Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 3, 1995                   TAG: 9509060040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Medium

BY ALL ACCOUNTS, BANK IN HIGH SCHOOL A CAPITAL IDEA

Scott Bowser won't be among them.

True, the 17-year-old will be working behind a counter in his high school cafeteria. But he won't be selling tacos and pizza. He'll be peddling cash.

Taking deposits, cashing checks and opening new accounts will be among the job duties for Bowser and 11 other Waubonsie Valley High School students, employees of the Green and Gold Bank. This is an actual branch of MidAmerica Federal Savings Bank that has been built in the Aurora, Ill., school's cafeteria.

Although it will be staffed by students and open only during lunch periods, it's no mere classroom exercise. The Green and Gold Bank is a real financial institution, approved by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Thrift Supervision.

When it opens for business Tuesday, it will be the only savings and loan association in the nation based inside a school, according to Diana Januska, a spokeswoman for the Office of Thrift Supervision.

``It's a rather rare and novel approach,'' Januska said.

The school-based thrift institution is the culmination of two years of study and planning by educators, students and MidAmerica officials.

The idea is to provide students with hands-on experience in the real world of work, linking their school experience directly to the challenges that await them after graduation.

For years, America's the business community businesses in response to criticism that high school graduates are not ready to go to work. The Green and Gold Bank is the answer that Waubonsie Valley High School and Clarendon Hills-based MidAmerica together have developed.

``We don't foresee it to be a profitable bank,'' said Brenda Panno, MidAmerica assistant vice president and regional branch manager. ``That's not the purpose of it.''

Rather, Panno said, ``We feel that we're helping to make a contribution to having better-prepared adults.''

And it won't hurt to have perhaps hundreds of the 3,200 students in the school open accounts and become potential longtime MidAmerica customers.

As 17-year-old Natalie Ackerman put it: ``A lot of my friends were saying they have savings accounts, but they want to open a checking account. When I told them about this bank, they said, `Well, I might as well open it at MidAmerica.'''

Ackerman and Bowser, both seniors, already have been training as tellers in other MidAmerica branches during the summer. The school's branch will be MidAmerica's 15th location, Panno said.

The Green and Gold Bank is linked to two finance courses that have been developed at Waubonsie.. Most of the student bank employees, who will make $6 an hour, will be enrolled simultaneously in a finance course. The course work and the bank work will appear separately on a student's transcript, with separate grades for each.

Sue Barresi, a 30-year-old branch supervisor, will be in charge of the Green and Gold Bank.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the 20-by-30-foot enclosure in the cafeteria. Three bank counters await what is hoped to be a steady stream of patrons.

The big, black vault is in place in a back room, and four security cameras have been mounted. Soon, the first batch of cash will arrive. The exact amount is a secret, but Barresi confided that it will be tens of thousands of dollars.