Ellington Senior Is Sole D.C. Resident Picked as Student Leader

From across the nation, some 300 high school juniors and seniors are selected from a pool of nominated applicants to participate in the Student Leaders® summer internship program hosted by Bank of America. This summer, the only student to hail from the District of Columbia is Santiago "Santi" Duran, a senior at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Northwest.

Duran, a violinist at the acclaimed magnet school, was chosen due to his proclivity for volunteerism and his career plans to help mentally ill persons in underserved communities. He is a mainstay volunteer at Christ House on Columbia Road in Northwest, having lodged more than 100 hours over two years at the social services non-profit. His experiences there informed his choice of intended career as a clinical psychologist.

The Bank of America Student Leaders® program is a summer-long paid internship in which participants work in coordination with not-for-profit organizations in their community. The program culminates in a week-long leadership summit, normally held in Washington, D.C. The 2020 summit was held virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. The format for the 2021 summit is to be determined.