Smart students can get a jump start on financial literacy, business, community building, college information and group excursions through a program called “Smart Bankers Club.”

        The program is sponsored by Fifth Third Bank and SmartMoney Community Services, Partners in Education and the Cincinnati Public Schools.

        About 75 parents and students attended an orientation meeting Monday at the Hughes Center in Clifton.

        Students accepted in the club must attend the financial seminar held weekly at the student's school, find employment or continue with employment if they have a job, and save $25 to $50 a month to their designated “Smart Bankers Club” Fifth Third account. Half the savings must come from employment earnings.

        Savings will be matched by the bank twofold if students complete the program. If a student saves $25, for example, the bank will kick in $50.

        “This is a pilot program that is only operating in Hughes and Withrow High schools now. We hope this will eventually be a model for all Cincinnati Public schools,” said Darrick Dansby, executive director of SmartMoney Community Services.

        Total investment is to be withdrawn in May of their high school senior year, after all graduation requirements are completed.

        To get in the program, students should contact the principal at the schools where the program is operated.

        Families are needed for exchange students from Spain, Mexico, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan or one of the former Soviet republics through World Heritage International Student Exchange Program.

        Jennifer Dings, coordinator for the Great Lakes area, said the students are well screened and are selected based on academic performance, English proficiency, teacher recommendations and personal interviews.

        “We definitely need families in the Cincinnati area,” she said. “I place 70 students in the Great Lakes area which include Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin,” she said.

        Host families can be couples, single parents and families with no children.

        The exchange students arrive shortly before school begins in the fall. They are fully insured and have their own spending money.

        “They expect to bear their share of household responsibilities and be included in normal family activities and lifestyles,” Ms. Dings said.

        “At the same time, the student will be teaching their newly adopted host family about their own culture and language.”

        For more information, call (866) 475-2537 or (800) 785-9040.

        Allen Howard's “Some Good News” column runs Sunday-Friday. If you have suggestions about outstanding achievements, or people who are committing random acts of kindness that are uplifting to the Tristate, contact him at (513) 768-8362; at ahoward@enquirer.com; or by fax at (513) 768-8340.
       

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