Second class of Community Ambassadors announced
MANHATTAN, Kansas – The second class of Sunflower Bank Manhattan’s Community Ambassadors program will begin meeting in September.
The bank selected 10 students, all high school seniors graduating in 2008, to participate in the program: Thomas Summers, Bethany Murray, Jackie Carmichael Jr., Sam Kenney, Sushu Wang, Katy Zapletal, Dhithya Ramaswamy, Sam El-hamoudeh, Autumn Gilliam and Austin Rupe.
Sunflower Bank’s Community Ambassadors initiative is designed to encourage entrepreneurship and financial responsibility among youth leaders, and also to open the students up to future career possibilities in their hometown – perhaps encouraging them to return after they graduate.
At the conclusion of the program in April, Sunflower Bank Manhattan will award three scholarships – in amounts of $1,000, $500 scholarship and $250 – to three of the students in the program, based on participation, leadership, and coursework. Three additional $1000 scholarship recipients will be selected from the pool of all Sunflower Bank Community Ambassadors participants in all markets. Last year, Yiwen Jia, Nathan Phillips, and Reid Lundin each won a local scholarship. Phillips also took home an additional $1000 scholarship, given to three students out of the entire 2-state field of Sunflower Bank Community Ambassadors participants.
The select high school seniors will attend sessions once a month for seven months, with topics ranging from local government to economic development. Sessions will include presentations and discussions with community leaders, bank officers, and public officials.
