Awards Ceremony Celebrates Largest Cohort of New Orleans Scholars

On January 4, almost 250 guests, including family, friends, alumni, and university officials, joined Posse at the Peoples Health Jazz Market to honor 40 new Scholars from New Orleans.

These new Scholars were chosen from a pool of over 500 nominees from six parishes within the city. The students earned leadership merit scholarships worth $7.6 million from Posse New Orleans partner institutions Case Western Reserve University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Tulane University, and the University of Notre Dame.

“We are so proud to recognize the amazing young people who make up these new Posses,” says Posse New Orleans Director Monica Sylvain. “Together they possess enormous potential and we are looking forward to what they achieve.”

Posse New Orleans Advisory Board Chair Scott Cowen congratulated Scholars on earning Posse Scholarships and told them that he and their guests were expecting great things from them. Illinois Wesleyan President Eric Jensen also addressed the assembled family and friends to personally welcome the Scholars and relay his school’s excitement about having the new students join their campus community.

In addition to President Jensen, Posse New Orleans was honored to have school representatives from Case Western, Notre Dame, and Tulane present to celebrate.

After seven months of Pre-Collegiate Training—a series of weekly workshops that foster team building, cross-cultural communication, and academic readiness—these Scholars will join Posses already on campus.