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If I Had Had My Posse With Me, I Would Never
Have Dropped Out of College Changing the Social
Context of Liberal Arts Learning
School Transitions Perceptions of School
Sorting and Pathways to College AERA Annual
Meeting, Chicago April 2003
Deborah Appleman, Nataly Barrera, Mokerah
BradleyCarleton CollegeAndrew Williams, Posse
ChicagoShirley Collado, Posse Foundation,
National Program Director
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What Is Posse?
Posses are groups, each made up of ten students
from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
Posses act as traveling support teams and help to
ensure that Posse Scholars succeed and graduate
from college. In addition, Posses work with their
partner universities to change the cultural
climates on campus, and to increase interaction
between culturally diverse groups.
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• The focus of the program is two-fold
• To recruit students who have extraordinary
  leadership ability and academic potential that
  might be overlooked by the traditional university
  selection process, and
• 2) To devote the resources and support necessary
  to allow those students to achieve personal and
  academic excellence, reach graduation and effect
  positive changes on their college campus and in
  their community.

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Why Posse Is Needed
By the year 2025 the American population will be
54.6 non-Hispanic White, 18.7 Hispanic, 16.3
African American,11.1 Asian American and others.
As a group, minorities are increasing faster
than the non-minority population and currently
account for 60 of the total population growth.
Unfortunately, people of color are still
drastically underrepresented in the country's top
institutions of higher educationoften because
the standard measures used by admissions offices
are culturally limited. However, with the new
legal limitations related to affirmative action
programs, admissions offices nationwide are faced
with a conundrum. How can they continue to
increase the pools of applicants from diverse
backgrounds while maintaining their standards?
Further, how can the campus experience be
improved to prepare students for a culturally
diverse workplace? Posse helps to answer these
needs.
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Posse Goals
Posse has three goals designed to address some
critical issues of importance to institutions of
higher education in the United States today.

1. Enhance the recruitment and selection strategies
   universities and colleges use to identify
   students for admission
2. Improve the retention and completion rates of
   college students drawn from culturally and
   socially diverse backgrounds and
3. Help build more integrated communities on college
   campuses.

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Partner Institutions
Bowdoin Brandeis Bryn Mawr Carleton Colby Deniso
n DePauw Dickinson Grinnell
Hamilton Illinois Lafayette Middlebury Trinity U
of Wisconsin Vanderbilt Wheaton
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Challenges of The First Year at Carleton College

Freshman-Year Attrition Rates African-American 8.
7 Hispanic/Latino 7.1 Asian 5.9 Native
American 0.0 All Students of Color 6.6 White
3.1
Entering Enrollments
Attrition Rates for All Students, 2001
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Making it Through Carleton College

Four-Year Graduation Rates, Class of
2001 African-American 56.5 Hispanic/Latino 85.7
Asian 80.5 Native American 66.7 All
students of color 74.7 White 88.8
Entering Enrollments
Graduation Rates for All Students Class of 2001
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The Role of the Mentor

• Provide support to individual scholars
• Facilitate the growth of the Posse as a group
• Serve as a liaison between Posse and the
  institution
• Mediate within the institution
• Believe unconditionally in the ability of the
  scholars to achieve academic and personal success

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Natalys Story
Nataly with Posse Scholars at Carleton
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Mokerahs Story
Mokerah and Her Family
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A Slice of PosseThe Scholars Perspective
A Video Portrait
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Conclusion
Posse 2 Monee Sconyers, Sam Holmes, David
Pintor, Marcey Abramovitz, Leslie Cofie, Sead
Puskar, Nataly Barrera, Micah Bezold, Latrice
Montgomery, Cara Weatherspoon