Apple FCU Lets Special Education Students Shine at HS Branch

FAIRFAX, Va.-Apple Federal Credit Union is reaching out to even more students with the opening of its Earl L. Pulley Career Center branch at West Potomac High School. The branch is designed to open the doors of possibility for the school’s special education students. The Earl L. Pulley Career Center is one of two centers in Fairfax County schools where the focus is primarily on community-based career education. The Center provides special education students between the ages of 16 and 21 with an authentic work setting and an assigned curriculum based upon their areas of interest as they research their career aspirations. Students working within the new Apple Student-Run Branch will additionally be encouraged to work on their social skills as they serve faculty, staff and peers from both West Potomac and the Pulley Career Center. “West Potomac is honored and grateful for the trust Apple FCU has placed with the Pulley students, their acceptance of the idea to have a student-run branch consisting of special needs students, and their firm commitment to special education,” said Clem Castellano, employment and transition representative from the Earl L. Pulley Career Center. Apple FCU’s Student-Run Branch Program provides real world financial literacy, fiscal education and the opportunity to explore future employment options to students within the Fairfax County Public School System. The credit union’s model has been so successful since its launch in 1995, a version was recently adopted by the Future Business Leaders of America.