Sara Tyskowski is an 11th-grade student at Matanzas High School. She's also one of 12 students working behind the counter at VyStar Credit Union's newest branch, which is located inside the school.

It's the eighth in-school branch VyStar has opened. It's the first one in Flagler County.

Terry West, president and CEO of VyStar Credit Union, is a former eighth-grade math teacher. He said the student-run branches do more to educate students than any textbook could ever do.

"There are so many students and their families who don't know as much about financial matters as they want to," West said. "And this is an opportunity to teach about that."

West said he has seen knowledge trickle down from the students to their parents over the years.

Tyskowski said giving students hands-on experience is just what they need.

"When you talk about it, they don't really want to do it," she said. "But when they actually see their peers doing it, they actually think it's cool and they actually want to do it. They want to be involved."

But George Berry, who is the chairman of VyStar's board of directors, said the idea wasn't an easy sell before the first high school branch opened in a St. Johns County school in 2007.

"The first thing that probably came out was, 'Are you kidding?'" Berry said. "But you keep an open mind and you listen."

The partnership is only natural, said Dr. Chris Pryor, principal at Matanzas High School. He said the No. 1 goal is to make sure students are ready for life and careers.

VyStar spent about $150,000 to build the branch inside the school. It features the same security as any other branch.

The students who are working at the bank spent the summer as paid interns learning how to run a financial institution.

"It was a little bit more of I needed a summer job," Tyskowski said. "But now I love it, and I'm hopefully going to make it my career."

The branch has been open since the beginning of the school year, but an official ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Monday.

And who was the branch's first customer? Jacob Oliva, superintendent of Flagler County Public Schools.

The high school branch offers checking and savings services, but any lending has to go through the credit union's regular branch office in Palm Coast.