Young and old stood in an impressive line at Seagull Bank recently, with a variety of hopes and dreams for their hard-earned cash.

With deposits ranging from the minimum allowed $2, the tellers skillfully and professionally counted everything from piggy bank change to checks, filling out deposit slips, and then recounting the money for accuracy before accepting the deposit and issuing a receipt.

It could be any bank, any day. But this is a once-a-month bank at Mandeville Middle School called Seagull Bank.

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The bank is a community awareness and outreach program begun in 1995 by Parish National Bank. April Boihem, a vault teller with Parish, says that even with the Whitney National Bank buyout of the St. Tammany-based Parish National bank, the program will continue.

The tellers are all in sixth grade. Boihem explained that at the beginning of the year, students fill out regular bank applications for the job. Stacy Shaheen, branch manager from Parish, reviewed the applications and interviewed the potential tellers. They also receive “real job training” for the position.

Tellers this year are: Kasey Lange, Paige Hall, Olivia Priola, Heidi Schexnayder, and Victoria Kraft. In addition, the students receive a behind-the-scenes look at how a bank operates.

At the end of the two-hour banking session, all accounts must be balanced and tellers must “cash out,” balancing the cash with the deposit slips. I sounds simple, but the sixth-graders balance an average of $2,000 to $3,000 each month, with over a hundred active accounts, including faculty members and the principal.

Boihem then takes the deposits to the bank, where she enters the money and deposits into each account via the “real bank’s” computer. It’s real money, real bank accounts and real-life experience for everyone.

Altough the deposits are made at the school, withdrawals can only be made at Parish National Bank, and the legal guardian that signed the account application must be present for students to withdraw their money.

It’s good business for the bank, said Boihem. They have gotten new business from parents who transfer their banking to the same bank as their children. It’s also an education for the participating students, many of whom continue to make deposits during the summer months.

The program continues at Monteleone Junior High, so many students who advance there continue their accounts. There is also interest among parents and students to provide the service at the new high school, where many students will eventually continue.

Incentives are provided by the PTA to students and faculty to participate. After a deposit is made, the depositor goes to an adjoining table and receives a gift for participating- a choice of candy. Then they enter a drawing. A gift basket is given to one child in each grade level who banked that day. In addition, faculty members who participate enter a different drawing and the winner receives a free teacher duty.

One student has over $100 in her account, carrying it from last year. She brings in coins from her piggy bank and is saving for college. She also has dreams of starting her own dance school. The 10-year old has been dancing for eight years.

Parent volunteers Lisa Blackshear and Susan Leger are delighted with the program. Leger said her older child still saves and this has taught all her children about the process of saving and encourages them to deposit birthday money, other cash gifts, and the rewards received by saving.

As part of the Seagull Bank program, Parish has a “Pays for A’s” program. On bank day near the end of the nine-week grading period, a name is drawn from the depositors entering the gift drawing. The person chosen then receives $10 for each A on his or her report card. The money is directly deposited into their savings account. The limit is six A’s.

In addition to Mandeville Middle School, the banking program conducted by Parish is conducted at Lake Harbor Middle School and Monteleone Junior High.