2024 Bank of America Nashville Student Leaders

Left to right: Rinaz Jamal, Siona Bhattacharya, and Lillian Ivanov are the 2024 Bank of America Nashville Student Leaders.

A trio of local students were named Bank of America Student Leaders this week.

Ravenwood's Siona Bhattacharya, Franklin's Rinaz Jamal, and Pope Prep's Lillian Ivanov earned the honor. The rising seniors will have an eight-week paid summer internship "connecting students to employment, skills development and service." They will also receive financial education coaching through Bank of America’s Better Money Habits curriculum and will spend time working with Special Olympics Tennessee.

“For the past 20 years, we have supported and provided career and leadership development opportunities for Nashville teens, and we continue our work to help develop the next generation of the skilled workforce essential to Middle Tennessee’s long-term economic growth,” Bank of America Nashville President Tyson Moore said in a release.

“The exceptional teens selected for this year’s Student Leaders program will not only gain practical work and life experience but they will also give back to their community while working for Special Olympics Tennessee.”

Later this summer, the students will also travel to Washington, D.C. for a week-long national leadership summit to learn how nonprofits, governments and businesses collaborate to meet local needs.

Learn more about the 2024 Nashville Bank of America Student Leaders: 

· Siona Bhattacharya attends Ravenwood High School, excelling in academics and leadership roles. She founded a nonprofit to assist underrepresented students needing school supplies and spearheaded a food drive that raised more than 25,000 pounds of food as president of Interact Club. Siona was selected as a student board member for AWAKE Nashville, where she organized a mental health awareness event. She was chosen as a House Representative out of more than 500 students in the Volunteer Girls State Program and a National Qualifier in speech and debate.

· Rinaz Jamal attends Franklin High School where she has earned a perfect GPA, ACT, and PSAT scores. In 2021, she founded a nonprofit to promote access to quality education in underserved communities, impacting hundreds of students worldwide. She is also an accomplished speaker and serves as president of the speech and debate team and Model UN and has won awards for her oratory skills.

· Lillian Ivanov of Hermitage attends Pope John Paul II Preparatory School, where she is active in two varsity sports. She is also in the top 5 percent of her class and has earned national awards for her essay writing and Spanish proficiency. Additionally, she volunteers hundreds of hours of her time helping her neighbors in need and performs life-saving rescues as a lead lifeguard at Opryland.

This week also saw the Realtor Good Works Foundation award $30,000 in scholarships to eight local students. The RGWF, the philanthropic arm of the Williamson County Association of Realtors, honored six graduating high school seniors and two returning college students from Williamson County.

The six high school seniors each received a $4,000 scholarship, which will help them pursue their higher education goals. The recipients are:

  • Ashlyn Easley, a graduate of Summit High School, who will attend Western Kentucky University and pursue a degree in pediatric nurse practitioner.
  • Emma Foote, a graduate of Brentwood High School, who will attend Lipscomb University and study design psychology.
  • Alivia Haylett, a graduate of Independence High School, who will attend the University of Tennessee and study Animal Biotechnology.
  • Emalyn Herbert, a graduate of Centennial High School, who will attend Lee University and pursue a degree in counseling.
  • Davis Long, a graduate of Franklin High School, who will attend UNC-Chapel Hill and study medicine.
  • Bethany Wright, a graduate of Centennial High School, who will attend Lipscomb University and pursue a degree in special education/speech Language Pathology.

The two returning college students each received a $3,000 scholarship. They are:

  • Seely Redding, a former graduate of Ravenwood High School and current student at Clemson University.
  • Grace Simmons, a former graduate of Centennial High School and current student at Baylor University.