Bay Area students of Indian Descent named 2022 Bank of America Student Leaders

India Post News Service

Every summer, Bank of America selects some amazing high-school students to be part of their Student Leaders® (#BofAStudentLeaders) program, an eight-week paid summer internship, providing students with first-hand experience in serving their communities. This year, a few students of Indian descent in the Bay Area were recognized by the program.

Bank of America’s regional executives, Raquel González, President, Bank of America Silicon Valley; Jason Foster, President, Bank of America North Bay; Gioia McCarthy, President, Bank of America San Francisco – East Bay, applauded the students’ exceptional achievements, “Bank of America is steadfast in our commitment to supporting teens and young adults by connecting them to jobs, community engagement opportunities and leadership development.

These students are the future of our community, which is why programs like Student Leaders are one way we can provide paid opportunities for them to gain positive employment experience, while developing a diverse pipeline of talent as they enter our local workforce.”

Started in 2004, the Student Leaders program recognizes 300-community-focused juniors and seniors from across the U.S. annually. The Class of 2022 Bay Area Bank of America Student Leaders included:

San Ramon (Contra Costa County): Bonisha Maitra is an incoming senior at San Ramon’s California High School, and she speaks English, Bengali, and Hindi. After being sexually assaulted at age nine in India, Bonisha later started a global nonprofit called Project Sundar – which now has chapters in Singapore, India, and U.S. cities – aimed at educating people about the oppression women in India face. (Watch her TedxSanRamon talk at 3 hours 33 min in.)

Dublin (Alameda County): Kunal Khaware is a graduate of Pleasanton’s The Quarry Lane School, and he’s about to begin a joint undergraduate scholarship program between Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this fall. With a passion for political activism at the community level, he was heavily involved in his high school’s Student Government Association as vice president, elections and publicity chair. He speaks English, Hindi, and Spanish fluently.

Dublin (Alameda County): Sia Desale, who speaks English and Marathi, is a rising senior at Dublin High School. As an animal advocate, she founded a homemade soap business geared toward supporting animal welfare called Olivesoap, and she’s raised $8,000 (or 27,000 meals for pets) for the East Bay SPCA and other pet-focused orgs. 

American Canyon (Napa County): Priya Sharma has been taking college-level classes through Napa Valley College since she was a high school freshman, and she’ll continue with classes there in the fall. Her interest in the ACLU National Institute – and equality for all – led her to being political chair leader for the Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian Alliance. For four years, Priya, a first-generation American, was a representative for Peer Court, an alternative approach to the traditional juvenile justice system. She speaks English, Punjabi, Hindi, and a bit of Urdu.