Last June 10, Chief Sealth senior Sabas O. Rousseau was surprised in the lunchroom when it was announced he received a $5,000 scholarship called the Sun Life Rising Star Award given by Sun Life Financial. That story is here:

http://www.westseattleherald.com/2010/06/10/news/sealth-student-awarded…

Now a South Seattle Community College freshman, he attended the National Sun Life Rising Stars Summit in Miami.

UPDATE: We have just posted a photo of Rousseau from that event.

Highlights from last weekend's trip included the students’ grand entrance into Sun Life Stadium via the Dolphin’s famed ‘Orange Carpet’ as they were applauded by tennis champion and Miami Dolphins Limited Partner, Venus Williams; Dolphins Wide Receiver Davone Bess; Quarterback Chad Pennington, the Dolphins front office and cheerleaders; a special welcome reception in the Dolphins locker room where they received personalized Dolphins team jerseys; and inspirational speeches by Thompson, Moore and the Dolphins players. Williams shared her personal story of overcoming the odds as an at-risk student in her keynote address.

Press release:

Chief Sealth High School student Sabas O. Rousseau will getting an all-expenses paid trip this weekend to Miami, Fl to participate in the National Sun Life Rising Stars Summit, where he will get to mingle with Miami Dolphins players and VPs, as well as tennis star Venus Williams.

The Sun Life summit will focus on the alarming rate of high school drop outs in the USA (30% at last count), the incredible financial barriers facing graduates in terms of paying for college, and the role that non-profit organizations can and should play in helping at –risk youth like Sabas.

Sabas will be one of 22 Sun Life Rising Star Award Winners from across the country to attend the event (all are high school seniors or college freshman.) They will join Venus Williams, Miami Dolphins players and nationally renowned education experts like Ted Beck, president and CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE); Jason R. Klugman, director of the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP); Deborah Long, director of the Elon Academy; and Catherine M. Millett, senior research scientist in the Policy Evaluation and Research Center at Educational Testing Service.

Attendees will share their personal stories, discuss common pitfalls for at-risk students and best-practices to avoid them, how nonprofit and corporations can best aid at-risk students, and how plan financially to fund college for students who may have the brains, but not the financial resources to attend.