With his senior year at Franklin Military Academy fast approaching, Sgt. Maj. Kimara Davis is spending his summer honing his leadership skills. It’s not a school-based pursuit, though. Davis is getting his practice at the North Richmond branch of the YMCA, thanks to a program run by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. He and four other area students are among 230 juniors and seniors nationwide participating in the foundation’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative leadership program. Starting July 19, they’ll spend a week in Washington, where they’ll participate in workshops and seminars. The foundation also will fund eight-week paid internships at nonprofit groups—YMCAs, for the Richmond-area students.

Students in the Richmond Public Schools were given the opportunity recently to participate in the Oliver Hill Essay Contest. The essays were judged by Shameka Hall of the Office of the Public Defender and Jennie Sublett of the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. “We were looking for people who went beyond providing a history lesson to really analyzing the ways in which Oliver Hill and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement contributed to the election of Barack Obama, which signified the fruition of the dreams of millions of American citizens,“ Sublett said. “We were particularly impressed by those essays that recognized the incredible opportunities that are open to the youth of today that were only made available through the efforts of leaders like Oliver Hill.“

Richmond school officials took a step forward last night in addressing a long-running complaint about the city school system: a lack of options for middle schoolers. The School Board heard a proposal during its regular meeting for adding a sixth-grade class to Franklin Military Academy. If accepted, it would be the first step in a planned three-year expansion that would open the East End school to students in grades 6 to 12. The budget for next school year includes $25,000 to implement the program. That would cover uniforms and other supplies for up to 100 students.

During U.S. history class, an ambitious group of Franklin Military Academy students asked a Richmond bank executive yesterday about his educational background and his company’s job and scholarship opportunities. While answering the questions posed by 11 juniors at the Richmond high school, Bank of America’s Richmond market president, Thomas E. Goode, also emphasized the role of making good ethical decisions in shaping a career path.