First-Class Scholars

When George Steene BA ’25 embarked on the rigorous selection process to become a national Posse Scholar, he had no idea where he might end up for college. Early on, however, the Virginia high school student set his heart on a small school on the opposite side of the country: Lewis & Clark.

Following the third and final round of interviews for the scholarship competition, he immediately got a callback asking him one more question: Did he own a good raincoat?

“There were so many emotions in the moment,” says Steene. “I realized I was going to be able to go to a great college and experience an amazing liberal arts education in a new part of the country.”

Developing Leaders

Four years ago, Steene was part of Lewis & Clark’s inaugural cohort of Posse Scholars, seven of whom are set to graduate with the Class of 2025. The college has since added 50 more students to that pipeline as part of its partnership with the national Posse Foundation. L&C expects to welcome 20 Posse students annually, for a running total of 80 students for the foreseeable future.

Launched in 1989, Posse searches the country to recruit promising high school students who might be missed by traditional admissions criteria, specifically seeking out those with exceptional leadership potential. The foundation teams up with 67 prestigious colleges and universities to award full-tuition scholarships to students in major metropolitan areas, from Boston to Los Angeles.

Although Posse is considered a leadership initiative, the program helps recruit students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds to attend top-caliber colleges like Lewis & Clark. Nationally, more than 3 out of 4 current Posse alumni identify as being people of color.

“The Posse Foundation wants to make sure the future leaders of the country look like the makeup of America,” says Eric Staab, the college’s vice president of admissions and financial aid, who helped establish L&C’s partnership with the foundation in 2021. “The students who come here through the program are disproportionately involved in leadership on campus, and turn out to have a much higher retention rate than just about any other group of students.”

The students who come here through the program are disproportionately involved in leadership on campus, and turn out to have a much higher retention rate than just about any other group of students.”

In the 2024–25 school year, Lewis & Clark welcomed its four Posse cohorts from the Washington, D.C., area and another two cohorts from Puerto Rico (which will eventually expand to four). The academic scholarships and faculty mentors are provided by the colleges, thanks in part to donors. To kick off Lewis & Clark’s program, trustee Patrick Nielson BA ’71 and his wife, Dorris Nielson, generously pledged $250,000 in start-up funding for operating costs.

With its five-year Posse Foundation contract winding up next year, the college hopes to extend the partnership. Supporters who contribute a $25,000 annual gift to the program can become Posse Partners. In addition, Lewis & Clark is committed to matching all gifts made to the Posse Scholarship Fund.

A Built-In Network of Support

Being a Posse Scholar involves much more than making it through the rigorous application process (only 4 percent of applicants make the final cut) to earn that generous scholarship. The scholars are sorted into 10-person cohorts (hence, “posses”) from the same area to attend the same college together. For example, Lewis & Clark’s initial contingent comprised high school graduates from the greater Washington, D.C., metro area known as the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia). Grouping students geographically enables them to form bonds quickly based on their shared backgrounds.

Even before stepping on campus, the student Posses undergo a rigorous eight-month precollegiate training program during which they prepare for college life through workshops focused on team building, communication, leadership, and academic excellence. Each cohort also connects with a faculty mentor, whom they meet with both collectively and individually every week during their first two years of college.

Lewis & Clark’s initial cohort was paired with Kristin Fujie, associate professor and chair of the English department, who participated in Posse’s mentorship training program. To allow her the time to undertake the extra advising role, the college lightened her teaching load.

“As their mentor, I’m the students’ first point of contact, which involves encouraging them, supporting them, sometimes cajoling them, and getting them to show up for each other,” Fujie says. This support could mean almost anything, from helping them cope with homesickness, assisting them with a research paper, or even driving them to the emergency room. “They become family.”

The program’s ultimate goal for the students is to give them the support to succeed and stay on track to earn their degrees. Nationally, over 14,000 students from more than 20 cities have attended college as part of Posse, with 9 out of 10 ultimately graduating.

“Over time, they find their places on campus—getting involved, making friends, connecting with majors.” Fujie says. “And even after the first couple of years, when the formal meetings are over, they still come by to talk. I feel like we’re going to stay connected for the rest of our lives.”

Posse’s reach also extends after graduation. The program provides students with professional development opportunities after college, such as career and graduate school support, an extensive array of internships, and access to the program’s vast alumni network.

Ready for Positive Change

In a myriad of direct and indirect ways, Posse enriches the entire campus. Once a year, the PossePlus Retreat brings together current scholars and mentors with non-Posse students, faculty, and staff to create a wider dialogue on issues vital to the college.

“The thinking behind Posse is that bringing together a wide range of perspectives is always going to make for a better conversation, whether that’s in a school setting or out in the world,” Fujie says. “The students come to campus ready to make positive change.”

Four years in, Posse’s presence in student leadership is already making a meaningful impact.

“Looking back now, I can smile knowing the work we put in to start from scratch making a name here for Posse,” says Steene, a graduating Posse student. “I like to think we brought some power to campus.”

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  Sania Starnes BA ’25

Hometown: Springfield, Virginia
Major: Biology
Minor: Hispanic Studies
Favorite Memory: “The times I got to spend with my friends and Posse! Whether it was having a potluck, going to the gym, or learning in class together, I’m so grateful for the community I’ve had here.”

