Lewis & Clark Is Newest College Program Partner

Based in Chicago, Amy Kenelly Viellieu has extensive experience with education, volunteering with schools as well as youth leadership development programs. In her most recent position with the Posse Foundation, Amy Viellieu serves as scholarship evaluator, interviewing candidates and assessing their applications as they apply for scholarship grants.

The Posse Foundation's central purpose is to train leaders of tomorrow while keeping inclusion and diversity in mind, as it believes that the leaders of the 21st century should reflect the country’s rich demographic mix. It carefully selects and trains small groups of talented students who can then serve as catalysts for individual and community development.

In the fall of 2020, the Posse Foundation announced that Lewis & Clark College would be added to the list of institutions that are involved in the Posse Scholars program. Top-ranked Lewis & Clark has an impressive interdisciplinary course of study and community engagement platform. The college believes the partnership is one that will advance equity and opportunity among diverse populations because the college has already established a program for getting students motivated to become involved in the college community.

Other schools in the Posse Foundation network include Bucknell University, Sewanee: University of the South, Lafayette College, University of Rochester, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Partnering with these schools not only promotes diversity, it also provides students from underrepresented backgrounds with the needed support. The first class of Posse Foundation scholars that choose Lewis & Clark College will enroll in 2021.

Posse Foundation’s Service to Veterans

Amy Kennelly Viellieu, a scholarship evaluator at Posse Foundation, interviews potential award recipients for the leadership development program. Among the participants she assists, Amy Viellieu guides veterans through the Posse Veterans program.

The Posse Veterans program helps former U.S. military service members gain entrance into some of the country’s top colleges. Similar to its platform that provides students leadership training in small groups, the Veterans Posse program involves training and mentoring this group of students before they actually begin classes.

Once submitting to the program’s three-stage interview process, finalists participate in a group interview and also talk to representatives from participating colleges. The next steps prepare the students for college life at one of these institutions. The students attend a pre-college training session in New York City that centers on team building, cross-cultural communication, leadership development, and academic achievement.

While enrolled at the program, student-veterans meet with faculty once a week for the first two years (freshman and sophomore year), and in the spring, join others from the general student body at the Posse Plus Retreat, an event that focuses on sociopolitical events.

Finally, the career program prepares student-veterans for life after college. Here, students receive assistance with resume writing, personal and professional network development, and interview strategies.