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Student
receive help in planning for financial future
By
Barton Grover Howe Of the News-Times
 |  | Guy
DiTorrice, the Lincoln County Regional Branch Manager of the OSU Federal credit
union in Newport spends dozens of hours every year talking to local students and
other groups about the importance of financial education and planning. (Photo
by Barton Grover Howe) | Guy
DiTorrice lives for what he calls the, "'Ooh!' 'Ahh ...' factor," the moment when
his audience is stunned into near silence by what he's presenting.
DiTorrice,
however, is not an actor, nor a magician, or some kind of sports guru. He's the
Lincoln County Regional Branch Manager of the OSU Federal Credit Union in Newport.
But what he has to say to kids about financial planning often leaves them reeling
as much as anything they'll ever see. "Insurance
is a big shocker for a lot of kids," he said. "They don't know if your rental
building burns down, or your roommates steal all of your stuff that they're not
covered.
"I tell them, 'If you don't walk out of here scared, I haven't
done my job.'"
Although working with kids isn't the major portion of
DiTorrice's job, he estimates he spends some 80 to 100 hours a year doing it.
He thinks it's one of the most important things he does. "A kid telling me thanks
for telling him how to balance a check book, that's worth it," he said.
If
balancing a checkbook seems like a basic skill that everyone should already have,
the people at OSU Federal say that's not necessarily the case. Claudine Oriani,
their director of community education, said, "Because the teachers and administrators
are already inundated with mandates that don't include financial education any
longer, we can help. Those skills need to be acquired between ages 5 and 18; by
the time they leave school, it's already to late."
OSU has programs
for kids as young as 5 years of age.
DiTorrice is mainly involved with
financial education in high schools all over the county, and much of it utilizes
materials from the National Endowment for Financial Education. Students running
the student store at Taft High School use them. The principal at Toledo High School
is currently asking for them. And at Newport High School, DiTorrice actually spends
a month each spring talking to graduating seniors in the economics classes about
how to plan their financial lives.
Working with Jeff Schrantz from
State Farm Insurance, they talk to students about automotive, medical and property
insurance. DiTorrice also talks about the basics like savings and balancing a
checkbook, and more complicated matters like compound interest and identity theft.
Always
looking for that "Ooh" and "Ahh ..." factor, he fills his presentations with tidbits
they may not have known. One of his favorites is that 50 percent of the people
who have problems with identity theft are victimized by someone they know.
But
DiTorrice's presentations aren't all startling statistics and interesting facts.
"I was thinking four days of overheads and hand-outs ... they are going to eat
me alive," he said. "I decided I wanted to do a more interactive thing with the
kids."
To that end, at the end of the four-day presentation, students
have to assemble their own advertising campaign for teenagers, to address the
things they learned in class. He's seen some pretty interesting presentations
over the years. "Some kids had members of a local band performing in the hallway
between classes," he remembers.
Before becoming assistant principal
at Newport High, Jon Zagel was one of the teachers DiTorrice worked with. Zagel
said he enlisted DiTorrice's help because, "It is important that seniors graduating
from high school have a strong understanding of the financial aspect of life.
"Understanding
how credit works, balancing a check book, different types of insurance, how to
buy a car: all are real life skills that all students should have," he said. "Guy
DiTorrice does a great job using real world examples explaining the crucial financial
topics should know and understand as they enter the adult world."
DiTorrice
has been working with the staff at Newport High School since OSU Federal opened
its office in Newport in May of 2003, although the company has been involved in
student education for at least two decades.
From the day they opened,
DiTorrice knew just by talking to customers there were all kinds of people who
had no idea how to manage their finances as a result of not getting the information
in school. "From a branch perspective we see the net result of the lack of financial
planning in schools for years," he said. "We have people that don't know how to
do basic budgeting."
And while other institutions are involved in financial
education in the schools, Oriani is proud that OSU Federal's program won the National
Youth Financial Literacy Award through the Credit Union National Association.
She said of her trip to Washington, D.C. to get the award, "I'll always remember
that as a highlight in my professional life."
DiTorrice, however, wants
people to know OSU Federal will work with any group that would like financial
education. And while the school curricula might form the basis of any presentation
he might do, he tries to fine tune it for the audience he's working with.
"With
high schoolers, we're not tracking alcohol and gaming expenses," he said. "But
if a teacher association wants me to come out, they would have adult content materials
available."
DiTorrice has presented to all kinds of groups. Chinook
Winds Casino, local chambers of commerce, churches, senior groups, even the staff
and clients at My Sisters' Place have listened to DiTorrice's advice. At the Oregon
Coast Aquarium, where DiTorrice used to be head of public relations, they've had
him talk to volunteers and staff about identity theft and other topics.
DiTorrice
knows his work in the county might be seen by some people as just another means
of getting more customers, but he said that's not really what it's all about.
"Kids walk up to me afterwards and talk to me," he said. "I'll say bring it by
the branch and talk to me.
"Do they become members? Sometimes yes,
sometimes, no, but we want to help them get a grasp on it all."
That
doesn't mean DiTorrice doesn't sometimes reap some benefits from his presentations.
"I
was presenting at Church of the Nazarene, and there was this remarkable young
man, very astute," he said. "When we had an opening, I recruited him.
"That's
how I found one of my tellers."
To contact Guy DiTorrice about OSU
Federal's financial education presentations, call 574-6124, ext. 4131 |
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