Students' lesson is money in the bank

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Tatevik Markarayan is like any other bank assistant manager. She greets customers as they approach the teller window, oversees the opening of new accounts and helps other employees close up shop at the end of the business day.

There's just one big difference: She's 10.

Tatevik is one of the 14 fifth-graders at Sunrise Valley Elementary School in Reston who operate Sunrise Savings, a school bank that gives students an opportunity to open savings accounts and earn interest on their deposits. Sponsored by Cardinal Bank in Tysons Corner, the school bank is designed to promote financial literacy at an early age.

"I thought it would be fun and it could help me pursue a career when I get older," Tatevik said as she stood outside the teller window to assist the bank's young account holders. "I used to not think it was a fun job, but now that I've applied, I think it's a really fun job."

Open Tuesdays from 8:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. -- when school starts -- the bank offers students a 5 percent interest rate on savings accounts with a minimum opening deposit of $10. Student employees process the account information, which then is entered into the system at the Reston branch of Cardinal Bank, where the money is stored.

Dressed in matching "Cardinal Kids Club" T-shirts, students logged the bank's 80th account yesterday after just three weeks of operation.

"For this generation, when Social Security and some of those issues are up for discussion, it's really important for them to understand the importance of saving," school principal Beth English said. "We know that habits are formed very, very early."

Any of the school's 500 kindergarten-through-sixth-grade students are eligible to open accounts by turning in a completed form with a parent's signature. Students deposit money independently but must visit Cardinal Bank with a parent to withdraw money.

"I'm saving probably to buy a laptop," said Eric Kim, 10, a bank teller. "Are you going to open an account?" he asked a student wandering outside the window.

The bank at Sunrise Valley is one of four school branches sponsored by Cardinal to address what some have described as a financial-literacy crisis.