Credit Unions in the News

When Reach Higher contacted Park Side CU to host an educator externship, the credit union was happy to help one lucky educator learn about the #CUDifference in the community. SVP HR & Employee Development Maureen Bryan connected with JoAnne Strong, a business teacher at Linderman Education Center in Kalispell, to learn Joann’s interests, then organized activities to help her gain as much exposure as possible in the three days she’ll be at the credit union.

Through the externship, JoAnne is gaining insight into careers at financial institutions — and necessary hard and soft skills — to present to her students during the school year. JoAnne has already spent time with branch operations staff, within the contact center, with ITM staff, and in August, she’ll spend time with accounting, support services, and marketing staff. Each area provided a short agenda of their day with JoAnne, so everyone was on the same page and knew in advance what would happen.

Park Side CU listed a few of their reasons for participating:

• The externship provides an opportunity for them to connect to local high schools to promote a career in financial institutions to those nearing graduation
• It helps them connect to the community and help out a great cause
• It gives them an experience they hadn’t had before along with an opportunity to improve themselves when it comes to internships/externships

So far, the credit union has received nothing but positive feedback, and they would love to have the opportunity again.