A Wesley Chapel Teacher Turned a Banking Lesson Into a Real Paid Internship — Here's How Six Pasco Students Are Spending Their Summer
WESLEY CHAPEL / PASCO COUNTY, FL — When Chad Mallo was handed a financial literacy curriculum to teach at Angeline Academy of Innovation in Wesley Chapel, he noticed something immediately: the material tracked almost exactly with a professional banking credential he had earned during his 20-year career in the industry. So he picked up the phone and called the CEO of Achieva Credit Union.
What came out of that call was a partnership that lets up to 10 students a year earn the Certified Financial Counselor credential — a designation Achieva normally reserves for select employees — and then compete for real paid internships at the credit union's branches.
This summer's group — Chris Vargas, Jacob Malone, Kendyl Mathews, Samuel Ossa, Santanna Broxton, and Sarah Daniel — is working across three Achieva Credit Union branches under the Students on the Job Learning program. It's the second summer of the partnership, and Mallo says he hopes to expand it further.
How It Works
Students in Mallo's personal financial literacy course at Angeline Academy work through the same curriculum used to earn the Certified Financial Counselor credential. Those who pass the certification become eligible for paid summer internships at Achieva — giving them real-world banking experience and a professional credential before they graduate high school.
"When I was reviewing the curriculum, I noticed that students were going to learn how to write a check, what are investments, what are 401(k)s," said Mallo. Rather than teach those concepts in isolation, he connected them to a professional pathway students could actually walk.
Why It Matters for Wesley Chapel
Wesley Chapel is one of the fastest-growing communities in Florida — and as it grows, its schools are producing thousands of graduates every year who will enter the workforce. Programs like this one — built by a teacher who refused to treat financial literacy as just another class — are exactly the kind of innovation that gives those graduates a real edge.
For families considering Angeline Academy of Innovation as a school choice option for the upcoming year, the banking internship partnership is one more reason to look closely at what the campus is doing.
📍 Angeline Academy of Innovation — Wesley Chapel, FL | Achieva Credit Union branches across Pasco County
