Ten MCPS students have been named recipients of full-tuition, four-year college scholarships from the Posse Foundation. The Posse program identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential that may have been overlooked by traditional college selection processes.

Nationally, 57 colleges and universities each offer full-tuition, merit scholarships to students throughout the country and create multicultural teams—called Posses—on each campus. These student teams receive professional guidance before and throughout college and provide support to one another.

On campus, these students serve in important leadership roles. The MCPS students will be honored at a ceremony on Jan. 4 at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C.

This year’s MCPS recipients come from nine high schools and will attend five different colleges.

The 2016 Posse Scholars from MCPS are:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
Maria Salmeron Melendez, attending Lafayette College
Bemnete Niftalem, attending Lafayette College

Montgomery Blair High School
Samuel Kebede, attending Sewanee: The University of the South

John F. Kennedy High School
Amina N'Gambwa, attending University of Rochester

Col. Zadok Magruder High School
Katherine Ortega, attending University of Wisconsin-Madison

Northwood High School
Joaquin Mogollon, attending Bucknell University

Poolesville High School
Corland Forrester, attending University of Rochester

Rockville High School
Gabrielle Kessel, attending Bucknell University

Watkins Mill High School
Oswaldo Baires Mendez, attending University of Rochester

Thomas S. Wootton High School
Kwame Frimpong, attending University of Wisconsin-Madison