BRIGHT FUTURES BANK REOPENS

Bright Futures Bank at Lancaster Middle School reopened for its second year of operation. Featured above are: (seated – l to r) Teller Brittany Jones, Branch Manager Trainee Sophie Deskin; Teller Olivia Beck; (standing – l to r) Myrna Foster, Bank of Lancaster’s School Bank Supervisor; Marketing Officer Bethany Milstead; Branch Managers Thomas Morning, Jr. and Skylar Kellum; Teller Trenae Henderson; Kayleigh Webster, who won the Name the Bank Contest last year; teller Tashet Curry, Marketing Associate Laurie Smith; Branch Manager Trainee Moira Hull; and LMS Principal Craig Kauffman.

The new students in training to operate Bright Futures Bank enjoyed a recent tour of Bank of Lancaster. The young people visited the Bank’s corporate offices, the teller department, the operations center, marketing, Bay Trust Company, and human resources. Peggy George, Vice President and Director of Human Resources, presented the student bankers with their Bright Futures logo shirts. (l to r) Peggy George, Moira Hull, Sophie Deskin, Laurie Smith, Brittany Jones, Olivia Beck, Tashet Curry and Trenae Henderson.

Bright Futures Bank made history during the last school year as the Lancaster Middle School and Bank of Lancaster partnered to open the Northern Neck’s first school bank. The Bank, run by LMS students under the supervision of Bank of Lancaster, is now open for its second year of operation.

Skylar Kellum and Thomas Morning, Jr., last year’s student bankers, ran Bright Futures during the first part of the new school year while new 7th and 8th grade student bankers were being trained by Sally Clark, Bank of Lancaster’s Vice President and Director of Training.

“Bright Futures Bank is a great tool to help LMS and us as community bankers to teach these young people the importance of learning to save,” states Bank of Lancaster’s Senior Vice President Hazel Farmer. “Just as important, though, are the life skills we are sharing with the students who are working the bank. They not only work with money, which has to be accounted for each day; but they are working with schedules, responsibility, and communications. Plus, each student banker learns about the importance of privacy and confidentiality in the banking world and signs a Code of Ethics. During the hours the Bank is open, the student bankers miss class and they are responsible for making up the classroom work. We are very proud of the young people who have accepted these responsibilities and they are all doing a wonderful job. With the continued support of Lancaster Middle School, we envision a long and rewarding partnership as Bright Futures lights the way for LMS students.”