DOWAGIAC — As a group of students wearing white and orange T-shirts, sporting the Honor Credit Union logo, every morning at Dowagiac Middle School demonstrates, it is never too early to begin saving money for the future.

Every Tuesday morning, these eight students gather inside the ticket booth outside the school’s auditorium, where they count and collect the checks and dollars handed to them by their classmates for deposit. Like their counterparts at the local financial institution whose name they sport on their chests, the young boys and girls are tasked with ensuring that the money given to them is all accounted for at the end of the day.

Judging by the colorful poster and fun jingles they came up with to promote their venture, this responsibility does not mean they cannot have a little fun on the side, as well.

Earlier this month, the newest iteration of the Chieftain Credit Union opened for business. The student-run financial institution allows middle school students to make deposits into a real savings account through Honor Credit Union, which the children make withdrawals from by visiting one of company’s branch offices.

The area financial institution created the Chieftain Credit Union in 2012, after Jessica Kehrer, then branch manager of Honor’s Dowagiac branch office, and Title I teacher Carrie Muessig, decided to work together to teach a group of the latter’s students some practical life skills. That first year, 88 eighth-grade students volunteered to help staff the credit union, with a dozen children eventually making the cut.

The Chieftain Credit Union was such a tremendous hit that Honor has since opened more than 20 student-run credit unions across the state.

“We have students who created accounts with us in middle school who are still using them today as adults,” said Honor’s Jackie Green, the lead account specialist with the Dowagiac branch who has coordinated the Chieftain Credit Union for the past three years.

This year, eight 8th-grade students are helping with the Chieftain Credit Union. The students began working with Green in late December, where they learned how to count money, write and read checks, and balance cash drawers, among other skills.

Students are assigned one of three roles every shift: tellers, who collect and count deposits; managers, who oversee the operation to make sure things are running smoothly; and marketers, who create posters, slogans and other promotional materials to drum up business from their classmates.

“Working for Chieftain Credit Union is a privilege,” Green said. “The kids must be excellent students, with high grades in the classroom. We want students who are role models for their classmates.”

The students launched this year’s credit union last week. To encourage other middle school students to open a savings account with the credit union, Honor matched all deposits up to $5. In addition, students who make a deposit will be entered into a drawing for an iPad Mini, with the winner selected at the end of the school year.

While the students volunteer their time to run the Chieftain Credit Union, they are still held to same kind of standards they would have if they were working for any other credit union, like showing up for shifts time and wear their uniforms (in this case, their orange and white Honor T-shirts).

Green likes to keep things interesting for the students as well. She recently challenged each of the students to come up with a catchy jingle to promote the student credit union, with the best slogan being read during the school’s morning announcements.

“She is letting them grow, to learn more credit unions and to challenge them with something new every week,” said Janie Reifenberg, Dowagiac branch manager.