South Haven Boys & Girls Club Takes a Field Trip to REGIONAL Federal Credit Union

Through exploring different career options, children and teens at the South Haven unit of the Boys & Girls Club of Porter County have been participating in a program called “Career Launch”. Career Launch is a program where teens and pre-teens get to experience different work atmospheres and go through a typical day for the worker.

Through the last year, the members of the club have gone to Buffalo Wild Wings, Noodles & Company, Portage 16 IMAX and 105.5FM Radio Station. During their most recent trip, they visited the Portage branch of REGIONAL Federal Credit Union.

During their visit to the REGIONAL FCU, members got a tour of the building along with the inside scoop of different positions. Ashley Cytlak, a seventh grader at Fegely Middle School, wants to work at a bank and deal with money, but is not sure what exactly she wants to do.

“I like counting money and the trip made me realize how important the counting of the money in the drawers is,” Cytlak said. “It was a lot of fun because I had never seen a bank on the inside before.”

Realizing a future career was not the only thing that the members realized during their trip. They were told of an incident that had occurred earlier in the day where the police were called. Because of this the others realized that it can be a risky job.

“Working in a credit union or bank could be risky because there is always a chance of a robbery. Even if we were trained for something like that, it would be something difficult for me to handle.” said Brooke Healy, a sophomore at Portage High School.

Learning about different careers is important during a student’s high school and middle school stages because that is when they tend to become aware of the different job fields that they can enter. According to the Career Launch adviser Zach Griffin, it is important that the members experience different fields of work so they can realize what is out there and help them choose one.

Through learning about how a credit union operates, Vice President of Branch Development Irma Torres-Cantu believes that tours and experiences like this bring awareness to the community. REGIONAL is not new to bringing awareness to its nonprofit business.

Through Portage High School and Willowcreek Middle School the credit union established a system at the schools where the students can have an account with them and are able to deposit money, or if they are 16 years or older, add a debit card to their account.

“Bringing awareness to the community about the offers we have is always something we are doing,” Torres-Cantu said. “It is always rewarding to be able to go to the South Haven Boys & Girls Club or Gabriel’s Horn to educate them about saving money or even getting loans.”

According to Torres-Cantu, REGIONAL is always there for its customers, whether they are helping them with a transaction or a loan for a car.

“I think the kids learned, even though they were a little shy on questions. Once they warmed up they were fine,” Torres-Cantu said. “Maybe one of them found their future career today."