The Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation and College Summit developed the annual Peer Leader of the Year awards to recognize exceptional senior high school students for their innovative approaches to building a college-going culture through peer leadership throughout the school year. All recipients are also expected to apply to one or more colleges during their senior year.

The Peer Leader of the Year awards are granted to one or two students from each of College Summit’s key markets (Miami, New York City, Northern California, Southern California, the Washington, D.C. region, South Carolina, St. Louis and West Virginia) for a total of 10-15 recipients nationally.

Thanks to Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation support, the Miami region of College Summit selected Peer Leaders of the Year for the first time this year - Tamarcia Braggs and Marquez Davis, were named regional Peer Leaders of the Year for South Florida:

• Tamarcia, a graduating senior from William H. Turner Technical Arts High School, is known for her keen communication skills and a willingness to go the distance on every challenge set before her. She will attend St. Thomas University this fall and is slated to major in communications.
• Marquez “guided the way” as an active member of Miami Northwestern Senior High School’s student government and worked tirelessly to accumulate Advanced Placement credits. He will be attending Clark University, where he will major in business administration.

Darden supports College Summit’s goal of working to ensure that every student who can make it in college makes it to college. Since its founding in 1993, College Summit has served more than 35,000 low income students across the country.