Bank of America’s Student Leaders program has given two BCS students, Thomas Profita, senior at Nesbitt Discovery Academy, and Stephanie Abigail Suaste, junior at Buncombe County Early College, an opportunity to serve the local community and gain job skills. The program, which pays students $17 an hour for their internship, links students with local non-profit opportunities during an 8-week program.
Thomas and Abigail were connected with Serve to LEAD’s JumpStart program, which is an after-school and summer program for underserved elementary students to close the education gap. Abigail, who wants to go into education, was already a volunteer with the program, but said that the Bank of America Student Leaders program was able to give her even more experience. Along with the paid internship was a summit week, a virtual leadership summit where the two BCS students engaged with congressional leaders and heard from civil and human rights leaders in DC.
“The connections I made were amazing,” Abigail said. “I really enjoyed our summit week - overall it’s been a great experience.”