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Speaker 2: Welcome to Mondays with Maria, presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Here's OCPS Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vasquez.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hi everyone. I have a new guest with me today, Kevin Miller. He is the CEO of Addition Financial. Thank you for being here Mr. Miller, and I am so grateful that you will be sponsoring Mondays with Maria.
Kevin Miller: Well, thank you for having me, and we are very excited to be the sponsor of Mondays with Maria. It's a fantastic program and Addition Financial couldn't be happier to be the sponsor.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Kevin, the partnership between Addition Financial and OCPS goes back as far as I can remember. Can you tell us a little bit about how it all started?
Kevin Miller: Yeah. We were founded by Orange County Teachers almost 90 years ago. Our original name was Orange County Teacher's Credit Union. So it's really always been key to us to be a partner with Orange County Public Schools.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yeah, and that's an interesting story. I've heard you tell it where the, the first bank was very, very small, where they kept the, the, the monies and it, it was quite interesting that history.
Kevin Miller: Yeah. Our first branch was in an Orange County school. We used to be under the stairs. That's it, yeah. And the branch was literally just a lockbox, and if they had enough money to lend out, then they could, and if they didn't, they'd have to wait till some more deposits came in. So we started off very small servicing, just a handful of teachers, and then we slowly got into the rest of the Orange County Public schools where we were able to help the bus drivers and the staff and the custodians. And we've had a great relationship for almost 90 years with Orange County Public Schools because of that.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yeah, it's, its incredible Addition Financial is also a major sponsor of our Stellar Awards program, which is just a few days away. Would you tell us a little bit about that sponsorship?
Kevin Miller: Yeah, the Stellar Awards are such an amazing opportunity to recognize your great teachers and instructors and principals and everybody that does a good job throughout Orange County Public Schools. And I know it's just a, a slice of those that are putting in those hard works every day. But it's important to us to help recognize, and I think you guys have more than 500 honorees this year. Yes. And we couldn't be more excited about getting a chance to be involved with that program.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yeah, it’s such a special night. I'd love seeing all of our employees that are being recognized. They're so excited and happy to be able to have that special night.
Kevin Miller: Well, and every one of them deserves that recognition. And that parade you guys do, where they go throughout and they all get their turn in the spotlight is just such a great way to get them just a little bit of extra attention that they've all clearly deserved.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yeah, it's a great way to start. The New Year. The debit card program is especially important because it gives back to OCPS. Would you share some details of that program with us?
Kevin Miller: Yeah, we we're, we partnered with Orange County Public Schools and the foundation for Orange County Public Schools to say, how can we make sure that we're automatically giving back to OCPS beyond the sponsorships that we do? So we came up with Orange County Public School branded debit cards, and we've also got ones where it's the, each of the various high schools on a card, and every time somebody uses a debit card, it automatically does a donation back to OCPS. And it's been a very successful program. It's a way for people, and we specifically did it through a debit card instead of a credit card. So there's no loan, there's no cost on their end. Just if somebody wants to show their school pride and their pride and everything that you guys have done as a district to help them, then it allows us to just do an automatic donation back to you guys.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: So Kevin, the partnership also touches our students, either through the high school branches or through the early Learning Financial Literacy initiative. Could you talk to us about those two opportunities that are available to our students?
Kevin Miller: Yeah. Financial literacy is something that we both have in common. You guys want to teach them about everything, and now you guys are teaching them about financial literacy, and that's a passion of ours as well, making sure people understand the, their finances and what they're getting into. So we've worked closely with Orange County Public Schools and we have six branches completely run by students inside the high schools. It's a whole program where they go through. We teach them not only how to do a job as a teller or an MSR or how to take care of people, but also the background of financial literacy. How to make good money decisions, and then how to share that knowledge with their fellow students. So that's been a great program. And then we've said it's working well at the high school level. How can we catch people as early as possible? And with OCPS and JA and the Early Learning Coalition, we started working with pre-K and trying to teach financial literacy at the youngest possible level. And we're the first partnership in this in the country. I believe that's hitting them at that young of an age to really try to make sure that kids get those basic fundamentals as early as possible.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Kevin, thank you for joining me on Mondays with Maria. And thank you for the incredible partnership between Addition Financial and Orange County Public Schools. And thank you for watching. I will see you next week on Mondays with Maria
Speaker 2: Mondays with Maria's presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Count us in for every step of your financial journey. Learn more at Addititionfi.com. For more OCPS news and information, visit theslice.ocps.net. I'm your announcer, Deivarsi Demezier, a senior at Apopka High School. Thanks for watching and have a great week.