Senior Juan Garcia, at Phoenix Military Academy, was awarded the Posse Scholarship in December 2015, for Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. The Posse Scholarship is a scholarship where seniors are nominated and is based on a series of interviews, if granted it covers full academic tuition..There are assessments the nominees have to do. The third round of the posse is another assessments where students are competing for ten open placements in schools.

“The scholarship not only provides a full tuition, but also provides support throughout the four years of college with mentors, and access to internships,” said Garcia.

Garcia was nominated by Ms. Fairchild because of his high GPA and ACT scores. The counselors look at these two factors, the student’s involvement through extracurricular activities and programs during the summer, and if the students want to go to school out of state. They talk to the students they believe are a good fit for the program and if they want to be nominated for it they continue on with the application and process.

“Juan Garcia had a 25 ACT and a 4.21 GPA which put him at a competitive level for admissions into the Posse schools which is an important aspect to the nominations also,” said Mrs. Matz.

As part of the scholarship students do not get to choose the universities they want to attend. The schools that are chosen for each nominee is based on what suits them the best. Throughout the assessments and the interviews, people from the Posse scholarship get to know each nominee well. During the interview, Garcia was asked about his leadership skills and why he is the best for Posse.

“Posse chooses the school that best fits your personality and attributes,” said Garcia.

Garcia was surprised because of the news, receiving a full ride scholarship to a university is a great opportunity. These recipients do not have to pay tuition for the schools they win the scholarship for. Although Posse pays for the complete tuition, it does not pay for room and board. Tuition for in-state students is about $65,000 a year. Garcia will not have to pay this amount, and will only have to pay a little over $13,000 for room and board.

“I was surprised and relieved when I heard the news. I will be going to New London, Connecticut and dorm there.” said Garcia.

The Posse scholarship is very selective and Connecticut College is too. Connecticut College without the Posse scholarship has an acceptance rate of 29%. Garcia’s hard work paid off with this great accomplishment. He thanks the school’s counselors for nominating him, and his friends and family support. The senior class of 2016, is definitely on the road to being “college bound.”