SCHENECTADY, NY (01/18/2013)(readMedia)-- Davina T. Tran of Dorchester, MA, has been selected as a Posse Scholar at Union College in Schenectady, NY.
The Posse Scholar program identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential. Union College is one of Posse's nearly 40 partner colleges and universities, each of which award four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships to groups of 10 students – or Posses – annually.
Tran, who attends the Dorchester Academy, was chosen after a rigorous selection process. She is an exemplary student who has pushed herself to take the most rigorous classes available. Dually enrolled at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Tran leaves school early to take college-level classes.
She organized a group called Emerging Leaders, which hosts town halls with the school principal, petitions for more AP course offerings, organizes an annual school-wide spirit week, and takes on services projects such as painting the interior of the building. Tran is also a volunteer teacher at her church's Sunday school, where she creates lessons and nurtures younger students. She works three days a week as the assistant to the church's chief financial officer, and has participated in community service trips to New Orleans and Costa Rica. As an active member of Summer Search, Tran has pushed her personal comfort zone on trips around the country, including on a three week sailing trip in Maine despite not knowing how to swim, and believes these experiences "build character." She enjoys history and is looking forward to pursuing a liberal arts education at Union College.
Union College is a highly selective, private college that offers programs in the liberal arts and engineering to undergraduates of high academic promise and strong personal motivation. With a long history of blending disciplines, Union is consistently ranked among the nation's top colleges.