Posse: Transforming Leadership Culture  
Sidebar 2
An Activist in the Making: Jasmine's Story

The potential for Posse scholars to impact a campus appeals to student leaders who are especially active in their schools and communities, and is sometimes a determining factor in a student's decision to pursue the Posse program. Jasmine Vallejo was one such student.

A very busy sophomore at Brandeis, Jasmine is a resident assistant with 35 women on her floor. She is also the coordinator of the student worker program, where she supervises 40 student employees. In her "spare" time, Jasmine helps to coordinate many other programs and is a member of the Latino association on campus. It might be difficult to believe that this young woman is also a student with a cumulative GPA of 3.3, with a triple major in sociology, Latin American studies, and politics, and with a minor in anthropology. True to the Posse tradition, Jasmine proved during the application process that she was capable of all of these things.

The potential for Posse scholars to impact a campus appeals to student leaders who are especially active in their schools and communities.


Jasmine came to the Posse interviews as the valedictorian of her class at Grace Dodge High School, and had already received numerous college scholarships, including the National Hispanic Heritage Scholarship, the National Coca-Cola Scholarship, and the Governor's Leadership Award. Naturally, the Posse staff that interviewed Jasmine asked her why she would choose Posse, given the myriad of opportunities she had to attend other schools. Her response? "I want to do something during my college years."

In her first year as a Posse scholar, Jasmine's expectations of her Posse experience were fulfilled. Brandeis University's 2000 retreat "Can We Eat Fried Chicken and Matzoh Ball Soup?" addressed the idea of community building. Inspired by the retreat, and with a goal of facilitating campus-wide change, a group of students formed "Pulse." The group, which contains both Posse scholars like Jasmine and those who attended the retreat but were not Posse scholars, meets regularly to examine campus issues, devise action plans, and recruit new members. Through this process, and as a Posse leader, Jasmine has realized her dream to do something.
 

CYD Journal © 2001