The newest “branch” of West Gate Bank® opened its doors for the first time on January 22, 2015. In honor of the grand opening, a LCOC ribbon cutting event was held on January 21st. The student branch is located at Lakeview Elementary, and its recent opening is the culmination of a six-month planning process involving Lakeview school faculty, West Gate Bank® and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Center for Economic Education. The branch is modeled after the highly successful bank-in-the-school projects around Lincoln.

The student branch is designed to:

– introduce the economic concept of savings early and reinforce this idea throughout the elementary curriculum;

– demonstrate that saving should be part of a student’s personal finance plan for his or her future;

– increase parental involvement through savings and banking activity.

The student branch is open once a week during the school year for savings deposits only ($1 minimum), and it is staffed by an actual West Gate Bank® Branch Manager and student tellers. Incentives will be provided as the students reach various savings goals. Upon graduation, participating students will be able to open their own savings accounts or withdraw the money.

For more information about the saving project, contact Brooke Rogers at (402) 323-8903 or Tammie Fischer at (402) 472-2333.  For more information about West Gate Bank® visit www.westgatebank.com.