Thanks to the Posse Foundation, I’m going to Grinnell College tuition-free for the next four years. Only 40 students out of more than 1, 000 were chosen. But what exactly is the Posse Foundation and how do they select their scholarship winners? Established in 1989 when a student from New York City dropped out from a top-tier liberal arts school claimed that he would’ve stayed in if he had only had his “posse”, the Posse Foundation recruits multi-cultural youth from New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Boston and sends them to top-tier colleges on full-tuition merit scholarships. But choosing these talented teens is not a simple process. Posse prides itself for dynamic interview sessions that truly challenge candidates’ intellect and leadership skills. Here’s what happened when I tried out for Posse:
*September 19, 2006: The minorities coordinator at my school, Ms. Sheri Benites, held a meeting for the fifteen or so students the school had nominated for the Posse Foundation Washington, DC Scholarship to one of four participating colleges: Grinnell, Swanee, Lafayette, or Bucknell. She explained that while our grades and standardized test scores would be reviewed, our ability to lead would be the most important. Since each school is only allowed to send forward ten students, she told us that the first ten of us who signed up would be allowed to attend the first interview. I was the first student to sign up.
*October 4, 2006: I had to leave school early in order to make a 4:00pm appointment at the National Education Building in Washington, DC. The location of the interview was a large multi-purpose room and there were already over a 100 students there when I arrived. I took a nametag and filled out a form asking me contact and academic information. When the Posse people were ready to begin, they asked us to get into a huge circle and one by one, we introduced ourselves by stating our name, school, and one adjective that described us. For the rest of the afternoon, we did a wide range of activities, from building Lego® models to chasing imaginary chickens to performing a two-minute song and dance to writing a twenty-minute essay and several other things. At the end of the interview process, we watched a brief movie about the Posse Foundation and then had a few minutes to ask questions. We were all finished by about 7:30pm.
*October 26, 2006: I had been chosen as a semi-finalist! And today I had my individual interview at the Posse office. The process was pretty standard, except that instead of having only one person interview me, I had two Posse people interview me…at the same time! The asked the usual questions about school, my grades, extracurricular activities, and family. Before the interview, semi-finalists had been encouraged to bring artwork, writing, musical compositions, or anything that gave a sense of their talents, so I brought my portfolio of published art and writing.
*November 11, 2006: I was astounded to learn that I had been selected as a finalist for Grinnell College. My father and I attended a parent orientation night at the National Historical Foundation’s office. The students were placed in a separate room in which they were taught how to fill out their application for Grinnell, while the parents watched a video about the Posse Foundation and learned more about Grinnell College. My parents and I had to make our final decision by November 22, agreeing that I were awarded the scholarship, I would accept it. I also had to have my Grinnell application finished by that date.
*November 22, 2006: My mother brought me to the Posse office, where I brought my application. The Posse people checked it to make sure I had filled out all of the forms and had my teacher recommendations. One of them also proof-read my essay. Once they were convinced that my application was complete, they told me to return to the office on December 11.
*December 11, 2006: I returned to the Posse office at 3:30pm for the 4:00pm appointment, where there were both Posse people and admissions officers from Grinnell College. There were 23 total students and only ten would be chosen for the scholarship to Grinnell; the same was the case for Bucknell, Swanee, and Lafayette. We were instructed to make a circle, state our name, school, and one thing of which we are proud. Then we had a human scavenger hunt, in which we were expected to find a different person to match each one of the 30 characteristics written on our list in ten minutes. Next, we were divided in groups of about five or six students and given one minute a piece to respond to several different prompt while someone from Grinnell observed us and also took a turn answering the prompt. After every two prompts, the Grinnell officer was supposed to rotate to the next group until eventually each group had been observed by all of the Grinnell officers. We continued with activities like these until it was time to leave by 7:30pm.
And then, that night, at around 10:15pm when I returned home, I received a phone call from a DC area code. Wondering whom it was, I picked up. It was the Posse Foundation and I had won the scholarship!
