ʻĪao Intermediate School students make visit to Hawaiʻi USA FCU for potential career paths

ʻĪao Intermediate School eighth graders, who work at their school’s student-operated credit union, took their learning off-campus this week when they traveled to Oʻahu for a day visit. The group of 11 students visited HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union (HawaiiUSA) to get a glimpse of how the business operates, and to meet its executive team.

HawaiiUSA’s Kahului Branch Senior Business Development Officer, Syliva Ho, coordinated the opportunity as a way to get students real world exposure to operations in a credit union. The newly formed ʻĪao Intermediate School student-operated credit union opened this past February, so the trip came at an opportune time for the students. 

Travel was also made possible by a partnership with Southwest Airlines.

“As partners, HawaiiUSA and Southwest Airlines saw an opportunity to support public school students and give them a chance to broaden their horizons,” said Sylvia Ho. “Especially the neighbor island students, they don’t often have a chance to travel to Oʻahu to experience the business or government sectors.”

Before heading to HawaiiUSAʻs main branch, the students had prior stops including to the State Capitol to meet Maui Representative Troy Hashimoto and Governor Josh Green. The students also stopped at HawaiiUSA’s oldest established student-operated credit union at Waipahu High School to interact with high school students and see how their program has evolved. 

The credit union has helped open seven student-operated credit unions in Hawai‘i schools statewide. ʻĪao Intermediate is one of their newest programs. 

HawaiiUSA student-operated credit unions provide an opportunity for students to gain real-world work experience while assisting other students and faculty with simple bank transactions if they are a HawaiiUSA member, or to encourage opening new accounts.