Teller, Teacher, and Student at Parkdale High

Each Friday morning, dressed in khakis and his Capital One polo, Bladimir Martinez stations himself in a hallway next to a converted teacher’s lounge at .

He and another student wait for the clock to reach 10:57 a.m.—then 11:23 a.m., 11:53 a.m., and 12:53 p.m., as the chaos of each successive lunch period ensues.

In wave after wave, students line up in front of the Capital One Bank branch . Once a week, Martinez is a working professional, advising students on their finances, helping them open checking accounts, and completing transactions.

He is one of , who manage the 200 or so accounts acquired since the branch opened for business, said Branch Manager Rosana Liriano.

The tellers got their jobs by submitting resumes, cover letters, and essays and by performing well in a series of interviews. They earn the same $11 per hour wage as an entry-level Capital One teller, said Liriano, a full-time employee with the bank.

Capital One chose to open a branch in Parkdale—one of only four student-run banks nationwide—because of the community’s large immigrant population, said principal Cheryl Logan.

But inside, it’s easy to forget the bank is in the middle of a high school’s red brick hallway. There’s a rich mahogany desk and a counter for two student bank tellers to sit at a time.

“It’s a big responsibility, and I believe we’ve all learned to manage it properly,” Martinez said. “What happens in the bank stays in the bank.”

Angelica Bullock’s perfectly polished fingernails take a deposit slip from a student’s hand. As a 17-year-old bank teller, Bullock is privy to her peers’ bank statements and Social Security numbers. Because of this, the students say they must act with a degree of professionalism.

“I now dress differently, and I speak differently,” said bank teller Jennifer Dasilva, 17. “I now make better decisions.”

As other students walk through the hallways, they greet the tellers, sometimes with a fist bump for Martinez or a hug for 18-year-old banker Ahmadu Pearce.

"It’s a peer-to-peer relationship, but it’s a professional relationship,” Logan said.       

The tellers have also become something else: teachers. Last week, the troupe of 10 began visiting classrooms, playing a Jeopardy-like game with the aim of teaching financial literacy interactively.

From how to save money to how to spend responsibly, “there’s a lot we have to teach them,” Martinez said.  

He smiles sheepishly as he thinks about how this job—his very first—has altered the course of his life. Last semester, he received a 4.0, the first of his high school career. Before this program, enrolling in college wasn’t on his radar screen.

But he, along with every student banker, has applied to places such as Bethany College in West Virginia and the University of Maryland in College Park.

Many student tellers said the program has changed them for the better. They wear their polos like a badge of honor. They visit the bank during their lunch breaks, even if it’s not their day to work.

“Student bankers. Who wouldn’t want to be known for that?” Martinez said.