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Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

Photo by Sam Harrel

FAIRBANKS — With the nation’s economic woes, bankers are helping people save their money, but bank manager Kylee Yee is helping her clients spend theirs.

Yee is the bank manager for Colleen Smith’s “Mini Society” class at Barnette Magnet School.

The class teaches fourth- to sixth-grade students about money, savings, investing and business by setting up a mall in the school three days a week. The mall is filled with student-run ventures.

Smith said students had to develop a solid business plan, man their stores and clean up their area. Students can spend their Barnette money at a variety of shops including a food court, Value Village and an arcade.

The mall is open to Barnette’s students from fourth through eighth grade. Students earn a wage of $5 in Barnette money everyday they attend school. If they are absent, they lose $5 because they didn’t show up for “work.” Smith said everybody at the school from the principal to the custodians have deposit slips and can reward students with money for good acts, which include completing homework and being on time. But students also can have money withdrawn from their bank account as punishment.

The money they earn will stay with them throughout their time at Barnette, Smith said.

Originally, Smith’s 15-student class was going to run the shops and the bank but with large consumer turnout, Smith said she has started to employ other students to help out. Employees get paid a wage in Barnette money.

“It’s turning out to be very successful,” Smith said.

Sawyer Gardner landed a prime position for her business, Sawyer’s Financial Care. Located next to the bank, Sawyer sells checkbooks and can teach students how to balance their accounts and other ways to take care of their finances.

She said the checkbooks are big sellers but the advice is not as popular. Smith said eventually the business could evolve into offering information about investments and investing.

“It’s been fun because you learn about daily life and learn about stuff people don’t learn about until later,” the sixth-grader said.

The bank is one area that needs more help because of the huge amount of organization needed. Yee is in charge of keeping everyone’s accounts updated with the latest withdrawals or deposits. Every month, she makes new account records with each student’s new balances.

“I find if I stay after school, I can get a lot of work done,” Yee said.

Smith is looking for new bankers to help Yee and said she would like to retain a core staff of bankers because the job is complex. Every quarter, a new group of students will enter Smith’s class and will start their mini society again.

Eighth-graders Marshell Pearson and Kelly May manned one of the most popular stores in the mall — the food court. This week, they sold sandwiches, punch and fruit cocktail. Last week, the pair sold soft pretzels. Friday was the last day for the mall, and Pearson and May said running the food court was busier than they thought it would be.

“It’s a lot more work than you think it would be,” Pearson said.

He also said the pair has dedicated their lunch and free periods to making sure their venture runs smoothly. May said they originally wanted to start a candy store, but the idea wasn’t approved.

As an eighth-grader, May said he signed up for the class because he had taken most of the elective courses at the school. Pearson said he wanted to have another class with Smith.

“Ms. Colleen is a really fun teacher,” he said.

The class has taught them new things about money matters and how to run a business, Pearson and May said.

“The toughest part is the most fun part,” Pearson said.