The cost of the school plays a crucial role for many students when determining which college they can attend and afford. For many, attending an out-of-state college is only possible with the help of scholarships. For example, the Federal Pell Grant is a need-based scholarship, typically awarded to students from families earning less than $20,000 annually.
However, this leaves out many students who need financial assistance but have higher family incomes. Merit scholarships, determined based on academic performance rather than need, are highly competitive and difficult to secure.
The Posse Foundation emerged in 1989 as a transformative opportunity for students, offering full tuition to one of its partner colleges without primarily focusing on students’ income. Beyond financial support, the program provides recipients with a supportive “posse” and equips them with the essential skills to navigate the transition to college life.
Posse aims to diversify the young leaders that colleges and universities admit and make the institutions more collaborative for students of all backgrounds. Currently, scholars from the. Posse Miami region have earned $156.3 million in scholarship money from the region’s six partner schools. These six schools include Davidson College, Franklin & Marshall College, Hamilton College, Mount Holyoke College, Pomona College and Syracuse University.
This school year, four students from Miami Palmetto Senior High received the scholarship, securing their commitment to one of Miami’s partner schools.
“I was very shocked [when I found out I received Posse], so much so that I could barely talk when they were telling me and I was kind of just nodding the whole time because I didn’t believe it was gonna happen. Like two minutes before I got told that I got admitted into the school, I was thinking I didn’t get it,” senior and Mount Holyoke College Posse recipient Madeline Volpe said.
Beginning in her freshman year of high school, Volpe had not yet felt connected to a specific college or university. However, one trip to Mount Holyoke College led to her learning about Posse’s mission and her eventual receiving the scholarship.
“I went to see Mount Holyoke two years ago because my uncle lives in the area, but I didn’t really think of it ever … until he told me to go check it out because it was so beautiful, [and] it was his favorite campus in the area. My mom, my dad and I went to go see it and I felt a spark there. I felt very comfortable there, which is odd to say, but it felt like where I wanted to be; it felt kind of like a home,” Volpe said. “Once I heard that it was a Posse [partner school, it became something I was interested in]; I liked the Posse [Foundation] and what it stands for and what it wants to do with students, but I also [liked] Mount Holyoke [because] I felt so welcome there.”
Now, Volpe has become part of “Posse 16,” and will attend MHC in the fall. Her Posse experience is only at the beginning, but she has already improved many skill sets and is creating close ties with those she has met through the scholarship process.
“I’ve learned a lot about interviewing through it because there are three interviews. So I’ve learned how to hold myself and speak to people in a way that not many kids have had the opportunity to do, and also I’ve gained a lot of friends [through the process] … What I love about my posse [is that] I think all the girls are so driven academically, but also outside of school, they’re so creative and everything. We all get along very well, so it’s nice to have these people that I can have conversations with and we all have very similar activities we like to do,” Volpe said.
The Posse Foundation searches for scholars who possess remarkable leadership skills. To many, its recruitment process is seen as very untraditional and unique. One must apply to be nominated by the school’s College Access Program Advisor in May of their junior year through a digital application, in which the student will submit grades, extracurriculars and achievements. After being nominated, the process officially begins in September of senior year, through the Dynamic Assessment Process. This unconventional evaluation process provides students an opportunity to display leadership abilities, teamwork skills and a drive to succeed.
“Posse is an incredible opportunity to be able to grow one’s leadership skills and get to experience such a new phase of life with people that really get you and people that you can spend time with outside of social settings and just kind of do nothing with. So, Posse, to me, is an opportunity to branch out and experience college with people who come from a similar background as me, and have been given an equal opportunity to succeed and thrive academically and socially in college,” senior and Syracuse University Posse recipient Sara Paredes said.
The DAP process is composed of three parts. DAP One includes all Posse nominees splitting up into groups and working together on several projects, such as facilitating discussions and performing public service announcement skits. DAP Two is a traditional interview between the nominee and one or two Posse program trainers. If a nominee is elected to move onto DAP Three, they must decide to fully commit to their selected school if awarded the scholarship. DAP Three is the final step — a 20-person group interview, where 20 finalists are observed and a final decision is made.
Despite the stress of the process, Paredes felt the support and motivation from her classmates and the Posse faculty throughout this period. With the Posse scholarship, she will attend Syracuse University and is excited about the opportunities and memories that wait ahead for her.
“I would say life is networking. Life is making connections. Life is about who you know. Life is about meeting cool, nice people that can be your friends for life, and I think Posse is really special for that,” Paredes said. “I consider myself to be very social, but I tend to float socially a little bit. I tend to look for anchors in my life, I have had best friends since I was little and things like that, but I don’t typically have a big friend group. So, getting to have that anchor in college was definitely something really important to me, and I know that Posse gets to give that to me.”
Posse Miami also recruits students who may be overlooked due to structural inequality and traditional measures of aptitude. Not only do they examine the individual students, but they observe what someone can contribute to their school’s posse. Alongside Paredes, senior and Posse recipient Natalie Rodriguez will attend Syracuse University in the fall and sums up her Posse experience as dynamic.
“Finding out that I got [Posse] was really exciting, but I think one of the best parts was the people that I got to meet because there were a lot of people that normally I don’t think I would have talked to in day-to-day life, just because we’re so different. I got to meet different people and I realized how close I can be with them [next year at Syracuse], how much we connect, and how like-minded we are, even though on paper, it might not seem that way,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is excited to swap out the Miami city life and heat for the snowy, small, yet tight-knit, community that Syracuse offers students. Still, at the annual Posse ceremony where recipients get to celebrate with their families and meet those in their Posse, Rodriguez was faced with a memorable moment that will always remind her of home.
“One of my favorite parts of Posse, now that I think about it, was the ceremony because I got to meet my posse, which is really cool … The biggest part [of the ceremony] was that they had an open mic portion where people in the audience could speak, and my mom decided to speak and that was really nice,” Rodriguez said.
Through this organization, students have attended their top schools and pursued their passions, while simultaneously forming new friendships with others. For senior and Davidson College Posse recipient Brooke Wilensky, Posse is opening doors for her to study journalism and political science at Davidson.
“I really wanted to go to a good out-of-state college on a scholarship, and Posse also has great alumni connections, and I really like the support that you get throughout your four years of college. So it’s a win-win. That’s a scholarship plus the support,” Wilensky said. “[Davidson College] is such an amazing school that’s known for professors and their research opportunities and study abroad and funding for their students. I also really like their community; one reason I chose Davidson [is because] they have an honor code. So students genuinely do not cheat, they don’t steal things, so it’s just a very nice, supportive community.”
With only a few months until their college journey begins, Posse recipients will participate in Pre-Collegiate Training sessions once a week with their fellow posse members. At the sessions, the students will build formative skills and prepare for college, while also getting the opportunity to bond with those in their group.
“It makes me feel more comfortable with others who got Posse; we now have friends going into college that we’re really close with, because now we’re going to be seeing each other every week, while not everyone has those friends when they go in. So Posse really makes you feel kind of this weight off your shoulders on trying to worry about, ‘Oh, who am I going to talk to on the first day, or eat lunch with on that day?’ when you move in once your parents leave. So it makes [the college transition] a lot smoother, and you make yourself feel more ready to fight on,” Volpe said.
