By TENZIN DORJEE & CANDELA DIAZ
The Posse scholarship is a scholarship meant to foster leadership, help students pursue their academic goals, and promote cross-cultural communication on college campuses. Colleges partnered with the Boston branch of the program include Bryn Mawr University, Bucknell University, Centre College, and Denison University. Several students have applied for a chance to become a Posse Scholar this year in hopes to be able to attend these schools.
Posse sites can be found in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and other major cities throughout the country. “Posse extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams—Posses—of 10 students,” as stated on the Posse Foundation website. One of the main goals Posse has is to train scholars in a way that diversity can be addressed on the campuses thus creating a safer and more comfortable learning space for those of different backgrounds.
For eight months, these students are trained through a process called Pre-Collegiate Training Program to endure their leadership abilities as well as learning how to face social, academic and personal challenges that might be presented to them throughout their college years as well as after that. The first stage consisted of the scholars showing their leadership skills in a non-familiar environment. Things such as “build[ing] a Lego “toy” by memory, as well as inventing a PSA within 10 minutes,” explained Senior MHS Posse nominee Long Nguyen, were part of the group projects.
After being observed, a select group of nominees get chosen for a one-on-one interview. The second stage is much more intimating as it evaluates “who [you are], and questions range from how would [your] friends describe [you] to what [are some] of [your] lowest moments,” explained senior Posse nominee Jonah Kirumira.
SAT scores, school transcripts and examples of leadership skills are what the Posse overseers look for. Senior Posee nominee Mandy Cheng added that even with the possibility of a life-changing circumstance, “the moment [she] walked in, they were all smiles” and “so it was easy for [her] to get comfortable in that situation.”
“The application process to Posse is very different than those of schools given the fact that they look not as much into academics as they look into leadership and how well one is able to work as a member of a team, as opposed to how the normal college application is a very solo process,” added Nguyen. Some of the MHS candidates include Madina Khudhaynazar, Sebastian Patino, Menatallah Hassan, Jonah Kirumira, Julie Lam, Sumya Mohiuddin, Long Nguyen, Mandy Cheng, Christine Chu, Nick Tang, Alyssa Figueiredo, Michelle Ospina, and others.
