Posse Retreats Create "Ripple Effects" at DePauw, Notes Christian Science Monitor

August 29, 2000

August 29, 2000, Greencastle, Ind. - "One major contribution the scholarship recipients make to campus each year is their 'PossePlus Retreat,'" notes a Christian Science Monitor examination of the Posse program. The retreats, writes Stacy A. Teicher, "facilitate discussions among students and faculty (typically about 100 people) on such topics as race, gender, activism, and sexuality. At DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., the retreats cause 'many ripple effects on campus,' says Maria Flores-Mills, a Posse mentor. They have inspired other students at the predominantly white liberal-arts school to consider new activities, she says, such as service trips during winter breaks."

The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential, who may be overlooked by the traditional college selection process. The Foundation extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal achievement and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multi-cultural teams ("posses") of 10 students. The Foundation's partner universities acknowledge Posse Scholars by awarding them four-year, full-tuition, leadership scholarships. DePauw has been a Posse partner since 1996. 

The story points out, "The Posse Foundation is funded by grants from private sources and the U.S. Department of Education. In addition to Vanderbilt, DePauw, and Bowdoin, the partner schools that supply scholarships are Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.; Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.; Middlebury College in Vermont; Dickinson College in Carlisle, Penn.; Hamilton College in New York; and Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania, the first women's college to sign on."

Read the complete article at the newspaper's Web site.

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