Jasna Mruckovski is moving on up, and so are many of her customers.

Mruckovski, 32, was the first Bosnian refugee to be hired as a loan officer by Southern Commercial Bank, which made a special effort to recruit immigrants in the Bevo area. She was hired in 1999 as a teller and has risen to an assistant vice president. Almost half of the bank's staff at its Bevo branch are Bosnians.

She and her husband, Darko, started with a home in the city. They and their 18-month-old twins now have a home in the Mehlville area of south St. Louis County.

Mruckovski handles mortgages for Southern Commercial and said many of her customers are moving into the South County area, sometimes even to Jefferson County, in search of suburban living and better schools. It's an old St. Louis thing - for many people, "moving to the county" means moving on up.

"I think many of our people have adjusted very well here," she said. "They work hard, get savings, buy better houses. It makes me proud to work with them."