'Next generation': 4 Jacksonville-area students named 2024 Bank of America Student Leaders

As a high school freshman, Anjali Gusani began volunteering at Sanctuary on 8th Street , a Jacksonville after-school nonprofit where she established a robotics club.

Now a rising senior at The Bolles School , she still leads the club. She has helped youth assemble a big robot and several smaller ones from kits, among other things, and helped open them up to the world of robotics and STEM education — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"To see them so passionate about it," she said, is "so incredible." Robotics became so "second nature" to them that on every visit they ask, "Are we going to do robotics today?"

Gusani also created her school’s first chapter of Future Business Leaders of America, served as a U.S. State Department Youth Ambassador for Chile and Argentina and volunteered in Mayor Donna Deegan’s transition team. All those contributions helped her win a 2024 Bank of America Student Leaders internship.

She was one of four Jacksonville-area high school students selected for eight-week paid summer internships with employment, skills development and community service. They received financial education coaching from the bank's Better Money Habits curriculum and worked for nonprofit Communities in Schools of Jacksonville .

They also attended a national leadership summit in Washington, D.C., where they and about 300 other student leaders met with members of Congress.

The 20-year-old program helps "develop the next generation of skilled workers, which is essential to the region's long-term economic growth," said Mark Bennett, president of Bank of America Jacksonville. The students "not only gain practical work and life experience, but the community in turn will gain help from local nonprofits and a diverse pipeline of talent as these young adults enter the local workforce."

Anjali has "gone above and beyond" at Sanctuary on 8th Street, Executive Director Rick Cartlidge said. "The sanctuary is like a small family and volunteers are an integral part of our family. When she arrives the children are excited to see her."

The other 2024 Jacksonville-area student leaders, all rising seniors, are:

• Rahul Kollum of Beachside High School volunteered at Brooks Rehabilitation where he implemented a flower delivery program to lift patients’ spirits. At school he created Beachside Stocks, a club that taught students how the stock market functions and the importance of investing wisely.
• Vandana Guru of Nease High School is a board member of the Jacksonville Tamil Mandram Youth Committee that promotes interaction with the area Tamil community. She helps keep alive the culture's traditions from South India and Sri Lanka and leads community service events such as a toiletries drive for a homeless shelter.
• Angelina Che of Atlantic Coast High School volunteers at her library where she learned the value of public resources for low-income people and led her to volunteer for the Feeding Northeast Florida food bank as well. She also is a BigFuture Ambassador, helping prepare students for life after high school.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 'Next generation': 4 Jacksonville-area students named 2024 Bank of America Student Leaders