"It is really a very comprehensive, very involved, very busy three days because we cover a lot of information and the youth get exposed to a lot of different things within a very compact period of time," said Ethan Bates, community coordinator for Achieve Homeownership, a Housing Partnership program. "It's really an approach to learning more about where their interests lie rather than being herded into a cookie-cutter field."
While all up students are welcome to attend, Bates said the camp primarily targets youth from diverse households, particularly first-generation Americans. "The reason being is that generally, in greater Minnesota, there aren't a lot of programs that specifically target those youth, particularly youth who have recently come to the United States," he said. "And they are some of the most at-risk of either not finishing high school or not really pursuing anything beyond high school."
Bremer Bank was one of the program’s tour sites, where students had the chance to see all the bank’s different departments, including insurance, mortgage lending, personal banking, business and agriculture.
“These young people asked questions about what's good to know about working in a bank, where is the money kept, how much does it cost to rent a safe deposit box, do they need to be good at math, how does FDIC insurance work?” said Lois Schmidt, Nonprofit Resource Specialist at Bremer Bank. “We were happy to host this tour, and hope to see everyone again soon!”
The students spent about an hour and a half at the bank, meeting with Bremer Bank President Cindy Verschaetse and personal banker Hayley Hennen. They also watched the "Bremer Story" DVD. “Watching the movie sparked several questions about Otto!” said Schmidt. “I heard one student comment, what a generous man!"
Posted by Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar
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