GECU has been part of Pebble Hills High School since the 2017-2018 school year as a partnership with the Sparta Business Academy. The partnership allowed students to get hands-on experience in financial services, marketing, and professional development. As of this current school year the GECU branch inside of the school has now closed.
“Some students in the past were able to complete practicum hours,” Miguel Bolanos said. With the closing of the branch it took away the ability to be able to finish hours and gain experience while working at an actual GECU location within walking distant of their classes.
Even though the GECU branch was inside of the school, Secretary of SBA, Alexa Flores feels that the opportunity that was taken, was by surprise.
“They never really gave us much information,” Flores said. “They used to be a big partnership with Mrs. Gomez, but it kind of drifted after, so we never got that hands-on experience that we were promised.”
Students in the future or currently in the program will never really get to gain the experience students before them got due to the closure.
Not only did the closure effect students and the program of SBA, but it also affected teachers that would use the branch for their personal banking.
“It’s very convenient to have not only a teller here, but also the ATM here on campus,” yearbook adviser Christopher Silva said. “It helped save me a trip to my financial intuition to transfer funds to pay bills and I really take advantage of it.”
With the closure of the branch the ATM is now out of services so anyone looking to withdraw or deposit money won’t have the ability to do so.
“It’s kind of disheartening that you’re robbing students of this learning opportunity for them,” Silva said. “We were one of the few schools that were able to have this on campus and now that it is over, it makes you appreciate what we had.
According to Bolanos, the partnership is technically not officially over. One of the bigger partnerships we have with them is the VITA program.
“This program runs before tax season where GECU comes and trains us as SBA teachers and student volunteers to prepare tax returns for community members,” Bolanos said. “Even though the physical branch inside the school has closed the partnership with GECU is still not over.”
All Photos by Henry O’Brien and Alyssandra Vallecillavelez
