After almost 20 years of partnership with the Los Angeles Posse program, Dickinson announced that this partnership will change from Los Angeles to Chicago in Fall 2025. This is the second time Dickinson has readjusted the program after beginning with New York City in 2001.

Kevin Casillas is an incoming freshman in the class of 2028 and a member of Dickinson Posse 20. He is currently a senior in high school and will be a part of the last Posse cohort based out of Los Angeles. When asked about the switch, Kevin reflected on the opportunity the current program structure provides Los Angeles Posse scholars.

“POSSE is a constructed group of students that maintain strong leadership skills that enrich communities by using various techniques and approaches to respond to challenges in the twenty-first century,” Kevin said, “As many of you guys will find out, Dickinson College will not be partnering with POSSE Los Angeles and will move forward to partnering with other cities! Meaning the POSSE 20 cohort will be the last incoming group from Los Angeles. While this decision brings about a significant change and a heartfelt of emotions due to Dickinson being a longing partner… I feel confident to say that we will continue to use our leadership skills to welcome other POSSE groups by ensuring that we are continually developing the pavement that was made available to us by former students and continuing to provide various opportunities to students that come after us.”

Posse is a non-profit organization that partners with colleges to give diverse students full tuition scholarships to some of the most highly ranked institutions in the country, and I myself am a Los Angeles Posse Scholar from Cohort 19. When I first found out that Dickinson would no longer be recruiting students from Los Angeles, it saddened me because there’s just something about all of us being from Los Angeles that makes it feel so special when we are all together. I thought about kids from my school back home and how they will never get to experience being on a campus like Dickinson. I even remember one of my Posse brothers saying “Oh wow, my cousin wanted to come here.” We were all excited to have people from the west coast at Dickinson, since it is not common for Dickinson students to come from states like California. 

However, Los Angeles was not the first Posse Partnership Dickinson College had. Before Los Angeles, it was Posse New York which was also discontinued when Dickinson decided to partner with Los Angeles Posse instead. Judith Rudge,a Dickinson Posse Scholar from New York 1, recently  visited campus on March 4th. Judith recently transitioned from being Nike’s Global Sr. Director of Talent Acquisition to being the Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Inspire Brands. I had the pleasure of meeting Judith and hearing about her reaction to Dickinson ending their recruitment of Posse Scholars from New York.

Judith expressed to me that she had the privilege of having an insider perspective when this decision happened, as she had worked in admissions after she graduated from Dickinson. She stated that she understood Dickinson’s reason for changing Posse recruiting locations, as it was a strategy for trying to diversify the student body. She did also acknowledge that some people from other New York Posse’s felt upset at this decision because they were not able to get proper closure, finding  out abruptly through an email. Dickinson’s decision overall feels bittersweet to all of us. Regardless, we are excited to meet Chicago Posse in the Fall of 2025. It does not make a difference where they are from, we are all posse scholars at the end of the day. Dickinson Posse Scholars from Los Angeles and Chicago will continue to be leaders on campus