Discovering Purpose in Nature

Sania Starnes launched her Lewis & Clark journey with an action-packed kayaking trip to eastern Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains. The New Student Trip experience would shape and enrich her next four years in ways she could not have anticipated.

“I knew then I wanted to be a leader in a new way that involved my love of the outdoors,” says Starnes. “I had a lot of skills to learn, but Lewis & Clark gave me those opportunities.”

The Wallowas trip inspired her to channel her love of nature through College Outdoors. She has led excursions across the region, as well as a spring break service trip to aid with hurricane relief in Puerto Rico. She has also worked in Student Engagement and as a New Student Mentor, and oversaw the student government elections.

Starnes had proved herself as a student leader in high school in northern Virginia: president of her class and cochair of a student government that championed (successfully) her school’s name change from Robert E. Lee to John R. Lewis High School in honor of the civil rights leader.

Going through the process of becoming a Posse Scholar helped prepare her to make an impact in college and also navigate the transition to campus life far from Virginia.

“I appreciate that Posse values academics, but it’s more about who you are as a person and your values,” she says. “Having that support system, especially in the beginning, was important because so many of us had similar experiences and could relate to each other. As more Posse classes have been added over the years, it’s become a special community.”

Following college, the biology major will return home to Virginia to work as a medical assistant before applying to graduate school to pursue her career goal of becoming a physician assistant.

Starnes’s involvement with Posse has been integral to her college experience. “If not for Posse, I wouldn’t have met some of my best friends,” she says. “Being around young people who want to make a difference in society changed my perspective on life and the world.”

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  Damaris Medina BA ’25

Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Major: Psychology
Minor: Ethnic Studies
Favorite Activity: “Dance Y with the Cheer & Step team! I love getting any chance to dance and choreograph.”

Embracing Difference

While growing up, Damaris Medina loved going to school and aspired to become a teacher.

“I always knew I was going to go to college,” she says. “I didn’t know exactly how I was going to pay for it, but I always knew I was going to make it happen one way or another.”

Being selected as a Posse Scholar not only meant getting a scholarship but also attending a school where she could be her best self and reach her potential.

“I’ve grown so much in my time at Lewis & Clark,” says Medina, a psychology major. “From the very beginning, I’ve put myself out there to try new things.”

Coming from a diverse community and school in Washington, D.C., Medina quickly realized she brought a unique perspective to a campus where two of three students are white. Being in Posse gave her a diverse support network that provided guidance as she worked toward her goals.

“Especially at first,” she says, “it was good to have other students to talk to who you could share experiences with and who were going through many of the same things.”

She has made her mark working on campus diversity initiatives as well as serving as a peer mentor with the Office of Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement and as a leader with the Black Student Union and the Ray Warren Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies. Through the Center for Social Change and Community Involvement, she has coordinated service trips to Puerto Rico to help with disaster relief and to Washington, D.C., to work on food insecurity issues.

After getting her diploma, she plans to go straight to graduate school (possibly at Lewis & Clark) to earn a master’s degree in education. She hopes to teach kindergarten or first grade.

“Growing up, my teachers were always my friends—they saw potential in me that was sometimes hard to see for myself,” she says. “I’m looking forward to working with kids and being the one to tell them that whatever dreams and goals they may have, they’re worthy.”

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  George Steene BA ’25

Hometown: Springfield, Virginia
Majors: Environmental Studies and Hispanic Studies
Favorite Class: “Reiko Hillyer’s Constructing the American Landscape. It transformed how I view the built environment and deeply influenced the writing of my environmental studies thesis on air quality monitoring and environmental justice in Portland.”

Advocating for Students and the Environment

George Steene found himself second-guessing his future after COVID-19 abruptly interrupted the world during his junior year of high school in Virginia.

“Looking back, I didn’t get a lot out of school during the time of COVID,” he says, echoing the experience of many students in his generation. “I felt really disconnected.”

When Steene learned about Posse through his school’s counseling center, he figured he had nothing to lose by applying. As he advanced through the process, his interest was piqued when the program added a new partner college he had never heard of: Lewis & Clark.

Despite the college being across the country, he says, “after seeing photos of the campus, it went right toward the top of my list.”

Posse prepared him for college through its rigorous precollegiate program, conducted online due to the pandemic. But the adjustment was still challenging at times. “There were definitely moments that first year when I’d think, ‘I’m 3,000 miles from home.’ It could be overwhelming.”

The transition was smoother, he adds, because he knew he could always reach out to his faculty mentor for any sort of advice— academic or personal—and had a ready-made group of friends. For Thanksgiving he helped organize a feast for fellow students on campus for the holiday.

In his time at Lewis & Clark, Steene has explored a wide range of campus leadership roles, including revitalizing the Spanish Club and serving as a New Student Peer Mentor. As a senior, he won a seat on the Associated Student Body Senate, pledging to improve transparency in student activity funding and the college’s investment portfolio. And after being involved in community recycling outreach back home in Virginia, he continued his grassroots environmental activism off campus as a research intern with Neighbors for Clean Air, a Portland nonprofit.

A double major in environmental studies and Hispanic studies, Steene hopes to pursue a career in environmental policy/community organizing before applying to graduate school.

“What’s been so important and beautiful about Posse is that it directly relates to my plans after college,” he says. “We’re able to take what we’ve learned into anything we wind up doing.”