Recently, FedChoice Federal Credit Union and FedChoice Charitable Foundation hosted 90 fourth-grade students and teachers from Cora L. Rice Elementary School for a tour of the credit union’s headquarters location.

In honor of the 90^th Anniversary of FedChoice, the entire team welcomed the 90 bright young minds to the credit union. The students’ time at FedChoice was packed with highlights such as visits to each department where the staff stepped in to explain how the credit union serves its 25,000 members. The FedChoice team taught the children about debit cards, loans and loan repayment, and branch operations. They even had the opportunity to speak with a Board Member. A key tenet of the Foundation is financial literacy, so the visit included an interactive budgeting workshop. The budding savers budgeted their way through needs and wants, earning a gold dollar for their efforts.

Additionally, the group learned a bit about the credit union governance structure from Brett Noll, President/CEO of FedChoice and Chairman of the Board of the Foundation. Several students had a chance to sit in the President’s chair and be Credit Union CEO for a moment. The students streamed into the Boardroom as Mr. Noll stressed to the kids that in the credit union world, even the President reports to someone. He mentioned the Board of Directors is his boss and ultimately, everyone at the credit union works in the best interests of its members. Noll was thrilled with the time spent with the children, stating, “Since our founding, we have been committed to empowering our members with the financial knowledge and tools they need to succeed. It was an honor to share this day with the next generation of young learners, and we hope this experience will spark their curiosity and inspire them as they continue their educational journeys and seek career opportunities.”

The Foundation is strongly committed to bringing financial literacy and education programs to local communities and was happy to partner with the Cora L. Rice Elementary School, a Title I community school in Landover, MD, to engage students with activities centered around savings, budgeting, investments and other important financial literacy skills to enable them to build a foundation to financial independence.