Posse Chicago Event Celebrates 20+ Years of Success
Posse community supporters, staff and board members traveled from across the country to celebrate Posse Chicago’s more than 20 years of program excellence.
The evening was hosted by West Monroe, a Posse Chicago career partner, with support from two Chicago Leadership Council members, Nick Kennedy and Stephanie Scott. Following a reception with views over the Chicago skyline, guests were welcomed into the West Monroe space for a celebratory, emotional program.
The event featured special remarks from Posse Chicago Advisory Board Chair Julie Parsons and The Posse Foundation President and Founder Deborah Bial.
Alumni speakers invoked the power of the Posse experience in their own lives, highlighting the strength of the young people of Chicago.
In one of the biggest moments of the night, Posse Chicago Director Jennifer Tani took the occasion to announce that the site was bringing on a new partner university: Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Hobart and William Smith will select new Posse Scholars from Chicago this fall.
Posse Chicago alumni Chakena Perry, the city’s youngest-ever Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner, and Andy Nguyen, chair of the Chicago Leadership Council, also took the stage to speak. In their remarks, they invoked the power of the Posse experience in their own lives, highlighting the strength of the young people of Chicago and the incredible journey on which the newest Scholars will soon embark.
The evening concluded with a panel of five incoming Scholars who are set to head to college this fall, moderated by two Posse Chicago alumni who have returned to work as trainers in the program.
"The Posse Scholars brought the audience to roaring laughter, contemplative reflection, and tears of joy and loss,” Jennifer Tani recalls. “Their stories, personalities, and voices provided a window into the newest cohort of Scholars and reflected the vast diversity in their experience and the love that they share with each other."
Posse Scholar speakers closed out the event by posing one final question to the audience.
“When you think about your own life, who has been there to support and grow alongside you? Who is in your Posse?”
