User Qualifications :

• Any student at Freshman Academy in Clovis, NM

Details :

Kym Moore, Education Specialist/Student’s Program Administrator for High Plains FCU, introduced students at Freshman Academy to a simulated stock market game. It is taught as part of financial education curriculum for students in their Careers Class. Each student starts with $100,000 to invest and each selects a portfolio of stocks and buys and sells based on real market conditions. Moore uses a free on-line virtual stock exchange at www.howthemarketworks.com. She states the kids have fun while learning about the stock market that helps them develop good financial skills. “They even trade while at home and are teaching their parents how markets operate,” says Moore.

Moore also promotes CU Succeed, a teen club and website offered by High Plains FCU, in the classroom. She uses modules from the program to teach kids about balancing a checking account, financing a car, even finding a job. High Plains FCU sponsors a student-run credit union at the Academy, called Wildcat Credit Union. Selected students at the Academy volunteer their time as tellers, marketing reps, and security guards. It’s the marketing reps jobs to market the credit union to other students. “They advertise the credit union and tell other students what is necessary to join the credit union,” says Moore.

As part of their Careers Class, students had to develop resumes. These resumes were used for the selection process for jobs at Wildcat CU, notes Moore. While she is unable to pay the students, Moore tries to find other ways to reward them for their work. In April a field trip is planned for the Wildcat CU staff to Albuquerque. Employees will tour the Credit Union Association of New Mexico and a brand new high school that features a full service credit union for students, staff, and outsiders who wish to use the branch, as well.

Program Results/Statistics :

• As of March 2010, High Plains had 250 CU Succeed accounts
• Half belong to students at the Wildcat CU

Additional Information :

“Stash Yo Cash” is a rap song students came up with after they played the stock market game in 2009, according to Moore. The song was actually recorded in a professional recording studio during the summer by the students in Clovis, New Mexico. Moore notes that the students of the Clovis High School Media class, under the direction of their teacher Shawn Carter, and a consultant for High Plains FCU, Pam Atherton, are working with the students on a video as one of their main projects for this school year. They will be shooting the final take at the credit union in April. “This has been one of my favorite projects to work on with students,” says Moore. “They are eager to contribute to the project because it involves one of their favorite components – music.”

Moore notes that getting the teen market o join the credit union can be challenging. “But with the addition of the Wildcat Credit Union and the financial education projects at Freshman Academy, our teen membership numbers are steadily increasing.”