Oceanside Rising Star Students Honored For Overcoming Challenges

OCEANSIDE, CA — The Oceanside Chamber hosted the second Rising Star student recognition program at the El Corazon Senior Center on Tuesday.

The Rising Star program is hosted by the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce to recognize high school seniors at Oceanside high schools who have overcome significant challenges in their life, but who have managed to keep or get back on track with their education.

Each school principal collaborates with their staff to nominate one high school senior per month. The students must be college or vocational school-bound and they should emulate the program’s mission statement: “Convening the business and education community to honor Oceanside seniors for rising above adversity by demonstrating character, integrity, school and community engagement that make our city shine like a star.”

Honorees are then eligible to apply for higher education scholarships that will be awarded at the end of the school year. While scholarships may be awarded for a wide variety of fields of study, the Chamber and its Workforce Development Task Force will be asked to keep in mind the emerging industries in the region including technology, biotech/life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and hospitality.

The Rising Star student of the month and student of the year program occurs monthly at an off-campus Oceanside location during the school year. During the event, the school principals, the student’s parents and mentoring teachers share what sets this student apart from other students and provide examples of their character, integrity, passion, focus and perseverance that has made them such a Rising Star on their campus and in our community.

December’s honorees were: Jesus "Chuy" Rivera from Surfside Educational Academy, Angel Padilla from Oceanside High School, and Javier Murillo, Jr. from El Camino High School.

Scott Ashton, the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce's CEO, said they are hosting the Rising Star program as part of its larger workforce development initiative.

"The primary objectives are student recognition, scholarships for higher education and building of relationships between the business community and K-12 Educational system. We are focused on engaging with our educational partners to ensure a strong workforce pipeline for Oceanside businesses," Ashton said. "In addition, we would like to thank Genentech for their generous $20,000 scholarship sponsorship which will help more of our Rising Stars to reach the stars!"

View a video of the December Rising Star event:

View photos from the Rising Star event on December 7, 2021.

View photos from the inaugural Rising Star event on November 2, 2021.

Rising Star events are open to all community members who want to show their support for our students. Tickets are $25 for Chamber members and $40 for prospective members. More information.

The Chamber wishes to thank SDG&E for being an event sponsor and Tri-City Medical Center and Genentech for being presenting sponsors.

About the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce
Founded in 1896, the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce’s mission is to stimulate economic prosperity and foster a vibrant community. It is celebrating 125 years of serving the Oceanside business community, as well as its active-duty service members serving aboard the adjacent Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. The Chamber recently launched a workforce development program to collaborate with regional training and education programs to ensure job seekers are receiving employer-driven job training that produces enriching employment experiences.

More information about the Chamber

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