Hamilton College will expand its partnership with the Posse Foundation when it enrolls 10 students from Miami in the class of 2014 next fall.

The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits and selects student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called “posses,” which are then placed at top colleges nationwide. Hamilton has partnered with the Posse Foundation since 2001, when the college enrolled its first posse of students from the Boston area.

The latest posse of 10 students will be selected this winter from the Miami area and then undergo a 32-week training program before enrolling at Hamilton next fall. Students are chosen based on their leadership ability, social status among peers, demonstrated ambition, ability to work with people of different backgrounds, and desire to succeed. On campus the posse program is successful because the students form a support group for each other and act as agents of social change by promoting dialogue on campus.

"We are especially pleased that the 10th year of our partnership with Hamilton College will be marked by the addition of a second posse,” said Deborah Bial, president and founder of the Posse Foundation. “Hamilton has been an outstanding partner on every level, and we are thrilled that Posse Scholars from Boston and now Miami will benefit from a first-rate Hamilton education."

“Posse students are leaders on campus,” said Hamilton President Joan Hinde Stewart. “We are pleased to have partnered with the Posse Program since 2001 and look forward to welcoming students from Miami in the fall.”

Posse program partners include 37 top-tier colleges and universities, including Middlebury, Oberlin, the University of Pennsylvania and Carleton College. Since its founding in 1989, more than $265 million in leadership scholarships have been awarded by Posse partner colleges to 2,650 Posse students. The program has a 93 percent graduation rate. Miami is Posse’s newest program site, joining sites in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. 

“The Admission Office works hard to honor Hamilton's commitment to remain a school of opportunity,” said Monica Inzer, Hamilton’s vice president and dean of admission and financial aid, “and Posse will help us identify students who might be overlooked by our traditional recruitment practices." The opening of Miami Posse seemed like a great opportunity to us because it will provide us with a presence where the population is growing, and will bring those students to campus with the support that will help them be successful.”