COOK, Minn. – Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Department of Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman commended students from the B.O.S.S. (Bunch of Students Saving) program sponsored by the Cook Area Credit Union – soon to be Nort
h Star Credit Union – as they received recognition for winning their national first place Desjardin Youth Financial Education Award.
The B.O.S.S. students were instrumental in working with Cook Area Credit Union to start the student-run branch at North Woods School in Cook. Dayton and Rothman presented awards to the students who manage the Money Cave student-run branch at North Woods, a K-12 school in Cook, and to students who manage the Jungle Cave student-run branch at K-12 South Ridge School in Culver. The North Woods Money Cave location opened in February 2014, and the South Ridge School location just celebrated its grand opening.
“This is a tremendous program for all of you – both the schools and the credit union,” said Dayton. “Thank you for making this happen, and I hope we have many more of these student branches statewide in the future.”
Cook Area Credit Union CEO Rich Crettol, Community Education Coordinator Jody Feist and Board Member Pete Niska accepted the Desjardins Award in Washington, D.C., at CUNA’s Government Affairs Conference in March.