The transition year ‘Rising Star Bank’ team at St Mary’s Secondary School Mallow, Sarah Tarrant, Aoife Cronin, Fiona Barry, Edel Doolan, Niamh O’Leary and Laura Mills pictured with their teacher Ms Donna Lyons, Principal Ms Yvonne Bane and AIB Mallow Student Officer Ms Tara Cunningham, Ms Sinead Collins, AIB Mallow and Ms Noreen Walsh, AIB Mallow Branch Manager.
There was a great sense of eagerness and enthusiasm at the Aemilian Theatre at St Mary’s Secondary School, Mallow on Wednesday 9th December when six very capable and ambit-ious transition year students launched their AIB Build-A-Bank project. The students Laura Mills (Bank Manager), Fiona Barry (Assistant Manager) Niamh O’Leary (Financial Controller), Aoife Cronin (Digital Officer), Edel Doolan (Customer Service Representative), and Sarah Tarrant (Sales and Marketing Executive) officially cut the ribbon and opened their Build- A-Bank Project for 2015/2016 the ‘Rising Star Bank’. St. Mary’s Secondary School was very successful in the Build-A-Bank Challenge last year when their 2014/2015 ‘Beanstalk Bank’ team won the Best Newcomer Prize at the regional finals held at the Clayton Hotel, Cork. This year’s team wants to ‘reach for the stars,’ ensuring that their Rising Star Bank makes an even greater impact on the St. Mary’s school community and AIB judges.
Certainly, judging by the professional and highly entertaining launch day, the Rising Star Bank have most definitely started as they mean to go on, as the launch day exemplified an undoubted sense of accomplishment for the team for the year ahead. The school bank team organised a wide range of activities for their first year and transition year audience, from playing ‘hoola hooping’ to ‘musical chairs’ which ensured that the audience were extremely engaged throughout the presentation. AIB staff from the Mallow branch and St Mary’s teachers alike were very proud of what the girls had achieved in such a short time frame. The Rising Star Bank team have developed a list of aims they are hoping to achieve in 2015/2016, for instance: 60% of the Junior Cycle students will have active AIB accounts by the end of the school year; 40% of Transition Year students will have active AIB accounts by the end of the school year; To link with the Career Guidance teacher so that the Leaving Certificate students are encouraged to pay their CAO application fees online; To promote the positive aspects of banking throughout the school; To raise funds for a chosen charity; To encourage online banking, holding demonstrations for both students and school staff in relation to using phone and internet banking as effectively as possible; To create a loyalty card to entice students with both existing accounts and new accounts to continue lodging money; To positively use social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram to promote their school bank and increase their customer base; To work as part of a team where they encourage open communication and creativity among team members; To visit the AIB Lab at Dundrum, Dublin with their teacher to help prepare for the regional and national finals; To develop a mascot to represent the Rising Star Bank i.e Starman or Starbear etc.
From the comprehensive list of aims outlined above, it is very evident that the girls have set their sights on achieving something very worthwhile with their Rising Star Bank. We wish them the very best with their conquest to ‘Reach for the Stars’ for the year ahead. For further information on the Rising Star Bank, you can visit their Snapchat Account: risingstarbank, follow them on Twitter: @risingstarbank or Facebook www.Rising-Star-Bankfb.com.