Every year a vast majority of students get thousands of dollars to attend college the following year. The school counselors work very closely with the seniors as college application and scholarship deadlines approach. They have helped with financial form situations, sending transcripts and finding many scholarships for the senior class to apply to.

The Posse Foundation is one of the scholarships that the counselors encourage students to apply to.  Posse identifies, recruits and trains individuals with extraordinary leadership potential. Posse Scholars receive full-tuition leadership scholarships from Posse’s partner colleges and universities.

“This year, about 2,900 students were nominated across the city to compete in this Posse scholarship process. All of these students are bright, intelligent, and hard working. They all have amazing qualities,” said senior Jorge Ochoa.

Posse is a competitive scholarship to get into.

“Being able to get past the first interview was amazing because we were in a room with more than 100 students all trying their best to pass to the next round. The second round interview was a bit more difficult because it was a 2-on-1 interview. When I passed the second round interview, I was proud but I knew it wasn’t over. The third round was the most nerve wrecking stage because only 25 students from each school passed to the final round. After this final round, only 10 students were admitted to the Posse family,” said Ochoa.

Posse members and school administrators  conducted all interviews, which made Ochoa much more nervous.

Seniors have been pushed to their limits all year long. With the help of the counselors , though Ochoa feels as if he had more than just their help and support.

“I would like to thank my family, counselors, teachers, principal, Alvin (The Janitor), and friends for always believing in me and always encouraging me to keep pushing forward. Although I did put in the hard work, effort, commitment, and time, I wouldn’t have done it without the endless love and support I have received. I will never forget where I came from,” said Ochoa.

Senior Jorge Ochoa was accepted to University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“UW-Madison was one of my top choices due to the fact that it was a Posse STEM school. I got admitted to the College of Engineering and I will be majoring in Mechanical Engineering. When I heard about getting into the College of Engineering I couldn’t believe because it’s extremely tough to get into being number 20 in the whole Country,” said Ochoa.