SPENCER — Tioga State Bank’s (TSB) new student-run branch at Spencer-Van Etten High School in northwestern Tioga County does more than provide a convenient place for students, faculty, and staff to bank. It deepens the bank’s connection with the community it has served for 160 years and provides an opportunity for TSB to offer even […]
SPENCER — Tioga State Bank’s (TSB) new student-run branch at Spencer-Van Etten High School in northwestern Tioga County does more than provide a convenient place for students, faculty, and staff to bank.
It deepens the bank’s connection with the community it has served for 160 years and provides an opportunity for TSB to offer even more financial-literacy education to students. The branch, located in its own space just off the main library of the high school, formally opened on Jan. 12. Jenna Gillette, a universal banker in TSB’s Spencer office, oversees the in-school branch. It’s open Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon on days the school is open. Students Kaili Root and Jacqueline Brown staff the office. “They actually handle all the transactions that come in through the school,” Gillette says of the student employees. The students can manage basic banking operations including deposits, check cashing, and balance inquiries. Both were trained just like any other TSB employee, Gillette added. Spencer-Van Etten High School approached TSB about having a branch, Susan Allen, TSB’s senior VP of retail banking, says. Principal Melissa Jewell asked about a school-based branch around last August, Allen says, and they began looking into the idea. TSB had to reach out to state regulators for approval. “We had a few technological things we had to make sure would work,” she adds. “We had to make sure we could to that safely and securely.” Once the bank knew it would work, it was full steam ahead. School officials suggested students they felt would be a good fit to staff the branch. “We are a community bank, so we were excited to be able to offer an additional channel,” Allen says. TSB has educated students on the basics like how to write a check or track balances for years, she says. Having the branch in the school allows for more education and even peer-to-peer education as students learn from those who operate the branch. The partnership goes beyond just banking, Allen adds. TSB is collaborating with the school’s art department on a contest for a co-branded logo for the branch, and students interviewed Gillette about the branch for an article in the school paper. “The school has been a fantastic partner,” Allen says. The new in-school branch has also proven a plus for faculty and staff at the school, Gillette notes. “It’s very convenient for them,” she says. This is especially true for those that oversee school clubs and groups that have accounts, making it easy for them to deposit funds or obtain petty cash, for example, she adds. The branch has been only open a few times as of press time, but Gillette is hopeful that as the weeks go by, students will check out the branch and, hopefully, become account holders. Headquartered in Spencer, Tioga State Bank has $547 million in assets and more than 100 employees. The bank operates 11 branches in Binghamton (2), Candor, Endwell, Newfield, Owego (2), Spencer, Van Etten, Vestal, and Waverly.