Over the summer, many Townsend Harris students spent their time volunteering and interning in order to give back to the community. One of these Harrisites, senior Briana Mach, participated in the Bank of America (BofA) Student Leaders program, a highly selective leadership initiative for high school students with diverse backgrounds.
Of the 300 students chosen to participate in the program, Briana is among five students who were chosen to represent each of the five boroughs of NYC, with Briana representing Queens. Additionally, she is the only person from THHS to participate in this national program.
“I learned about this program through a business club I attended outside of school that promoted this internship,” said Briana. “I was interested in it because of its commitment to civic engagement. This initiative helped me [expand] my leadership skills, which is really important to have in the business field.”
BofA sponsors nonprofits around the country to serve as “markets” for students based in their residential areas. The corporation speaks more about their program on their site, they said, “every year, hundreds of community-minded high schoolers are accepted into the Student Leaders program. They get first-hand experience in serving their communities through a paid eight-week internship with nonprofits like Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Habitat for Humanity.”
Briana worked at the YMCA of Greater New York in the NYC market, working under the organization’s supervisor. “I worked under different departments each week [i.e. Aquatics, Youth & Family, etc.] and in these departments, my work ranged from helping my supervisor organize students’ data in Excel to supervising the Staff Spirit Week,” she said.
After their eight-week paid internship, all of the Student Leaders participated in an all-expense paid week-long leadership summit held at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. There, they met policy makers, NYS representatives, senators, and other BofA professionals. Student Leaders also had the opportunity to apply their service learning at the Red Cross Headquarters, where they made care packages for veterans.
“I had a wonderful time networking with our New York state representatives and their staffers and making life-long connections with other Student Leaders across the country,” said Briana, “I could not be more grateful to BofA for giving me the opportunity this summer to serve, inspire, and change.”
