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WEEK of January 10, 2005
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Posse Scholarships Opening Doors for BFS Students

by Jeffrey Stanley

Two BFS seniors have received Posse Scholarships, and that number might increase to three. The Posse Program works with universities to pinpoint students with strong leadership and academic potential who might be overlooked by usual recruiting methods, and to provide the support necessary to help these students succeed in college. The organization places these students in multicultural teams, or “posses,” which are then given training and support and sent to universities as a group to provide academic and social support for each other throughout their academic careers.

Director of college guidance Dori Dietz is particularly fond of the scholarship. “It focuses on what we do well, which is help adolescents find their voices,” she says.

In the program, each participating college picks ten kids to be in their posse and then funds the full tuition for each student. Right now the Posse Program consists of about 20 colleges and universities nationwide. “It’s quite an expensive proposition,” said Dietz, “because tuition is for all four years.” Certain requirements must be fulfilled for a student to continue receiving the scholarship every year. “They meet several times over the course of the year as a support group for one another, they have a faculty advisor, and are mentors to new posse kids coming into the college each year.”

Dietz recommends BFS students to the Posse Program based first on leadership, then on grades. She nominates kids who have at least a High Pass average and who have shown leadership skills in some capacity at the school. Next, the names are run by the Upper School head and deans. The final list of nominees is then submitted to the Upper School faculty to make sure there are no objections.

Once accepted as nominees by the Posse Program, students go through three interviews during the vetting process. “The first is a group interview where the kids participate in leadership activities. Of those, some are asked back for an in-depth interview. If the student makes it through this second interview and a participating college looks at his or her transcript and SAT scores and personality, and says, ‘we select this one,’ then the student is notified.” If the student accepts, a third interview is scheduled with that particular college.

Last year’s Posse recipients include Jyah Hoy, who is currently attending Trinity College. As of this writing, current senior Greg Welch has been accepted to Wheaton and senior Jennifer Hoang has been accepted to Dickinson. A third senior has been selected to attend a third interview with a college and will then await word on the final outcome. An update will be published later this semester.

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