Janel Cabadas, president and CEO of Earthmover Credit Union, is an Oswego High School alumna who got her early start in finance through the Panther Credit Union, a student-run branch of Earthmover at the high school.

Those experiences helped her pave the way to many personal and professional milestones, she said.

“It gave me my first real glimpse into what a future career could look like,” Cabadas said in a news release from District 308.

The Banking and Finance Internship is open to Oswego H.S. seniors and allows students to work in the Panther Credit Union, gaining valuable experience in the industry.

Benjamin Owen, director of College and Career Readiness in District 308, said the Panther Credit Union has been beneficial to students and Earthmover alike.

“This model really just shows the success and impact it can have by providing students with opportunities early on, meeting the needs of an industry partner, and then allowing for that success within a career path that a student identified,” Owen said in the release.

Having this opportunity in high school ultimately helped Cabadas get started in her career, she said.

“Early exposure to this line of work in high school shaped my understanding of the professional world. It helped me discover not only what I liked, but also what I didn’t. Learning that early was priceless,” she said.

Owen said this applies to students engaged in all career-related learning, not just Panther Credit Union.

“For students, work-based learning is absolutely essential because it allows students to explore and find their post-secondary path while it’s low risk, before there’s a huge investment in training or tuition,” he said.

The experience allows students to try various opportunities to find something that aligns with their interests or their skills.

In addition to the Panther Credit Union, other career-oriented courses are available for seniors in workplace experience and internships in numerous subject areas.

Students can gain skills through classroom activities, but beyond that, they can gain experience on the job.

Ultimately, the learning that students get to do and connections can set them up for a lifelong career, like it did for Cabadas, the district said.

Working at a credit union was not always Cabadas’s vision for herself, she said.

“I would be lying if I said I dreamed of working at a credit union when I was 16,” Cabadas said. “What I did want was to learn. I wanted to make a difference in someone’s life and work for a company that aligned with my values.”

Hands-on experience for high school students can open doors to “incredible opportunities,” Cabadas said.