The Posse Foundation is an extremely prestigious program, awarding hundreds of scholarships each year to high-achieving high school students across the nation. Miami Palmetto Senior High’s students are no strangers to the scholarships they offer, producing Posse scholars almost every year. This year, Indeah Lane is the sole representative for MPSH.
The process to receive a Posse scholarship is highly selective, consisting of three main rounds, each with its own set of challenges to assess individuals. In Lane’s case, every round was its own battle.
“The biggest challenge I faced was preparing for the interviews, I had nothing to go off of. Especially during the third round, I was so nervous walking in,” Lane said.
Posse offers Miami scholars a scholarship to one of 6 colleges: Franklin & Marshall College, Hamilton College, Mount Holyoke College, Pomona College, Syracuse University and Vanderbilt University. The scholarship frames itself around the idea of helping students attend an out of state college or university alongside their “posse,” having meetings even when the students are in college. Lane chose Pomona College, where she plans to study neuroscience.
“The reason I chose Pomona is because it’s a really small school where the professors love to help students with internships or working in a lab. For me, I plan to do neuroscience, and want to use my freshman year to work with professors in their lab,” Lane said.
For Lane, the first round had around 100 nominees in attendance, and included groupprojects and a round of questions. The second round only contained an individual interview, most specifically with the intent to learn about a candidate’s leadership capabilities. The third round was a group interview in which members from the candidate’s top Posse schools attended. These members observed how the candidates engaged with one another, as well as offered them more information about their college or university.. The number of candidates by the third round had dramatically dropped to around 20 people, putting Lane in the final stretch.
Following her final interview, Lane was ecstatic when she learned she got a Posse scholarship, feeling that the hard work she has put into her academics, extracurriculars and the Posse process paid off.
“I was shocked, I remember going to the first interview thinking I wasn’t going to advance because I did not feel I stood out that much. For me, making it to the third round was already an accomplishment on its own. When I got the call that I actually [received the scholarship], I was completely shocked and it was definitely very exciting,” Lane said.
Lane has been a prominent Panther throughout her high school career, playing a central role in a multitude of extracurriculars as well as receiving the Silver Knight award. Her success and determination has guided her to this point, and now she prepares for her next chapter at Pomona College with the support of her posse.
