2008-05-14 03:21:59 -

- The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and Bank of America today named five young women from New York City-area high schools winners of this year's NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing. The prestigious award recognizes young high school women for their computing-related achievements and interests.

The New York City-area award winners are being acknowledged for

their outstanding aptitude and interest in information technology and computing, solid leadership ability, good academic history and plans for post-secondary education.

The winners are:

Natalia Alvarez, The Lawrenceville School

Wendy Cheang, Trinity School

Paulina Karpis, Stuyvesant High School

Diana Liskovich, Stuyvesant High School

Connie Liu, Stuyvesant High School

The NCWIT Award was created to acknowledge the computing aspirations of young women and generate visibility for women's participation in computing-related pursuits. "Encouraging young women's interest in technology careers is critical: our workforce needs their creativity and their innovation," said Lucy Sanders, CEO and Co-founder of NCWIT. "Bank of America's sponsorship for this award helps us recognize and encourage talent that might otherwise be overlooked."

"Bank of America is pleased to partner with NCWIT to help more young women pursue technology-related careers," said Barbara Desoer, chief technology & operations officer at Bank of America. "These skills are in demand across the world, so it's imperative we invest in our students and give them the resources and opportunities they need to compete and thrive in the global economy."

Each award winner will receive:

-- $500 in cash

-- A laptop computer provided by Bank of America

-- An all-expenses paid trip, provided by Bank of America, for each award winner and a parent or guardian to attend the Bank of America Celebrating the Stars of the Future Technology Showcase and Awards ceremony August 2-3, 2008 in Charlotte

-- An engraved award for both the student and the student's school

-- Inclusion in a video highlighting her accomplishments in computing, her future aspirations and her participation in the awards ceremony

-- The opportunity to apply for a three-year internship with Bank of America beginning the summer following her freshman year of college

A total of 28 winners have been selected from Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas and New York City metro-area high schools. All the winners will be honored August 2, 2008, in Charlotte at the Bank of America Celebrating Stars of the Future Technology Showcase and Awards Ceremony.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 59 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 6,100 retail banking offices, nearly 18,500 ATMs and award-winning online banking with nearly 25 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries and has relationships with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

NCWIT

NCWIT is a coalition of over 100 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to increase women's participation in information technology (IT). Member organizations include Apple, Avaya, Bank of America, Catalyst, Cisco, Girl Scouts of the USA, Girls Inc., Georgia Tech, Google, Harvard, HP, Intel, IBM, Kauffman Foundation, Lehman Brothers, MIT, Microsoft, Motorola, National Science Foundation, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Illinois UC, Pfizer, Princeton, Qualcomm, Sally Ride Science, Spelman, Stanford, Sun, University of Colorado, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, University of Washington, Wal-Mart, and many more. To find out more visit www.ncwit.org.

NCWIT
Jenny Slade, 303-786-8772
jslade@ncwit.org
or
Bank of America
Shirley Norton, 415-622-4041
shirley.norton@bankofamerica.com