2021 Rising Star of the Year: Ismael Vera, Carlsbad High School

In September, 2020 we launched our second annual Rising Star of the Month program to honor local area high school seniors for demonstrating character, integrity, love of learning, involvement in school and community activities and the ability to overcome challenging life circumstances without compromising their education. Despite Covid moving our entire program to Zoom, we still honored nearly 40 high school seniors from four different high schools. They were all recognized for making a difference in their home, school and community. And, we are pleased to announced that nine of our Rising Stars were acknowledged last month with $1,500 scholarships as our Rising Stars of the Year. The winners of the 2020-21 Rising Star of the Year scholarships are Karen Antonio, Carlsbad High School; Carter Blom, Sage Creek High School; Chiara Frank, La Costa Canyon High School; Bennett Hochner, Sage Creek High School; Aiko Lozar, Carlsbad High School; Nolan Mejia, Sage Creek High School; Bella Niems, Sage Creek High School; Ismael Vera, Carlsbad High School; Kami Zablan, Sage Creek High School.