Posse Scholars Help Each Other Navigate College

Marcy Mistrett, director of the D.C. office of the Posse Foundation, was online Monday August 14, at noon ET , to discuss the young men and women from the D.C. area, and other urban public high schools, who participate in this scholarship program worth over 4 million dollars. The students attend college in a group, called a posse, and help each other study and adjust to campus life.

A Transcript Follows.

____________________

Marcy Mistrett: Hello, thank you for joining The Posse Foundation and me this afternoon. This is an exciting time of the year for Posse, as we are just about to send more than 300 new Scholars from across the country off to college, and to begin our recruitment season for the 2007 year. I look forward to answering your questions.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Are Posse scholars chosen for excellent grades...or could artistic effort...or community service help you get admitted?

Marcy Mistrett: Posse Scholars are awarded full-tuition, merit-based Scholarships for their leadership by our partner colleges and universities. All of our Scholars are highly academically motivated and have demonstrated the ability to succeed on these highly competitive campuses. Additionally, they are all leaders, in their schools, communities, and at home. Their leadership takes on many different forms. For example, some lead in theatre and the arts, while others are captains in JROTC, or incredible athletes. Many of our students lead at home, caring for younger siblings or elders in the family or work outside of the home. They are also very active in their communities and faith institutions.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Is there any tension in the families when these kids go to a prestigious college? For instance, what if someone is the first person in their family to go to college, how would their parents react to that?

Marcy Mistrett: Many of our Scholars are first generation college attendees, and the fact that Posse sends 10 students to college together so they can support one another on campus, is appealing to our Scholars and their families.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Why the name "Posse" -- a posse was either a group of men in the Wild West seeking to render justice, or injustice. Or, a "posse" is associated with a group of criminal looking, if not criminal acting friends of a celebrity or rap artist -- exactly NOT the type of person these kids need to emulate!

Marcy Mistrett: The Posse Foundation was started in 1989 when one student said he never would have dropped out of college if he had his "posse" with him. The idea of sending a group (or posse) of students together to college to "back each other up", became the impetus for our highly successful program. Today, Posse has sent over 1,500 students to top-tier colleges, leveraging over $142 million in college Scholarships. Furthermore, our Scholars are graduating at over 90% from our partner institutions.

_______________________

Fort Washington, Md.: Do other jurisdictions have Posse Scholars and are they also major specific? Can a non-D.C. graduate become part of a Posse Scholar?

Marcy Mistrett: The Posse Foundation recruits its Scholars from five major cities across the USA including New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Students residing in any of these major cities can be nominated for our Scholarship.

Posse D.C. recruits students from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including Prince Georges, Montgomery, and Anne Arundel Counties in Maryland, and Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Virginia.

Our Scholars have diverse academic interests. The Scholarship is not tied to a specific major, Posse Scholars can study in any field they chose.

_______________________

Upper Marlboro, Md.: How can an interested student find out more information about this program?

Marcy Mistrett: The Posse Foundation about to enter our recruitment and nomination season. Interested students (high school seniors) can find out more about our program by looking at our web site at: www.possefoundation.org.

The web site outlines our unique nomination and selection process called the Dynamic Assessment Process (DAP). Interested students can be nominated through their high school guidance counselors or from a community-based organization.

_______________________

Atlanta, Ga.: I think this is so wonderful! I hope you can maintain and expand this program. I am one of many, many D.C. high school graduates (I graduated in 1988 as valedictorian!) who hit what I now realize was a fairly mediocre college and was knocked completely off my feet. My knowledge, study habits, life skills, everything were maybe one-tenth of what I needed to succeed. Rather than crawling home and admitting failure to the family who had been so proud of me, I "took ill," moved in with an aunt in Atlanta, and slowly started getting putting things in order. I never did graduate from college, but eventually earned a paralegal certificate and am now doing quite well, no thanks to the D.C. schools or anyone or anything associated with them. OK, I'm bitter, but I think I'm entitled to be. I would like to send you a small donation to save others, if not from a similar fate, from taking such a convoluted path to that fate. How may I do that? Keep up the good work!

