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Spring 2012 Updates

Hello everyone!

Middlebury College Winter Scene

In just less than a year, the Posse at Middlebury Blog has outgrown the limitations of hosting a dedicated blog on the Middlebury College server. After careful deliberations, we have decided to host the blog independently.

What this means is that the blog will be getting a brand new domain name, facelift to the homepage and easier and better accessibility for our writers. In the meantime, we ask you to please bear with us while we put the content side of the blog on hold and check out the grand surplus of articles in our archive.

Warmly,
The Middlebury Posse Family

Message from Ennissa

“Hey everyone!

I’m Ennissa and am a proud member of the Chicago Middlebury Posse 1! All of us here in Chicago are beyond excited to meet our NYC counterparts. Instead of seeing this as competition, we view it as an expansion of our Posse family and hope to bond with NYC Posse 14 the same way we bonded with each other. We are eagerly awaiting April 17th! Until then!

From Gotham to ChiTown: Part 9

As compiled by Barbara Ofosu-Somuah (NYMP11)

The Posse Foundation has always had its roots in the idea of place.  As a service to scholars Posse was founded on the idea that a group of students could support each other first based upon a common understanding of where they came from and, as time progressed, the bonds that they built on top of that starting place.  For colleges bringing a Posse to campus was a way to increase the number of students on their campus from their partner city amongst other institutional goals.  When Posse first came to Middlebury thirteen years ago New York City had yet to become one of the most popular locations for Middlebury students to come from, yet now a student would be hard pressed to make it through first year orientation let alone four years without meeting a New Yorker.  Through strategic moves like partnering with Posse combined with the general expansion of Middlebury’s acclaim New York and many other places have come into the Middlebury fold, but Middlebury hasn’t managed to reach everywhere just yet.

Historically the Midwest has remained one of the harder areas to attract students from, but that’s changing.  As the admissions team rolled back in from travel last week, few stories from the road were received with as much excitement as the news that Chicago is buzzing with the newfound discovery of Middlebury.  Ten students will end up on campus next fall as the first Middlebury Posse from Chicago, but posse is much bigger than any one student or ten scholars.  Along the way hundreds more will learn of Middlebury as counselors recommend them to apply for a spot at any of Posse Chicago’s seven partner schools.  Beyond that counselors and students are discovering Middlebury through word of mouth as this year’s college process for many seniors includes mention of the Posse-Middlebury connection along the way.  The word is out about Middlebury in Chicago and hopefully next year we will see a new presence of Midwestern faces including and beyond the first cohort of Chicago posse students full of new stories of how they got to Middlebury and where they’re from.

At its best the addition of a posse from Chicago will be another powerful way to stretch, push, and complicate our notions of diversity in as many ways as possible further helping us to all grow in this community of intentional living and learning.  I can only hope that the current New York scholars on campus will greet Posse Chicago with a spirit of warm fuzzy leadership that will help Middlebury and our new scholars to reach their full potential together.
Megan Nesbeth (NYMP9)

From Gotham to ChiTown: Part 8

As compiled by Barbara Ofosu-Somuah (NYMP11)

The experience of being a Posse scholar is somewhat hard to comprehend if you’re not a part of Posse. Sure, we can explain the process but unless you have actually gone through it, it is really just like a story on a page (a detached understanding). The beauty of the Posse family on campus is that there are people, older and younger, who knows exactly what you are going through. There is an unspoken connection that Posse scholars have, regardless of how frequently they might interact. Being a Posse scholar is a connection to a family. Every April, when the pre-collegiate Posse comes to Middlebury’s campus for the fist time [on accepted students’ weekend], there is an excited stir in the Posse family. Being a Posse scholar on campus is like being an older sibling; we are both eager and curious to meet the new additions to our family. Come April of 2012, we will get to anticipate not only one but TWO Posses visiting on campus. Our family is growing, and not only in size but in connections and support. It has been an amazing experience being able to see Posse scholars from New York City who have lived the same experience as you have and now I can go to Chicago and have the same feeling of familiarity. I know that this change has brought a lot of mixed feelings both within and outside of the Middlebury Posse community because there is apprehension about what having double the amount of Posse scholars on campus will look like but to me, it looks like double the Posse Love.
Kya Adetoro (NYMP11)

From Gotham to ChiTown: Part 7

As compiled by Barbara Ofosu-Somuah (NYMP11)

When I first heard that there will be a Middlebury Posse from Chicago on campus next year I was so glad [to hear] of the Posse Middlebury expansion. I was excited that I would be able to meet other students from a different state who would go through the same process as I did. Now that I am on campus I feel like I have a new duty to fulfill. Ever since I have been on campus, all the Posse scholars have supported me in so many different ways. Now that twenty, not just ten, new scholars are coming in Fall of 2012, I look forward to being as welcoming to them as [the older] Posses were to me. I hope that Posse Chicago will continue to carry on the Posse traditions, values of leadership and support [here on campus]. I am also looking forward to meeting ten more amazing individuals who will bring their unique experiences to the Middlebury campus and inspire the people around them just as the Posse members have inspired me.
When I first heard that there will be a Middlebury Posse from Chicago on campus next year I was so glad [to hear] of the Posse Middlebury expansion. I was excited that I would be able to meet other students from a different state who would go through the same process as I did. Now that I am on campus I feel like I have a new duty to fulfill. Ever since I have been on campus, all the Posse scholars have supported me in so many different ways. Now that twenty, not just ten, new scholars are coming in Fall of 2012, I look forward to being as welcoming to them as [the older] Posses were to me. I hope that Posse Chicago will continue to carry on the Posse traditions, values of leadership and support [here on campus]. I am also looking forward to meeting ten more amazing individuals who will bring their unique experiences to the Middlebury campus and inspire the people around them just as the Posse members have inspired me.
Rana Abdelhamid (NYMP13)

From Gotham to ChiTown: Part 6

As compiled by Barbara Ofosu-Somuah (NYMP11)

My initial reaction to the announcement of the Middlebury Posse Program expanding to include scholars from Chicago was confusion. Perhaps it was the combination of being from New York City and wanting to keep with tradition, I wondered why Middlebury had chosen to add an entirely new city instead of accepting more students from the New York City site. Over time, my hesitation and confusion lessened as the implications of this decision began to resonate with me. I came to understand that New York City Posse Scholars alone can’t do everything on this campus, can’t fill in every gap, and maybe if we realize this as a whole, we can make peace with the Windy City. Posse Chicago will bring [with them] a new set of culture and stories to Middlebury. If anything, we should appreciate the fact that there are more students like us getting the education and system of support and friendship that they deserve.
Izzy Ocampo (NYMP12)