Helping Today’s College Students Become Tomorrow’s Leaders

July 15, 2022

Back at South Broward High School, Rachelly Buzzi was once nominated by her classmates as most likely to be President someday. The daughter of a Puerto Rican and a Cuban immigrant, and the granddaughter of immigrants from Syria, Spain and Italy, Buzzi grew up in the U.S. with an appreciation for the strength that comes from finding commonality amid difference.

Tomorrow’s leaders should, of course, be knowledgeable and driven. But they additionally need qualities like integrity and a steadfast concern for others.

Historically, the problem for many high school students — who show potential in these additional respects — has been that college scholarships programs often overlook qualities that are difficult to measure with standardized tests, qualities such as Buzzi’s appreciation for commonality amid difference.

Not The Posse Foundation. Posse Scholars undergo a dynamic assessment in order to determine their aptitude, not merely for answering test questions, but for becoming leaders in the real world. Through a series of teamwork exercises and interviews (both one-on-one and group setting interviews), Posse looks beyond limited measures of potential to find exceptionally capable students who might otherwise be missed under traditional admission criteria. It was Posse’s dynamic assessment process that enabled Buzzi to stand out and be selected for a Posse scholarship.

What The Posse Foundation Does

The Posse mission is to give diverse sets of talented students the tools and support networks they need to succeed in college and become well-rounded, service-oriented leaders.

After identifying high school students with the kind of character that the 21st Century needs from its leaders, Posse brings these students together for extensive pre-collegiate training from January to August of their senior year. Among the program’s various components, students participate in a sequence of workshops that focus on the skills necessary for team building, cross-cultural communication, leadership, and academic excellence.

Once these students are in college, Posse mentors meet weekly with groups of Posse Scholars (their “posses”) at their different campuses and with individual Posse Scholars every two weeks. The main goal is to offer guidance and foster camaraderie through the inevitable ups and downs of life in college.

To aid career development after college, Posse partners with accomplished companies and organizations to assist with internships for Posse Scholars, and it works with top graduate and professional schools to assist with the application process for Posse Scholars pursuing graduate degrees. These are just a few of the more noteworthy parts of Posse’s expansive support program.

This sort of comprehensiveness is what makes Posse unique. Not only is its dynamic assessment process an unusually rigorous and holistic way of selecting students, but also its guidance and support of students before, during and after college is exceptionally effective in fostering character development.

Perhaps most importantly, by bringing together Posse Scholars from different high schools who will be attending the same universities, these students simultaneously gain a sense of security — from knowing their posse will have their backs — and a sense of purpose — from knowing that others will need them to have their backs in turn. What could be more important than being there for each other?

To expand this posse mindset to the widest circles possible, Posse has partnered with 64 colleges and universities to help these institutions create welcoming environments that nurture student growth and facilitate teamwork between individuals of different backgrounds. When we are integral parts of a vibrant community that is devoted to making a positive impact, we excel in ways that we can’t on our own.

With a 90% graduation rate (nearly double the national average), more than 10,000 Posse Scholars have been awarded approximately $1.8 billion from colleges and universities since Posse’s inception.

The success of Posse’s systematic approach has garnered national attention. In 2010 Posse was honored by President Barack Obama with part of his $1.4 million dollar award for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Riaz Capital’s Founder and CEO

Posse’s board of directors represents a diverse set of backgrounds. But its members all share an understanding of how vital comprehensive support is to student success. From a desire to help students realize their potential and an affinity for systematic approaches, founder and CEO Riaz Taplin brings many years of problem solving experience to his board seat at Posse.

As Taplin notes, “Both our nation and the international community are at a crossroads, and acrimonious politics will only exacerbate the problems we face. What we need is large-scale cooperation. So we have to support our young people in becoming the kind of consensus-building leaders that this sort of cooperation requires. That’s why I joined the board at Posse. Posse Scholars get exactly the kind of support and guidance students need to become the kind of leaders the globalized 21st Century needs.”

After becoming a Posse Scholar, Rachelly Buzzi got into Syracuse University and thrived there as an international affairs major. Buzzi then became one of only 45 students annually from across the U.S. to be named a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellow. Funded by the U.S. State Department and administered by the Washington Center, Pickering Fellowships provide two years of financial support, mentoring and professional development, including internships at the U.S. State Department. Buzzi is now well on her way to becoming a Foreign Services Officer, where her intelligence, drive, and appreciation of commonality amid difference will be indispensable.