ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (3/18/15)--U.S. Eagle FCU recently appointed an entirely new board of directors. No, the Albuquerque, N.M.-based credit union didn't replace its current board, it instead installed a junior board made up of local high school students or freshmen in college (Albuquerque Business First March 13).

As part of the new program, which was created last year by Pamelya Herndon, a board member at U.S. Eagle FCU, the junior board receives a $5,000 budget and is charged with engaging the local community.

Community involvement can include efforts in entrepreneurship, community service or even developing a product or service that benefits the community.

"What we try to teach (the junior board) is financial literacy and to get other board members to come in and talk about what they do," Herndon told Albuquerque Business First.

Herndon also said it is important to see more women on corporate boards, whether they're nonprofit or for-profit, in general.

This year's junior board partnered with a chapter of the National Honor Society at West Mesa High School, Albuquerque, to host a financial literacy night. It also plans to host a book drive that benefits El Camino Real Academy.

"Being in a high school math class, I don't learn about paying off loans or having financial responsibilities," Eldorado High School junior Ryan Franco told Business First. "I think that merging things like this [financial literacy] with what I'm currently learning would be useful and beneficial to high school kids--they're transitioning to the real world."