Marcy Mistrett: Thank you for sharing your story. College can be a challenging experience for anyone. I appreciate your willingness to share your success, and I am certain it will serve as inspiration to other students.

For anyone who would like to donate to The Posse Foundation, please visit our web site at www.possefoundation.org, where you can donate on-line. Or, make a check payable to: The Posse Foundation, 14 Wall Street, Floor 8A-60, New York City, N.Y. 10005. Attention to: Helen Katz, National Director of Development.

_______________________

New Haven, Conn.: I know that at small liberal arts colleges it can be hard to find a critical mass of students with similar backgrounds to support each other. Does the Posse program have a proven track record of helping enable the students awarded these scholarships to finish their degrees?

Marcy Mistrett: The Posse Foundation currently partners with 26 outstanding university partners. Across the board our Scholars are doing exceptionally well at these campuses. Posse Scholars graduate at over 90% from our partner institutions, and then go on to do incredible things in the workforce.

_______________________

Bowie, Md.: Is this a non-profit? Where do you all get the money from to help the children?

Marcy Mistrett: The Posse Foundation is a 501-(C)3 organization. Every dollar that is donated to the organization leverages six dollars in college scholarships.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: What colleges participate in this program? Also, are scholars given assistance with non-tuition related expenses, such as travel to and from school, books, etc?

Marcy Mistrett: Currently, The Posse Foundation has 26 partner institutions, and we are continuing to grow! Even more exciting is the number of these institutions who commit to taking more than one group of Scholars per year; seven partner institutions take Scholars from two Posse cities (that is 20 Scholarships each year).

_______________________

Philadelphia, Pa.: Is there ever any tension between the students in the posse? Going to a private university was a huge culture shock to me and I can understand the benefit of having a group of like minded classmates to go to school with, but what about differences between the students in the posse itself? Do the groups ever turn cliqueish? I just wish there was a program like this for students outside of major urban areas! Thanks for your thoughts and great work.

Marcy Mistrett: Posse Scholars are incredibly diverse in their life experiences, beliefs, cultures, and perspectives. What they share is a powerful commitment to their academic pursuits and outstanding leadership abilities.

_______________________

Marcy Mistrett: Let me tell you about one of our Scholars. One young man has been developing and publishing his own video games since he was in middle school. He is self taught in two animation software packages. In high school he was very active in the National Society of Black Engineers, and excelled in regional and national robotics competitions. He is passionate about studying technology and business in college.

_______________________

Thane, India: Have you ever considered [having} a POSSE in India?

Marcy Mistrett: We have gotten many inquiries into bringing the Posse program overseas, and we are really excited about the global interest in our program. Our current strategic plan is to be in ten U.S. cities by the year 2020, so this is where we are focusing most of our attention at this time. But who knows, perhaps Posse can be international some day in the future. We want to help as many students as possible.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: When looking at your web site, I saw that certain schools had a "Posse" from a certain area. Does that mean a student from D.C. would not be able to attend a school that only had Chicago "Posse" students. In other words, are students group by geography only? Do the schools work primarily with students from the geographic area?

Marcy Mistrett: This is a great final question, thank you for asking it. The colleges and universities that Posse partners with are matched with a specific Posse city from which they select their Scholars. For example, Vanderbilt University (Posse's first university partner) selects all ten of their Scholars from New York City each year. This enables the Posse Foundation to train the posse for eight months in a rigorous Pre-Collegiate Training Program, and ensure that the group continues to get consistent support from their senior year of high school through college graduation and into the workforce.

_______________________

Marcy Mistrett: Thank you so much for joining me today, I am sorry that I couldn't get to all of your excellent questions. As Posse continues to grow, we welcome further dialogue and interest in our Scholars and their successes. Thank you again for chatting with us, good-bye for now.

___________________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.