DC CAPital Stars!

Last night we headed to the Kennedy Center for D.C. College Access Program's ninth annual DC-CAPital Stars. 

We snapped the evening's emcee, journalist Leon Harris, with DC-CAP president and CEO Argelia Rodriguez, and the celebrity judges: TV personality and artist Donnie Simpson, Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Patti Austin, and performer Lana “MC Lyte” Moorer with Tony Award-winning artist Hinton Battle. DC-CAP is a privately funded nonprofit dedicated to helping all of the nearly 18,000 DC public and public charter high school students prepare for, enroll in and graduate from college.

Before the main program, we headed upstairs to the Kennedy Center Atrium for the VIP reception. Here, patron Robert G. Hisaoka joins Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, the DC-CAP board chairman, with DC Council member Jack Evans. 

This year’s gala and performance theme: The Music of Prince. Here, the 10 DC CAP finalists backstage before the show. 

The gala raised $750K to support DC-CAP’s services, including mentorship programs and counseling on financial aid. Here, Boeing's Tom Bartlett, Kevin Varney and Greta Lundeberg surround DC CAP founder and board member Graham Holdings' Don Graham, former owner of The Washington Post.

Retired U.S. Army Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan joins Debbie Rub-Brooks, Boeing's Leo Brooks, a DC CAP board member, and Boeing chief information officer Ted Colbert. 

The World Bank's Edwin Hernandez with the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education's Alecia Denmark and Gregory Ellis.