New Orleans Posse chapter opens with Tulane's help
Tulane University has partnered with the Posse Foundation to establish a Posse chapter in New Orleans designed to increase the number of graduates of the city's public high schools who enroll at Tulane. The partnership is made possible with the help of a $200,000 grant from the Edward G. Schlieder Educational Foundation.
Hoping to increase college-bound students from the city's public schools, Tulane partners with the Posse Foundation to establish a Posse chapter in New Orleans. (Illustration by Melinda Viles)
The Posse Foundation recruits and trains dynamic urban public high school students, sending them to highly selective universities in multicultural teams or “Posses.” Posses help keep their members from becoming adrift at universities that lack the social networks that sustained them during their adolescence. The Posse Foundation has placed 4,245 students, who persist and graduate at a rate of 90 percent, in 40 of the nation's top universities.
“Having a Posse chapter in New Orleans offers us an excellent and permanent opportunity to increase the leadership and socioeconomic diversity of our student body, while also attracting more students from the New Orleans area,” Tulane President Scott Cowen says.
Tulane will provide Posse scholars with four-year, full-tuition scholarships. Tulane became a Posse partner in 2009 and is now home to 33 Posse scholars from Los Angeles. Through the new Crescent City chapter, Tulane will welcome 10 Posse students from New Orleans and 10 from Los Angeles this fall.
The 2012 New Orleans Posse class will include graduates from nine New Orleans high schools: Benjamin Franklin, Edna Karr, Eleanor McMain, Lusher, Bonnabel, Patrick F. Taylor, L.W. Higgins, Haynes Academy and Chalmette High.
In November, Tulane also signed an agreement to enroll more graduates of KIPP schools at Tulane and facilitate their transition from high school through college. In addition, the agreement opened KIPP schools as training grounds for Tulane's teacher certification program students.
“These two partnerships fulfill several Tulane goals enhancing our teacher training, increasing our student socioeconomic diversity and leadership profile and improving K-12 education in New Orleans,” Cowen says.
