Special to the Herald
Bank of America recently announced four Central Florida high school juniors and seniors were selected as Student Leaders® (#BofAStudentLeaders), an eight-week paid summer internship connecting students to employment, skills development and service. These community-minded students will gain practical work and leadership experience and receive financial education coaching from Bank of America’s Better Money Habits curriculum, while working with local nonprofits, including Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, all while earning competitive wages.
This is the 20th year Bank of America has offered this competitive paid intern program in Central Florida, with nearly 100 high school students having been selected as Student Leaders since the program began in 2004.
“By providing career and leadership development opportunities for teens for 20 years, we continue to help develop the next generation of skilled workers, which is essential to the region's long-term economic growth," said Naveed Shujaat, president, Bank of America Central Florida. “The exceptional teens selected for the Student Leaders program will not only gain practical work and life experience, but the community will in turn gain help from local nonprofits and a diverse pipeline of talent as these young adults enter the local workforce.”
The class of 2024 Central Florida Bank of America Student Leaders are:
• Taylor Clayton, a rising senior at Horizon High School: After seeing the effects of domestic abuse on her loved ones and noticing the lack of resources available to victims, Taylor founded a student-led organization called Threading It Forward. Her organization provides important information to domestic abuse victims, while recently donating over 2,000 pieces of clothing and making over 150 handmade cards with encouraging messages for women and children.
• Evan Fernando, a rising senior at Olympia High School: After learning about his homeland's economic challenges, Evan founded the Save Sri Lanka: Food Packet Initiative, which successfully distributed over 6,000 meals to underserved communities throughout the country. He is also the founder of Learn with Pride Foundation, an organization that advances education and awareness of LGBTQIA+ human rights, with over 5,000 participants across 25 counties.
• Aspen Hess, a rising senior at Leesburg High School: As a student at a Title 1 school where many students experience levels of poverty, Aspen has been inspired to provide more opportunities for volunteering in her community. She’s done just that by leading her school’s Key Club, which works alongside Kiwanis and the Aktion Club to host a plethora of service projects across the local community.
• Colin Poon, a recent graduate of Apopka High School: As an Asian American, Colin has found multiple ways to bring together Asian American students, promote cultural understanding and connect students with the larger Asian American community in Central Florida. He does this by serving as co-president of Recognizing and Experiencing Asian Cultural Heritage (REACH) of Central Florida, which organizes cultural events throughout the year. He is also the president and founder of Asian Students in Apopka (ASIA), the first organization on his school campus to educate students about Asian culture.
Along with Student Leaders, Bank of America is connecting more than 60 teens and young adults to paid jobs and internships with the city of Orlando through its Summer Youth Employment Program, and partnerships with ELEVATE Orlando, Job Partnerships of Florida and Junior Achievement of Central Florida to expose students to emerging industries, guest speakers, college tours and job shadowing to prepare them for their post-secondary journey.
From July 22-27, the Student Leaders will travel to Washington, D.C. for a week-long, all-expenses-paid, national leadership summit to learn how nonprofits, governments and businesses collaborate to meet local needs.
Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,800 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 57 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BAC).
