The Los Angeles program of the Posse Foundation is celebrating 15 years of partnership with Dickinson. 

The Posse Foundation posted a tweet on Feb. 14 with a picture of Dickinson’s first Posse from Los Angeles in 2004. The post not only marked the occasion, but also advertised an event the foundation is hosting on March 16 in Los Angeles to celebrate.

Dickinson has had a partnership with the Posse Foundation since 2001, beginning with the New York Posse program, before expanding to include Los Angeles Posse.

The Posse Foundation’s main goal is to train “leaders of tomorrow,” according to their website.  The website also explains that a “Posse” is a “small, diverse group of talented students” and “serves as a catalyst for individual and community development.”

Posse members take part in an “intensive eight-month Pre-Collegiate Training Program…to pursue their academic interests and help promote cross-cultural communication” to prepare for their time at “top-tier colleges” according to the college’s website.

Posse has influenced 8,490 students with “extraordinary academic and leadership potential” since 1989. The foundation is currently recruiting from 10 cities: Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, Chicago, Houston, Bay Area Calif. and Los Angeles. It also is partnered with 57 institutions of higher education. 

Jacqueline Amezcua ’19 reflected on the benefits she received as a Los Angeles Posse Scholar. “Posse provided me with the skills and confidence to engage in meaningful conversations. Through the foundation’s pre-collegiate training, I developed ways to understand opinions and experiences that were different from my own. Once at Dickinson, these skills allowed me to engage with the community, with confidence, to find ways to develop programming and advocate for the groups and experiences I feel connected to,” she said.