School Board approves plan to establish student-operated bank

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 18, 1997

Bemidji's next great entrepreneur may get their start in high school as the Bemidji School Board unanimously approved Monday a proposal to establish a student-operated bank at the High School next year.

The bank -- which will be operated by students in a two-term model bank class -- will open in the fall, and it is believed to be the first of its kind statewide, according to Superintendent Rollie Morud.

The bank proposal also received official approval from the state Legislature, which will allow the district to operate it as a pilot project for two years. And the school's partner in the venture, First National Bank of Bemidji, also received approval from its regulatory agency, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in late May.

First National employees will act as consultants for the students as they make lending and deposit decisions, and bank employees will help in teller training, credit decision making and educating students about bank functions.

"Some people in St. Paul had a lot of fun with something simple," Morud said in jest at Monday's meeting. "We're growing government a little bit here, but it's an excellent experiment for kids to learn banking and finance."

According to High School Principal Ev Arnold, the school's Student Council has offered to provide the bank with start-up funds, and it will be staffed entirely by business education students who will be supervised by either a school employee or a First National Bank employee. It will probably be open during the school's lunch hours.

According to Jane Singer, a BHS business teacher overseeing the project, the bank's operating guidelines were created by students, school officials, the School Board and First National officials.

the students involved will be required to file an annual report summarizing the bank's operations with the state's commissioner of commerce.

Singer said in an April interview the creation of the bank was an outgrowth of a banking course taught at the High School and based on a model of a student-operated bank in Dickinson, N.D.

According to state Sen. Dave Ten Eyck, DFL-East Gull Lake, who was instrumental in moving the project through the Senate, if the project is successful, other schools in the state would be allowed to establish future student-operated banks.

"This gets students involved in financial activities. They get a background in financial matters they need to be good citizens and to operate in society," Singer said. "Financial institutions are one area that almost everyone has to deal with in their life."

The deposits made in the High School bank will not be insured by First National Bank or through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

In other business, the board:

• Reviewed the district's 1996-97 activities and recognized the teams and individuals who earned the right to compete at state-level events.

• Heard a "Share the Pride" presentation from the Riverside School staff.

• Heard a Facilities Committee update concerning discussions about a new High School or Lincoln Elementary School.

• Granted an extended leave of absence to teacher Duane Goodwin.

• Approved the submission of two grants and the acceptance of one grant.