank with supervision from teachers and staff, from scheduling tellers to running ad campaigns. Johnson notes, “The class is more about running a business than running a bank.”

National studies have shown that young people lack the basic financial skills necessary to ensure their future success, making programs like Wells Fargo's Bank of the Bear all that more important. In fact, a recent national study conducted by the Jump$tart Coalition® found that when high school seniors were asked 31 questions about basic financial concepts, only 48.3 percent of the questions were answered correctly.

Financial education at the high school level is crucial, and this experiential educational opportunity provided by Wells Fargo is going a long way to making sure the students of McMinnville have the best chance at a successful future. Wells Fargo has also created a free financial education program called “Hands on Banking” that teaches youths, students and adults in English and Spanish about many aspects of money management. Wells Fargo team members use the program, which can be found online at handsonbanking.org, to help present seminars to students and adults throughout Oregon.

Contact your local Wells Fargo branch to see about implementing one of these financial education programs in your own community's schools.