WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT:  Football's Dennis Saunders wins Horizons Award

Rocky Mount, NC - The One Economy Corporation has recognized Dennis Saunders, a native of Windsor, NC and current member of the North Carolina Wesleyan football team, as the 2007 Lisa Y. Sullivan Horizons Award winner. As one of the first graduates of the Digital Connector program at the Bertie County Family Resource Center, Dennis (pictured) epitomizes the spirit of leadership and service this award honors.

As an active volunteer at the family resource center and other local daycare and senior citizen centers, Dennis emerged as a leader among his peers. He has also volunteered his time at Habitat for Humanity, where he helped install computers in Habitat homes. A talented artist, Dennis combined his artistic ability with his knowledge of technology to design the logo for the Annual Tech-no Jamboree hosted by the Bertie County Digital Connectors.

Tiffanee Navarro, Beehive coordinator at the resource center, says of Dennis, “I have known Dennis practically all his life ... I knew Dennis was a well-mannered young man, but what I didn’t know was that he possessed the skills to organize his peers and motivate them to use the resources that are available to them to make projects successful.”

Dennis graduated from Bertie County High School in 2007, where he was a member of the varsity track and football teams. Dennis is now a freshman at Wesleyan and has plans to pursue a degree in computer technology and graphic art.

Dennis was a part of a team of youth who received training and participated in community service opportunities in the areas of technology instruction, technical support, digital media, marketing, workforce readiness and leadership development. Armed with these skills, Digital Connectors become technology ambassadors for their communities. In Bertie County, they are critical to helping community members adopt new technology in an area where only one in four residents has broadband Internet access—half the national average.

“Dennis’s leadership is an inspiration,” said Sonja Murray, One Economy Corporation vice president. “His service to Bertie County demonstrates the powerful effect the combination of energy, innovative technology, and commitment can have on a community.”  

In memory of Lisa Sullivan, youth advocate and One Economy founding board member, this award honors exceptional youth who use technology to transform low-income communities. The award was presented at One Economy’s annual gala, a celebration of seven years of using technology to help low-income people enter the economic mainstream. Visit www.one-economy.com to view video from gala, and a message from the evening’s key sponsor, the Allstate Corporation.  

This press release was provided by One Economy.  For more information, please contact Austin Bonnere at abonner@one-economy.com or (202) 393-0051.  

2007-08 SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVES

2006-07 SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVES

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