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MembersFirst CT Federal Credit Union News

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285 Broad St., Meriden, CT 06450
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Full Service Credit Union providing low-cost banking services. Anyone that lives or works in Meriden, Wallingford, N. Haven, Cheshire, Hamden & N. Branford are eligible to join. Special Small Business Partnerships availabe.

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Students at Maloney High School will get a lesson ...

November 13, 2003

Maloney marketing and business teacher Scott Aresco came up with the idea and used a grant to get the project started. Aresco said the new office has teachers at Maloney excited, because they will be able to conduct bank business without having to go to the main credit union building at 285 Broad St. And Aresco's students get the chance to apply what they learn in his class.

Jim Ieronimo, director of adult and career education for the school district, worked with Aresco on the logistics. "It is a student service and a learning opportunity for them." Ieronimo said. "What we are trying to do is have a banking experience so students have the opportunity to learn banking from the banker's side."

Students under 16 who do not work can open a regular savings account or a holiday or vacation account. Students 16 or older who have jobs may apply for a checking account or, with a cosigner, obtain a credit card, Ieronimo said.

The credit union's Maloney branch will be open several hours each day. "Our job is to bring some financial services and financial education to students," Ieronimo said. "I think that too often we give students the opportunity to handle money before we teach them the ways they should be handling it. It is easy to get into trouble financially." He added that because it is easy to get a credit card, many of which offer discounts and special gifts, many students get into debt too quickly.

Ieronimo, Aresco and other school officials have been planning the in-school credit union for nearly a year. School Superintendent Mary Noonan Cortright wrote in an e-mail that Aresco's project is another good example of hands-on teaching. "The credit union will afford the students the opportunity to learn how to balance a checkbook, how to save money, how to plan ahead for things they might need - clothes, cars and college," Cortright wrote. "And they may learn to appreciate how difficult it is for their parents to juggle all of the needs of their family along with their own personal needs."

Member News is provided as a service of the Midstate Chamber of Commerce and is also featured in the monthly "Chamber News" newsletter mailed to members.