As part of Community Banking Week, Jim Thorpe Neighborhood Bank hosted area outstanding school students who were selected by their schools based on their academic achievements and citizenship.

Each student received a gift of $25 and a framed document naming them a vice president of the bank.The students were also treated to a personal tour of JTNB's office and banking facilities concluding with a meal, courtesy of JTNB, at Molly Maguires Pub & Steakhouse. Highlighting the tour was the opportunity for the students to walk inside the bank vault.This year's "CEO for a Day" was student Bryce Smith of Ss. Peter and Paul School, Lehighton.Sally Smith, Community Bank Week chairman and bank vice president, said she enjoys the program with the students. She said every school in Carbon County is invited to participate by recommending two seventh- through 12th-grade students from their school."We have been doing this for 17 years," said Smith.While speaking to the students and their parents, Craig Zurn, JTNB president and CEO, talked about the importance of local community banks to the communities that they serve.Zurn said that while the CEO was important, the VPs are more important because they delegate the responsibilities."Community banks are independent, locally owned institutions that operate differently from larger, regional financial institutions and are run by local people," he said.Zurn said that community banks do more than accept deposits and make loans, they provide personal attention to the needs of the citizens and towns in which they are located.What sets these community banks apart from their larger counterparts is the fact that 95 percent of their loans are reinvested into the local community.Decisions are made on the spot, so loan requests don't have to be sent to some distant home office.The money a customer deposits into a community bank is recycled back into the local market to help it prosper.The Jim Thorpe National Bank is the oldest community bank in Carbon County.