Our student-run Royal Credit Union offices inside Memorial and North High Schools have been providing internship opportunities for students since 2002 and 2005, respectively, through the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Youth Apprentice Program. Since then, we have provided over 100 high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to work for Royal, earn school credit and a paycheck.
Students work through the summer, after school and on weekends at a community branch, as well as over the lunch hour when school starts. Students inside our school get real life financial experience by transacting on their accounts, and our student workers provide invaluable peer to peer financial education. Recently, Regis Catholic Schools in Eau Claire joined the Youth Apprentice program. We have hired our first student from Regis, and are excited to have the opportunity to expand our financial education programs.
Student workers learn invaluable professional development, completing their internship with a certificate in finance, but when it comes to professional development, Royal doesn’t stop at the teller role. We focus on all areas of professional development by encouraging students to cross train in other areas of the credit union. We also provide our students an opportunity to apply for a spot at the Wisconsin Credit Union League’s Government Affairs Conference each year. Students who are selected spend a day at the Capital Building in Madison advocating for credit unions by speaking directly to our elected officials.
We are looking forward to another successful year with our newest group of students! For more information on our school sites: Our School $ense Locations Empower Students (rcu.org)
