The Posse Foundation Inc. recognizes students who have potential in doing leadership roles, and covering their tuition fees while attending top local art schools. Many of the Posse chapters are located in major cities such as Boston, Miami, New York etc. Among the hopefuls at MHS was Senior Jonathan Dong, who first discovered the program from a former MHS alumni who participated in it and later nominated by Boyle Guidance Counselor Erin Craven. Recalling earlier in his incoming senior year, Dong felt that in an individual perspective, [he] was lost on where he wanted to go to for college and came to a decision that the program ¨ would [bring him] to a right path¨ even if he didn´t receive a scholarship or figure out where else he wanted to go.
In the end, he received a scholarship to Hamilton College, which happened to be his top choice. Upon receiving the phone call of his acceptance, he recalled being ¨ overwhelmed with joy¨ along with relief because during that moment, he “ couldn’t think of any other future besides the one with Hamilton, and [he] was afraid that need to find a different path.¨ He added that the phone call of his acceptance ¨ will be a memory kept for years to come.¨ At first, the application process was found to be overwhelming for Dong because of the countless interviews and he overcame during a short period of time.
Hamilton College is a private four-year liberal arts institution located in Clinton, New York. What caught Dong´s attention to select attending this college was the ratio between students to faculty (9:1) and the rural-like setting of the campus.
While attending Hamilton, Dong is most looking forward to the change in environment because as a leader, he finds it important to have growth in different environments in order to see other perspectives throughout his life. He finds himself quite nervous around the work, but believes it will become easier down the road combating/developing work skills with maturity. One´s thing for sure, he´s prepared for the huge culture change from MHS to Hamilton with different ethics group.
At the moment, he is planning on majoring in environmental studies, biology and maybe minor/public works. His interest in environmental stem from his family background in which his parents grew up on a farm back in China and had some experiences working on one as well.
A few lessons that struck out to him during high school was the importance of teamwork and perseverance from doing extracellular activities such as crew team and being president of the Leadership Mentoring Club, along with new leadership skills.
Dong would like to give thanks to his family, friends, Ms.Craven and his cousins who ¨ pushed [him] and inspired [him] to work hard and fight for the Posse Scholarship.¨
The future is definitely looking bright for Jonathan Dong.
