ORLANDO, Fla. – Addition Financial is offering Central Florida students real-world work experience through its high school branch program.
These branches are located in 10 Central Florida high schools.
“These high school branches are run by the high school tellers, and they do transactions just like you would in your traditional branch setting,” said Isabel Ghanoo, the Apopka branch manager. “So the team members who work in the high school branches can apply to do an internship here, at Addition Financial, and high school students would intern at a branch that is closest to the high school that they currently are working at.”
Evan Gabryluk is a senior at Ocoee High School and is interning at the Apopka branch of Addition Financial this summer. He told News 6 he began working at the high school branch during his sophomore year.
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“At the end of my tenth grade year, I saw a flyer for a paid position at the school, essentially a paid class. I looked into it, I emailed the coordinator for it. And then I interviewed for it,” Gabryluk said. “And I found out that the pay position was more exclusive to people who had already been in the program. Either way, I still did it. I ended up in the class with the two head tellers...
Gabryluk added he learned a lot through that role.
“And then eventually, I got asked to interview for the head teller and they asked me if I also wanted to interview for this internship, and I ended up getting it,” he said.
Gabryluk said that working in this branch is a little different than the high school branch, adding he plans to use his knowledge of financial literacy to help those around him.
“It’s definitely been an eye-opening experience because you don’t think of money like that. You think you accumulate it, you spend it on whatever and then that’s it really, but no, it’s just it goes into so many different things,” he said. “There are so many different responsibilities with it. And a lot of people my age and around my age don’t have that level of financial literacy. So being able to have this opportunity and being able to learn all this, all these things I never knew about money, it’s been amazing. And I’m hoping that I can spread this information, to all my friends, all my family who are maybe struggling with it, too. And, you know, hopefully, we can make more people more financially literate.”
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