• February 17, 2011

Sun Life is hosting its first annual Sun Life Rising Star Awards National Summit which will provide a forum to address the lagging high school graduation rates of at-risk youth.

The forum, which takes place Feb. 25-26 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, will include education experts, students, and representatives from the non-profit and corporate sectors. Wes Thompson, president, Sun Life Financial U.S., will deliver opening remarks. Other speakers include Davone Bess, wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins and tennis champ Venus Williams.

Priscilla Elizalde, a San Diego, California graduate of Kearny High School's Construction Tech Academy, and HANDY, Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Florida nonprofit organization, won the first annual National Sun Life Rising Star Awards.

The financial services company awarded Elizalde, now a freshman at San José State University, $50,000 toward college tuition, and HANDY, Inc. (Helping Abused Neglected Disadvantaged Youth), a Broward County, Fla., nonprofit, $50,000 in grants, the highest honors of its Sun Life Rising Star Awards program.--Tanya Irwin