By Jennifer L. Fredrick

MHS Career and Technical Education Coordinator

Since 2010, Simplicity Credit Union has operated a branch at Marshfield High School (MHS). The branch provides MHS students and staff convenient access to financial services. The office is located off the south commons hallway and is open school days from 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. It also allows community access to banking while attending school events through the onsite ATM.

In the past seven years, there have been a variety of activities that provide information to students about financial education. Credit union staff collaborates with teachers to facilitate classroom presentations about balancing checkbooks; budgeting and saving; buying a car; preparing finances for college; understanding credit reports, including what can hurt or help one’s credit score; identity theft; and the differences between banks and credit unions.

Simplicity Credit Union also has a trivia question of the day. Students at the high school enjoy participating in this activity while at the same time learning about financial decisions that will impact their lives.

In addition to full-time Simplicity Credit Union employee Ashley Landwehr, MHS also has at least one finance Youth Apprenticeship student employed at the branch every year to provide work experience in the banking industry and lay the foundation for a future career.

A parent of one of the students working in the credit union stated, “Simplicity has repeatedly devoted time, effort, and staff to work with MHS students and introduce them to the world of finance. I am so impressed that a business like Simplicity Credit Union makes the effort to teach my child more than is necessary to be a teller.”

Not only are students exposed to financial literacy through an onsite Simplicity Credit Union branch, they are also required to successfully complete a financial literacy class while in high school. Kyle Kilty, a senior at MHS, recently commented about his experience, “This class has taught me how important it is to manage your money with different types of savings accounts, loans, insurance, and more. I’m glad MHS required me to take a class about finances to better prepare me for life after high school.” He also mentioned the convenience of having an onsite ATM and ease of transactions through Simplicity Credit Union’s high school branch.

The School District of Marshfield is thankful for the business-education partnership with Simplicity Credit Union.

To learn more about Simplicity Credit Union’s Marshfield High School branch, contact Jennifer Fredrick at fredrickj@marshfieldschools.org.