First United Bank of Madill and Kingston proudly congratulate the 2025 graduating junior students of the second annual Pillar Academy Youth Leadership Program. The goal of this program was to teach twelve students from Madill and Kingston about the bank’s four pillars, while teaching the importance of community involvement and lifelong skills.
Pillar Academy encompasses First United’s four pillars: Personal Growth, Faith, Financial Well Being and Health & Wellness. For Personal Growth, the students were given tools to explore and develop their own individual strengths withFirstUnitedBank’sown Learning and Development trainer, Brandon Fields.
The Faith pillar session had Fasiri Ellison, Director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Southeastern Oklahoma, speak to the students about ways to seek God and how to live a life of meaning and purpose.
For Financial Well-Being, Madill and Kingston First United Bank employees led the session covering budgeting, credit, checking accounts, and the importance of savings.
The Health and Wellness session featured Gage Goff and Johnny and Terri Gorrell, both long-time Madill residents, to speak on the importance of mental and physical health.
In addition to covering the four pillars, students also were involved in United Acts of Kindness Day in February where they chose to deliver Kindness Coloring Cards, completed by elementary students at both schools, to Madill and Kingston’s senior living facilities.
They wrote words of affirmation onkindnesscardsand attachedthemtoroses,where they delivered them to the cleaning staff of both schools and placed them on random cars throughout Marshall County. They also painted rocks with kind messages on themandplacedthemaround Madill and Kingston parks and the square.
Lastly, the students made ‘Take What You Need’ boxes filled with hygiene products, candy, and words of encouragement that were placed in Madill and Kingston High School girl’s bathrooms.
The students also got to attend First United’s Annual Stakeholder Meeting where they heard from speakers such as Author John Maxwell and Actor/Singer Aaron Lazar.
They also got to visit First United’s corporate headquarters in Durant where they received a tour of the bank and heard from several executives and leaders about the bank’s values, their own personal stories, andencouragingwordsabout the student’s future.
Students also got to do some mock interviews with retail management staff in preparation for real-life interviews they’ll have in the future.
Facilitators Eddie Ramirez and Bethany Recio of First United Bank said this about the students: “We congratulate the students on their completion of this program, and we wish you the best your senior year and beyond. We will miss these students-they were engaged, smart, and just an all-around fun group of young adults to bearound.Welookforwardto next year’s group of students for Pillar Academy.”
Students are writing a one-page paper on how they took away or learned from Pillar Academy, which will in part determine who gets one of two $500 scholarships given to one student from Madill and one student from Kingston. These scholarships will be awarded at the student’s awards assembly this year.