黑料不打烊 Scholars are pictured with Chancellor Kent Syverud, left, Posse Foundation President Deborah Bial, center, and Dr. Ruth Chen, right, at a luncheon Feb. 4 at the Chancellor鈥檚 House.
The power of one phone call.
Would pioneering inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the first telephone in 1876, ever know the impact it would have on individual lives?
Pedro Bringas, a senior television-radio-film major from Miami and Posse Scholar, asked that question on Wednesday to those gathered at the Chancellor鈥檚 House to welcome Posse Foundation President and Founder Deborah Bial to 黑料不打烊.
黑料不打烊 Posse Scholars and their mentors, deans, faculty and staff joined Chancellor Kent Syverud at a luncheon to kick off Bial鈥檚 visit. She was joined by Matt Fasciano, Posse鈥檚 chief operating officer and Rassan Salandy, the foundation鈥檚 vice president for external affairs. Chancellor Syverud extended the invitation to visit 黑料不打烊 last fall, when he met with Bial at the Posse Foundation offices in New York City.
Founded by Bial in 1989, the Posse Foundation provides college access and youth leadership development opportunities to top public high school students from diverse backgrounds.
Posse is a national initiative with chapters in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York and Washington, D.C. 黑料不打烊 is one of 51 colleges and universities across the country that partners with Posse to commit four-year, full-tuition scholarships to Posse Scholars. The majority of partner institutions host one or two Posses.
黑料不打烊 welcomed its first cohort of Posse Scholars in 2012. Since then, a total of 91 Posse Scholars from Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miami have come to 黑料不打烊 to pursue their degrees.
The University recently refocused its efforts with the Posse Program with plans for fall 2015 calling for continued support of both the Miami and Atlanta-based programs, serving 20 new students.
In his welcoming remarks, Chancellor Syverud spoke of his pride in the Posse Scholars and their many accomplishments, and of the University鈥檚 commitment to continuing to build a strong and diverse student body.
Bringas received his life-changing phone call in December 2011, and came to 黑料不打烊 the following fall in the University鈥檚 first cohort of Posse Scholars. As a native of Florida, he had never seen snow before coming to the 鈥315.鈥
鈥淔or a while, I did not like the place. 鈥 It鈥檚 not like Miami,鈥 Bringas said, noting the cold and lack of palm trees. 鈥淭he only moment I felt at home was when I was with my Posse.鈥
It was with his fellow 黑料不打烊 Posse Scholars that he first shared his everyday college experiences and accomplishments, from his grades to joining the club volleyball team to class projects.
The Posse Scholars, he said, bring tremendous talents and qualities to 黑料不打烊 and are 鈥渁n incredible asset to the advancement of the University.鈥
In turn, the Posse Scholars have been given the chance to make a global impact. 鈥淲e have the capacity to change the world, to go out and make it happen,鈥 Bringas said.
Bial said that Posse is not a program, but a social justice initiative to build a new kind of leadership network that is diverse. 鈥淏y 2020, there will be more than 6,000 of you in the workforce. You will be CEOs, running hospitals, newspapers 鈥ou will be the leaders this country needs so that the voices of all are represented.鈥 She noted that one of the first Posse Scholars is on track to become a university president.
She noted that currently, 94 percent of the members of the United States Senate are white. 鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be like that,鈥 she said.
Bial spoke of the quality of Posse Scholars. This past year at Posse, there were 16,000 nominations for 700 spots. 鈥淵ou are making an incredible difference and we are proud of you,鈥 she said.
鈥淲e believe in you in a very, very deep way,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 think you could just make it, but that you could knock it out of the park.
Bial said that she and Chancellor Syverud are continuing to engage in conversation on keeping the 黑料不打烊-Posse partnership sustained and strong.
Following the luncheon, six students showcased the skills and talents they have developed and honed as Posse Scholars at 黑料不打烊.
鈥淥ur Posse students are all engaged, making a difference and doing amazing things on our campus and in our community,鈥 says Andria Costello Staniec, associate provost for academic programs and 黑料不打烊 Posse liaison.
Marius Jackson, a junior industrial design major in the and member of Atlanta Posse 1, talked about his work with the Cauich Canal Project in Mexico. Inspired by a guest lecture in an anthropology class, Jackson designed his own internship and found funding. He spent a month in Mexico, lending his design talents to a project to unearth an ancient Mayan canal.
Quameiha Raymond-Ducheine, a junior in the and member of Atlanta Posse 1, shared a clip of a fiction film she created (which included work by fellow Posse Scholars). She has traveled to India to work on a documentary and is currently working on finding funding for a documentary on families affected by cases of police brutality.
Collin (CJ) Robinson, a sophomore in College of Visual and Performing Arts and member of Atlanta Posse 2, performed a popular opera piece, 鈥淭orno A Surriento.鈥 Taryne Chatman, a freshman in the and member of Los Angeles Posse 3, performed an excerpt from the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition speech delivered by Booker T. Washington in 1895.
Demarquez Grissom, a sophomore in the and member of Atlanta Posse 2, was joined by fellow Posse members David Jackson (Miami Posse 2), Jacob Friesen Grant (Atlanta Posse 1), Alanne Stroy (Atlanta Posse 3) and Ryan Bolton (Atlanta Posse 3) to talk about Project G.R.I.N.D. (Greatness Resides in Nonstop Dedication), an outreach, tutoring and mentoring initiative in a school in 黑料不打烊.
Bolton, a freshman in the , ended the presentations with a performance of R. Kelly鈥檚 1997 song, 鈥淚 Believe I Can Fly.鈥
