Four community-focused Indianapolis high schoolers are using this summer to gain experience.
As part of the Bank of America Student Leaders program, these students have paid internships at the Conner Prairie Museum.
There, each of the students — Mariah Questelles from Purdue Polytechnic High School, Kaitlin Pumper from Brebeuf Jesuit, Jada Powell from Decatur Central High School and Jihoon Kwan from Carmel High School — are working alongside the museum’s advancement team, learning new skills along the way.
“These exceptional teens selected for the Student Leaders program will obtain practical work and life experience, and the community in return will benefit … as these young adults enter the local workforce,” said Andy Crask, president of Bank of America Indianapolis.
The eight-week program is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The regional chapter, celebrating its seventh anniversary, chose to partner with Conner Prairie, one of its first partners, for the occasion.
The program — which emphasizes community-mindedness, financial education and financial coaching through Bank of America’s Better Money Habits curriculum — will culminate in a week-long leadership summit in Washington D.C.
Powell, who is working in graphic design, said she has been able to explore her creativity while working with Monique, Conner Prairie’s sole graphic designer.
While the job has kept her busy, she’s enjoyed the work, which has allowed her to refine the graphic design skills she entered with.
Outside of making promotional stickers and more, Powell had fun helping Conner Prairie’s campers, too, saying seeing camper’s smiles has been one of her favorite parts.
“I do want to be a lawyer in the future, and I really just enjoy helping others,” Powell said. “With this program, I feel like that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.”
Questelles, who also loves working with the campers, said the combination of experience working in both a business and camp setting helped her better see the effects of marketing.
Working in advancement and development, the fifteen-year-old senior said she’s learned how to connect with donors and “gain that personal relationship with them and genuinely care about what they care about.”
As she works on growing a business herself, she hopes to take away the skills of discipline, communication, teamwork and finance, which she can apply to both her entrepreneurship and her goal of being a neurosurgeon or cardiovascular surgeon.
“I want to build generational wealth … because it’s not something that is always so common in our community,” Questelles said. “And I want that to be common, so if I can start with me, I’m definitely going to … carry it on.”
These lifelong skills are something Geordan Coleman, vice president marketing executive for Bank of America Indianapolis, hopes the students take with them.
“We hope that as they get into college and beyond, that they … remember this program … and be good stewards of the workforce,” Coleman said.
According to the Bank of America Student Leaders program website, applications for the 2025 program will open in the fall.
Contact Indianapolis Recorder intern, Kayla Barlow, at kaylab@indyrecorder.com.
