Posse at Bryn Mawr

With its long history of educating scientists, it’s only natural that Bryn Mawr hosts the country’s first STEM Posse.

当卡罗尔·鲍17岁来到
布林莫尔校区时，她是家里第一个离家上大学的人, she faced more than one challenge. There were the everyday pressures of her demanding studies in physics, but often she simply missed the familiar touchstones of her native Boston—her family, her friends who stayed behind, even her favorite restaurants. 在这样的时刻，鲍很高兴有人知道她正在经历什么.

They were, literally, her posse—nine other classmates who comprised Bryn Mawr’s very first STEM Posse, 作为来自不同背景的女性，她们在大波士顿地区被选为公立高中的高年级学生，在大学期间相互联系，帮助彼此取得成功，突破科技领域的障碍.

Bowe has loved attending college with “people who know Boston—you all have the same city as home. When you say I miss that place downtown, some food place, they all know what you’re talking about.”

A Bryn Mawr First

In 2012, 当时布林莫尔宣布将举办第一个专门为科学领域的女性提供支持的Posse, technology, engineering, and math, the College already had a strong track record with the New York–based Posse Foundation. As one of the leading schools working with the innovative scholarship-and-support program, Bryn Mawr has educated roughly 170 Mawrters since the program arrived on campus in 2005.

Created in 1989 in New York City, the Posse Foundation now operates in 10 metro areas from coast to coast; founder Deborah Bial envisioned the program as a way for students from urban environments—who often were overcome with feelings of isolation when leaving home for a college campus—to have a support network similar to their friends and family back home.

Bryn Mawr currently has four STEM Posses—one in each class, 总共大约有40名学生，另外还有4个研究生院，这些研究生院的学生主修各种学科. STEM Posse计划旨在一石二鸟:推进该计划的最初目标，即帮助来自非传统背景的年轻人在精英大学的压力下生存下来, while also funneling more high-achieving women into science or high-tech careers.

“Without the Posse Foundation, most likely these students would never have come to Bryn Mawr,” says Biology Professor Peter Brodfuehrer, 是谁在布林莫尔大学负责STEM项目的头三年，并协调暑期项目. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for them.”

STEM团队的参与者每两周与他们的导师一对一会面，并定期以小组形式会面, but they say the program’s greatest value is the bond they form with each other, 当他们在科学或数学教育的潮流中航行时，他们从同舟共济的家乡同龄人那里得到的建议和支持有时很困难.

A Support System

“The transition from high school to college, especially at Bryn Mawr, where academics are such a process has been difficult,” said Paola Salas ’19, a sophomore from Lynn, Massachusetts, and a member of the third STEM Posse. “Sometimes it’s easy to think you’re not meant to be there and not smart enough, 但是有一群女孩来自相似的地方，有着相似的背景和兴趣，有一个导师告诉你一切都很神奇，你会实现你想要的——这是一个很好的支持系统.”

四年前，Posse项目扩大为一个专门的STEM小组，旨在为女性解决额外的挑战，这些女性不仅来自不同的背景，而且正在进入男性主导的科技领域.

“We talked a lot about it before we came in, in the pre-training,” Bowe recalls, “We talked about imposter syndrome, where you feel like you don’t belong there.”

Bowe says those conversations and the nurturing environment at Bryn Mawr have definitely helped, particularly in science classes that include men from Haverford College.

Mercedes Aponte ’18, a 20-year-old junior from Brockton, Massachusetts, in the second STEM Posse, 她说，当她最初对物理和生物医学工程的兴趣意外地转向沿海地质学和气候变化的影响时，该小组和推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜普遍支持的社区帮助了她. “It’s definitely a supportive environment,” says Aponte, 她补充说，波塞基金会与实习项目的密切外部关系也有助于实现她的职业目标.

Bowe说，Posse参与者被告知，这个项目是在纽约市的老师把他们的学生送到精英大学后创建的, only to see them back home months later. One supposedly 
said to her teacher, “I never would have dropped out if I had my posse with me.”
“整件事背后的传奇与这样一个事实有关:有才华的人来到这些学校，他们感到非常不适应,” says Associate Professor of Geology Pedro J. Marenco, 她已经指导STEM团队的学生四年了，现在正成为布林·莫尔项目的主任.

How It Works

The process begins back home in Boston, where Posse Foundation officials interview top candidates in area public high schools. 这个10人小组在他们大四的中途颁奖典礼上被宣布，并几乎立即进入为期8个月的密集大学预科培训项目, where Posse members bond with one another, sharpen their academic skills through activities such as writing workshops, and talk about some of the social hurdles they’ll soon be facing.

在布林茅尔校区的头两年里，STEM团队成员继续频繁会面, 每两周作为一个小组聚在一起，并定期与Marenco这样的教员会面.

“我们会开一些会，导师会让我们讨论一堂课上遇到的问题或努力跟上进度的问题, then we would give each other advice as a posse,” Bowe explains. “They said, “你可以试试——你有没有试过写作中心，让其他人来支持你??’”

The Posse Foundation looks closely for leadership skills as it selects candidates, and Marenco has seen that make a difference at Bryn Mawr. “They know that they can contribute to campus,” he says, 他举了两个Posse学生的例子，这两个学生最近成为了宿舍领导，为即将到来的新生提供支持.

“我们的一位学者是生物学专业的——她超级忙——但去年承担了指导戏剧制作的任务, which was a time-intensive commitment considering her very vigorous major, and that was very difficult for her,” Marenco says.

Salas, 她的姐姐通过传统的Posse项目就读于推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜，并于2013年毕业, has worked to craft her own independent major, called Medicine, Health, and Society that looks at social implications of health and health justice. Back home, 波塞基金会帮助她在波士顿儿童医院做暑期实习，进一步探索
她的兴趣.

As Bowe looks forward to graduation and becoming a high school physics teacher, 她指出，有几名Posse成员已经将专业改为非stem科目，她和其他许多人现在发现，他们在校园里最好的朋友往往是来自该项目以外的学生. 然而，重要的是她要知道，当她需要其他STEM团队成员时，他们会在她身边.

“Even the people who aren’t my best friends in my STEM Posse, 
they still act as a support system for me; if I needed them I know they would be there,” Bowe said. “The idea is not that you’ll all be best friends; the idea is that you’ll help people graduate.”