AUGUSTA — A new Maine Education Association Credit Union branch at Capital Area Technical Center will dispense financial lessons — and money.
Real money.
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“Kids want to do real things,” Augusta schools Superintendent Cornelia Brown said Tuesday at a grand opening for the new credit union office. “They want to handle money, interact with customers in a way that is important and meaningful for them.
“This isn’t a made-up bank account. This is not Monopoly money. This is real money.”
The credit union will be a centerpiece of CATC’s new Business Careers Academy, which Director Scott Phair envisions will teach students how to start their own businesses or work in finance.
Students in the new Business Careers Academy will work in the credit union branch to learn about banking.
Three students have expressed interest in working in the credit union and will likely start next month, Maine Education Credit Union President Richard Lachance said.
“We wanted to be able to reach out to our young people,” said Lachance, a 1976 Cony graduate. “Here we are.”
Phair said all 430 CATC students will go through a new program on financial literacy provided by the credit union, which will teach things such as how to balance checkbooks.
The CATC location is a full-service branch open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.
On hand for Tuesday’s opening ceremony, state Education Commissioner Steven Bowen said the credit union is an example of the kind of partnership between business and government the state needs to foster.
“The governor would add that building these partnerships is huge,” Bowen said. “We’re going to be doing more learning in the community. Anywhere, anytime learning. When you have a facility like this, students don’t even have to leave the campus to have real world experience.”
The new branch, which has its own entrance just to the side of the front CATC entrance, has two teller stations and an automated cash dispenser, which Lachance said increases security and reduces the potential for a handling error.
The automated cash dispenser is behind the counter and will be used by the student tellers.
Students working in the credit union will undergo criminal background checks, Phair said.
The credit union branch has its own security system. It does not offer credit cards. Nor does it have an ATM at the technical center, though it does have a computer terminal for customers to do self-service online banking.
The credit union currently has two other branches, both in Augusta. A similar proposal was halted in 2007 because the zone in which the technical center is located didn’t allow commercial businesses with public access. City councilors voted unanimously in June to change the zone to allow financial services at CATC. Construction started in August.
“This is a message for everyone,” Mayor William Stokes said of the multi-year effort to open the branch. “Don’t give up.”
CATC takes students from eight schools: Cony; Gardiner Area High School; Winthrop High School; Richmond High School; Erskine Academy, in South China; Hall-Dale High School, in Farmingdale; Maranacook Community High School, in Readfield; and Monmouth Academy.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
kedwards@centralmaine.com
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