Sangha of Auspicious Companions

These Kansas City Students Run a Credit Union From Inside Their High school. Yes, with Real money.

A CSD Credit Union branch inside Winnetonka High School in the North Kansas City School District is the second student-run credit union in Missouri. The idea is to provide more “real world learning” and financial literacy to young people so they can learn the financial tools they need, says CEO Edward Watts. Students and staff can open savings accounts and checking accounts and make investments. The credit union also offers a youth-specific debit card, with spending limits. Winnetonka students who are at least 18, or who have parent or guardian permission, can also sign up for a loan to use on purchases like their first car. The student workers are fully bonded and have undergone regulatory compliance training. “So when we mean it’s real hands-on learning, it is just that these students are doing exactly what our full-time staff do at our other branches,” Watts says.

Be The Change

Today, notice a young person in your life-a teenager, a college student, someone just starting out-and ask them a real question about something they’re learning or working on, then listen as though they might actually teach you something. As Alexus Palacios reminds us, “I just want people to know that us kids can do stuff that adults think that we can’t.” The simple act of asking with genuine curiosity, rather than patronizing interest, signals that you see their growing capabilities as real, not theoretical-and that shift in how we look at young people might be exactly what allows them to step more fully into their own competence.