|
Statement of Rassan Salandy Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness Hearing on May 23, 2006 THE POSSE MISSION Posse started because of one student who said, "I never would have dropped out of college if I had my posse with me." The Posse Foundation, founded in 1989, identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. The Foundation extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams ("Posses") of 10 students. Posse recruits outstanding student leaders in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C and sends them to some of the top colleges and universities in the country. This year alone, over 6,500 students competed for 305 slots. Posse has become a highly selective program whose reputation continues to grow. Nevertheless, there is still much room for growth. Posse’s partner universities and colleges award Posse Scholars four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships. Currently, Posse has partnerships with 24 competitive colleges and universities. They are: Babson, Brandeis, Bryn Mawr, Bucknell, Carleton, Claremont McKenna, Centre, Colby, Denison, DePauw, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Grinnell, Hamilton, Lafayette, Middlebury, Oberlin, Pomona, Trinity, Union College,University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt, and Wheaton. These incredible institutions work together with Posse to provide students the support they need to become outstanding leaders. The Posse Foundation has three goals. Posse aims to 1) expand the pool from which top colleges and universities can recruit outstanding young leaders from diverse backgrounds, 2) help these institutions build more interactive campus environments so that they can become more welcoming institutions for people from all backgrounds and 3) ensure that Posse Scholars persist in their academic studies and graduate so they can take on leadership positions in the workforce. Moreover, The Posse Program achieves its goals through four program components: 1) The Dynamic Assessment Process (DAP), 2) an eight-month Pre-Collegiate Training Program, 3) a four-year Campus Program, and 4) Posse’s Career Program. What follows is a description of each of these components. RECRUITMENT From September to December each year, Posse conducts the Dynamic Assessment Process (DAP), a unique evaluation method designed to identify young leaders who might be missed by traditional admissions criteria, but who can excel at selective colleges and universities. Using non-traditional forums to evaluate potential, DAP offers students an opportunity to demonstrate their intrinsic leadership abilities, their skill at working in a team setting, and their motivation and desire to succeed. DAP has proven to be an extremely effective tool for identifying outstanding young leaders. In a three-part process, including large group and individual interviews, Posse staff and university partner administrators ultimately select a diverse group of 10 students for each college or university, thus forming a "Posse." PRE-COLLEGIATE TRAINING From January to August of their senior year in high school, Posse Scholars meet weekly with staff trainers and their Posse peers for two-hour workshops. The Training Program consists of workshops that address four areas: 1) team building and group support, 2) cross-cultural communication, 3) leadership and becoming an active agent of change on campus and 4) academic excellence. The goal of the training program is to prepare Scholars for leadership roles on campus and for the high-level academic expectations of their colleges. THE CAMPUS PROGRAM Posse continues to offer support to Scholars once on campus. The Campus Program works to ensure the retention of Posse Scholars and to increase the impact of the Scholars and the Program on the college campus. Posse staff members visit each university four times a year for meetings with Posse Scholars, campus liaisons, and on-campus mentors. Each mentor meets weekly with the Posse as a team and with individual Scholars every two weeks during the first two years in college. In addition, Posse facilitates an annual weekend-long PossePlus Retreat attended by members of the larger student body, faculty, and administration, with the goal of discussing an important campus issue identified by Posse Scholars. THE CAREER PROGRAM The Career Program—which consists of an internship component, career services, and an alumni network—supports Posse Scholars as they transition from being leaders on campus to becoming leaders in the workforce. Posse plays an integral role in the professional development of these young people by providing them with the tools and opportunities necessary to secure highly competitive and career-enhancing internships and jobs. One of the ways Posse achieves this is by partnering with exceptional companies and organizations, both nationally and abroad. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Since 1989, Posse has sent over 1,500 students to selective colleges and universities across the country. Posse Scholars have won over $142 million in scholarships and are persisting in their studies, graduating at a rate of over 90 percent—a rate significantly higher than the national average. Moreover, Posses are having a dynamic effect on campus. Posse Scholars are joining and assisting existing student organizations, sometimes helping more tentative groups to feel more comfortable voicing their concerns and achieving their goals. They are establishing new student-run organizations on campus that continue after they graduate. In fact, over 70 percent of Posse Scholars found new campus organizations or go on to become presidents of already existing ones. Posses also help to increase the numbers of Latino, African American, Asian, and other students from diverse backgrounds in the student populations at Posse partner institutions by helping to make the campus more appealing to students from all backgrounds. The benefits of the program extend well beyond the success rates of individual scholars. LONG-TERM GOALS Posse currently has over 300 alumni and, as mentioned above, is partnered with 24 highly selective universities and colleges. By the year 2020 The Posse Foundation expects to be operating out of 10 cities, partnered with approximately 80 universities, and boasting an alumni network of over 7,000. Posse is an organization driven by the belief that more can be done to identify students with exceptional promise and academic ability. These are extraordinarily talented and motivated young people who, if just given the opportunity, will excel. THE POSSE CONCEPT The concept of a Posse works for both students and college campuses, and is rooted in the belief that a small, diverse group of talented students (a Posse) carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community development. As the United States becomes an increasingly multicultural society, Posse believes that the leaders of this new century should reflect the country’s rich demographic mix, and that the key to a promising future for our nation rests on the ability of strong leaders from diverse backgrounds to develop consensus solutions to complex social problems. The primary aim of the Posse Program is to cultivate these leaders of tomorrow. |