Kiski Area High School students to get experience at credit union office

Students at Kiski Area Senior High School will get a chance to gain real world financial experience next year.

The school board approved locating a branch office of the Pheple Federal Credit Union at the high school starting in the fall.

“The credit union is actually training our kids and paying them to work,” Superintendent Misty Slavic said. “Our students will go through training this summer.”

Slavic said, although the arrangement is not an actual part of the curriculum, it does involve life skills like managing money, which complements parts of the curriculum.

The branch won’t be there just for the Kiski Area students and staff, according to Slavic.

Asked if the public will be able to use the office for credit union business, she said, “If they want to, yes, but they won’t be able to have access to the building.”

She said that’s because the branch office has a secure “mousetrap” type configuration that allows the public to enter the office but blocks access to the rest of the building.

“We have the space right now, it’s just a matter of moving tables and chairs around,” Slavic said.

Security was a matter that school board member Michelle Schmidt touched on in voting to approve the agreement with Pheple, formerly the Westmoreland Community Federal Credit Union. The name is short for “People Helping People.”

“I would definitely want to make sure that it stays secure because we don’t want to have people walking through the building,” Schmidt said. “I also like the idea that we can cancel it at any time.”

Kiski Area apparently will become only the second school district in Westmoreland County to feature a Pheple Credit Union branch.

“Penn Trafford has been doing it for a while,” Slavic said.