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Mr. Malone, my college counselor at CICS Ralph Ellison, pointed out the Posse Program to me so I decided to give it a try. The college application and Posse application process has been a long one; it’s been a little tough on my mom as well. Yesterday, she started filling out the early decision financial aid paperwork and it’s a lot to manage, plus she’s still getting used to the idea of me going away.

The Posse interview process has several steps. In early September, we had a four-hour interview with a group of kids like me. We did team-building activities like “build the tallest tower out of a certain number of straws.” We couldn’t use our good hand—I’m left-handed so I couldn’t use my left hand during the activity.

My team worked well together, pushed each other and said, “How can we make our tower taller?” We did speaking activities where we had to respond to statements like ‘pretend you just won the Posse Scholarship.’ We also did plays in which we discussed the benefits of going to college.

When I had to write an essay for Posse, I wrote about how when I was in 8th grade at Turner Drew [a neighborhood school], I wasn’t doing so well—but then I came to Ellison and started doing better. I like it here, I’ve grown a lot here and since I really like music, I recently wrote the school song.

My top three Posse schools are the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Oberlin College, and Trinity College. But I am keeping my options open beyond Posse as well—I recently went to the 100 Black Men of Chicago Scholarship Fair and did an on-the-spot admissions interviews for a college; I had to be really prepared and bring my ACT scores, personal statement, transcript, everything. It was a good experience.

Recently, I had my one-on-one interview with Posse representatives and it went pretty well. Of course I was nervous but when they asked me about the leadership roles I’ve taken on and what could I provide to Posse, I said “I can be a leader. I may not be the president of something but I’ll be a leader when it counts.”

UPDATE: Deveon’s application for the Posse Scholarship was not approved. But he remains optimistic about his other prospects.

Their Time to ShineA CICS Posse scholarship aspirant and current Posse scholar reflect on their experiences

DEVEON ROSE class of 2011

from september through december each

year, posse, a national college access and

youth leadership development program,

uses a unique evaluation called the dynamic

assessment program (dap) to select its

scholars. dap is 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.

sourCe: posse foundation Website WWW.possefoundation.org

CICS RALPH ELLISON

I graduated from CICS Longwood in 2007, and when I did my college search I was looking mainly at Illinois schools. When the Posse program was brought to my attention by Ms. Purham, my college counselor, it sounded promising so I went with it. I researched the program a little bit, I learned about the things they were trying to promote and do, and what they could offer me as a student to help me be successful in life. Then I looked into Madison which had just started up its Posse program, and once I realized the accolades that Madison was known for, I couldn’t not apply.

Biggest surprises? Coming from Chicago, from CICS Longwood which is predominantly African-American, I wasn’t accustomed to the diversity aspect at first but now I like being part of a diverse community. The academic aspect was the biggest transition for me—I learned that college is basically a competition among students, and I felt a lot of the other students were better prepared than I was. But even though it was a big change, I’ve learned so much, I don’t regret it for a minute.

To catch up I have relied on my posse, we study together all the time and help each other out. The university is great for support as well; I’m an economics major so I have used the math and economics tutorial programs as well as the math resource center. Any resource you need, it is available and if it isn’t they will make it available. I am glad that I chose a college with such strong support—I wasn’t sure I was going

to get that from the Chicago-based colleges I was looking at before I found out about Posse.

The Posse program has helped dramatically; it’s a recognized program on campus. If you’re a Posse scholar people know it and they think highly of the program. They know the Posse students are here to bring leadership and diversity, to bring something new to the campus that wouldn’t otherwise be available.

I graduate in December 2011, and I’m looking to get into asset management, something with finance and accounting. I feel prepared because I’ve had plenty of internships, including an internship in Chicago this past summer. I got the internship through Posse—Posse is great at career development and professional development. I met some really successful people and learned things that you don’t learn in the classroom. It’s a different type of learning, to learn in the field versus in the classroom.

I go back to CICS Longwood from time to time to talk about Posse and I hope for the best for other Posse applicants. I think the program is getting competitive, but I would encourage people to keep trying. I really love it here.

CONEI COLEMAN class of 2007

CICS LONGWOOD

POSSE SCHOLARS UPDATE:Congratulations to our high school seniors who will enter college as Posse Scholars in Fall 2011.

Michael Ayala, CICS Northtown Oberlin College

Maribel Diaz, CICS Northtown DePauw University

Dione Gordon, CICS Longwood DePauw University

Kathleen Kivarkis, CICS Northtown University of Wisconsin at Madison

Alante Ward, CICS Ralph Ellison Connecticut College

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