James Campbell High School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cI tell the students that HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union is the bus and you folks are the bus drivers. We give you the tools to make things happen and it\u2019s up to you to figure out what\u2019s going to work and what\u2019s not going to work,\u201d said Bryan Yucoco, Financial Wellness Community and Program Lead at HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While banking is increasingly digital and automated, Yucoco said the most valuable skills students are gaining go beyond personal finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSoft skills, conversational skills, how to build rapport, customer service\u2014these are skill sets that artificial intelligence can\u2019t take over. These are skill sets that we\u2019re trying to incorporate into the SOCU,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that one of the most rewarding parts of the program is seeing students grow in confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s truly amazing to see how the students are at the beginning of the school year and how they\u2019ve matured by the end of the school year. Their confidence in public speaking and financial literacy has improved dramatically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u2018Ewa Beach Elementary School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAt \u2018Ewa Beach Elementary School, home of the Bees, Tuesdays have quickly become students\u2019 favorite day of the week. Student managers of the BeeHive SOCU organize prize drawings, run promotions and even create marketing materials \u2014 from posters to commercials to a student-produced music video, according to Susan Nakasone, a former school librarian at \u2018Ewa Beach Elementary who helped launch the SOCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To keep operations running, students write letters to local businesses requesting donations for prizes and supplies, while also visiting classrooms to promote participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is so much fun to watch my students grow and embrace all the aspects related to SOCU\u2014 financial literacy, customer service, marketing, creativity,\u201d said fourth grade teacher Caroline Nakagawa whose students run the BeeHive. \u201cThey are very passionate and keep each other accountable in terms of accuracy and being a respectful worker. Students who start the year hesitant and shy often end up confidently welcoming members to our BeeHive by name and facilitating the deposit process with ease. I think that people tend to underestimate the abilities of a fourth grader, but they gladly climb to the expectations of running a successful SOCU.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nKea\u2018au High School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOn Hawai\u2018i Island, SOCUs are already creating pathways to employment. For over 20 years, CU Hawai\u2018i has partnered with Wai\u0101kea High School for its SOCU, helping to develop young leaders who now serve throughout the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At P\u0101hoa High & Intermediate and Kea\u2018au High Schools, newer SOCUs are beginning to show similar results. CU Hawai\u2018i recently hired its first two HIDOE graduates from these programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is our privilege to partner with high schools across East Hawai\u02bbi to provide real\u2011world work experience and peer\u2011facilitated financial education on campus,\u201d said James Takamine, president and CEO of CU Hawai\u02bbi. \u201cStudent branches exemplify CU Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s commitment to building financial resilience and creating more possibilities for our community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Kea\u02bbau High senior Nathan Dela Rosa, the experience has been invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were a few reasons I wanted to get involved with the SOCU. First off, it gives hands-on experience; second, a deeper understanding of financial literacy and career preparation. Most jobs now ask for work experience; this offers just that and so much more,\u201d Dela Rosa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n'\u012aao Intermediate School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOn Maui, the SOCU at \u02bb\u012aao Intermediate has been operating for three years and continues to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seventh grader Siaone Anitema said the program has helped her better understand how to manage her money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI learned the 20\/30\/50 rule where you have 20% (of your income) going to savings, 30% spending and 50% on daily expenses, like food, rent, bills. This concept helps me save money,\u201d said Anitema, who\u2019s in her first year as an assistant branch manager with the SOCU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Programs like SOCUs are helping public school students across Hawai\u02bbi build the knowledge and skills they need to make informed financial decisions long after they leave the classroom.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hawai\u2018i public school students are getting hands-on experience in financial literacy by running nine student-operated credit unions on their campuses\u2014some starting as early as fourth grade. Known as student-operated credit unions (SOCUs), these are fully functioning, on-campus branches run by students for their school communities in partnership with local credit unions. The program helps students […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":19574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"856,888,893,1022,1619,1622","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,22,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","category-hoohaaheo","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":30,"label":"Highlights"},{"value":22,"label":"Ho\u2018oha\u2018aheo"},{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Keaau-HS-1024x512.jpg",1024,512,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Kim Yuen","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/author\/kimberly-yuenk12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":30,"name":"Highlights","slug":"highlights","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":30,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":30,"category_count":4,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Highlights","category_nicename":"highlights","category_parent":0},{"term_id":22,"name":"Ho\u2018oha\u2018aheo","slug":"hoohaaheo","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":22,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":74,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":22,"category_count":74,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Ho\u2018oha\u2018aheo","category_nicename":"hoohaaheo","category_parent":0},{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":316,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":316,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 10:55:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19553"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19579,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553\/revisions\/19579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/sm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Waipahu-High-SOCU-1024x768.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Campbell-High-SOCU-1024x746.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-9.09.15-AM.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Keaau-HS-SOCU-1024x760.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Iao-Intermediate-SOCU-1024x648.jpg\")