TAMPA
De'Naysha Mullings, 18, has not attended her first class at Florida A&M University, yet she's already making a name for herself on campus.
Mullings recently launched her campaign for freshman vice president, a sign that the future doctor is determined to leave a legacy at the Tallahassee college. She says such boldness and initiative always has been her nature but it was refined during her stint as a summer intern at the Belmont Heights Boys and Girls Club.
Mullings is one of five Tampa Bay area youth to participate in this summer's annual Bank of America Student Leaders program, which paired local high school students with paid employment at Boys-&-Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay and Boys-&-Girls Clubs of the Suncoast.
She spent weeks working alongside staff learning valuable leadership skills and then joined more than 200 students across the nation in Washington for a Student Leaders Summit to meet with lawmakers and learn about civic engagement.
Mullings, a Wharton High School graduate, said both the internship and the summit inspired her to get involved at FAMU right away.
"Being in this program gave me a lot of ideas ... of what I can bring to my campus," she said.
In addition to Mullings, St. Petersburg High's Rodaina Elsayed, Dixie Hollins' Amy Liu, Countryside's Sophia Landa and Robinson High's Stefan Miller were selected as 2018 Student Leaders after completing a vigorous application process.
Elsayed, Landa, Liu, and Mullings recapped their experiences at a roundtable with Bill Goede, the bank's Tampa Bay president, Freddy Williams, president of the Boys-&-Girls Club of the Suncoast, Chris Letsos, president of the Boys-&-Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, and Pinellas and Hillsborough schools superintendents Michael Grego and Jeff Eakins, respectively.
On the job at Northside Boys-&-Girls Club, Liu said she learned that a kind word could go a long way with students.
"I'm always attracted to kids labeled as 'bad kids,'" said Liu, who will attend the University of Florida. "I try to build relationships with those kids specifically and give them positive reinforcement."
Elsayed, who graduated from St. Petersburg High School, said she plans to maintain the bonds she established with students at St. Petersburg's Royal Theatre Club while away at the University of Florida.
"I left my email address so they can write me to help them continue strengthening their literacy and writing goals," she said.
About 120 students in the bay area have participated in the Student Leaders program since it began 15 years ago, said Ann Shaler, the bank's Tampa-based senior vice president.
Alums include Broadway actor Blaine Alden Krauss, a 2010 graduate of Gibbs High School. Others have gone on to medical school or become entrepreneurs, Shaler said.
"What's really interesting is that all point back to the program opening their eyes to the experiences they've had and being open to risk taking," she said.
Mullings said the trip to Washington prompted her to switch her specialty to neurology instead of gynecology after a workshop at the summit made a connection between mental health and public policy.
"I want to be the person who steps in ... and understands both the brain and the political side," she said.
Sophia got the chance to meet with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor at the summit. Now, she's drafting a human trafficking bill for Mock Congress that she plans to share with the legislator.
"She told me that if I would email her a copy of my bill, she would look at it," she said.
Contact Kenya Woodard at hillsnews@tampabay.com.
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