Ruben on the Road: Bank teaching students to be community leaders

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Ruben visits a local bank in the area and learns how a new student banking advisory board is helping them advance into the future.

Kelly Preston, program director of the Banking Advisory Board, says this is the first year of the Banking Advisory Council. What FirstBank Southwest wanted to do was actually get the perspective of senior high school students and college freshmen and sophomores.

“So we actually went through and interviewed over 40 students across Amarillo, Bushland and Canyon and Amarillo College, and selected 15 students to participate in the program,” said Preston.

The board is wanting to get each of the students’ perspective on how they perceive banking and how the bank can evolve the services that they do in order to better meet the generation, says Preston.

“And in return, what we’re going to provide to them is leadership skills and opportunities of being able to network and interact within the community,” said Preston.

Ja’Zhana McFall, senior at Palo Duro High School, says there’s not really a lot of financial literacy in schools.

“Having a program that is just so immersive and dedicated to show students about networking, finance skills, and helping us in our future, it’s just amazing that we got blessed with such an amazing program,” said McFall.

Amarillo College sophomore Evan Adams says he thinks the program is important for students to understand what they desire in banking and what they’re looking for as they go into the future and start their own careers.

“I think it’s also important for us to learn what it is that we want, because some of us don’t fully know or understand what exactly we want out of banking as well,” said Adams.

Pranav Nambiar, Amarillo High senior, says he heard about it from his econ teacher. Nambiar said he may want to get into the financial world when he grows up, and he thought the program would be a good opportunity.

“So we get different perspectives from like, from different backgrounds. We have people from Amarillo High to Bushland to wherever, and I just — the more perspectives you have and the more diverse the program is, the better I guess,” said Nambiar.

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