Bank of America honors eight South Carolina Student Leaders

Bank of America selected eight Student Leaders® (#BofAStudentLeaders) for an eight-week paid summer internship connecting students to employment, skills development, and service. These community-minded students gained practical work and leadership experience and received financial education coaching from Bank of America’s Better Money Habits curriculum, while working with local nonprofits and earning competitive wages.

The Student Leaders program recognizes 300 community-focused juniors and seniors from across the U.S. annually. Celebrating its 20th anniversary year, the program expanded to South Carolina five years ago and has included eight local students for summer internships since 2019. Beginning in 2004, Student Leaders has engaged more than 4,500 students nationally and invested $42 million in more than 500 local nonprofits as a critical part of the bank’s long-standing effort to build pathways to economic mobility across nearly 100 markets.

The 2024 class of South Carolina Bank of America Student Leaders:

• Michael Jones (Charleston) – CCDS Early College High school; interned at Charleston Promise Neighborhood.
• Rayshell Lessington (Charleston) – James Island Charter High School; interned at International African American Museum.
• Colby Wei-li Braden (Columbia) – Chapin High School; interned at Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands.
• Adedolapo Famuyide (Columbia) – Richland Northeast High School; interned at United Way of the Midlands.
• Helina Brown (Myrtle Beach) – Carolina Forest High; interned at YMCA of Coastal Carolina.
• Kamryn Johnson (Myrtle Beach) – HCS Early College High School; interned at YMCA of Coastal Carolina.
• David Chavez (Upstate/Greenville) – Greenville Technical Charter High School; interned at Hispanic Alliance.
• Marissa Chandler (Upstate/Spartanburg) – James F. Byrnes High School; interned at Hub City Farmers Market.

“We are committed to investing in the region’s long-term economic growth and its talent pipeline, and the Student Leaders program is just one example of that,” said Vaughn Reynolds, president, Bank of America Columbia. “The exceptional teens selected for the Student Leaders program not only gain practical work and life experience, but the community in return gains help from local nonprofits and a diverse pipeline of talent as these young adults enter the local workforce.”

The students also traveled 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. For some, this was their first air travel trip, several students also described the opportunity as “the best trip of [their] lives,” and all the students enjoyed meeting the nearly 300 Student Leaders from across the nation.

In addition to Student Leaders, Bank of America is partnering with other South Carolina academic institutions to support pathways to sustainable careers, including the SC Technical College System among many others statewide.