Diene (left) will attend Franklin and Marshall on a Posse scholarship. Alassane (right) will attend Connecticut College on a Posse scholarship

Two StreetSquash students were offered and plan to accept a scholarship from Posse, which will allow them to attend college tuition free.

The Posse scholarship aims to ensure students from diverse backgrounds aren’t overlooked during the college admissions process. Posse spends time helping students prepare for their time on campus while also ensuring they have the resources necessary to thrive once they arrive at college. Posse also provides career support to help students land jobs upon graduation. 

Diene Drame and Alassane Diakite, both StreetSquash seniors, were awarded scholarships to their first choice of school. 

Diene will be attending Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

“When I was offered the scholarship, I was really happy,” Diene said. Afterwards I called Alassane to see if he got in, then called my family, some friends, and some people at StreetSquash.” 

Alassane is off to Connecticut College. 

“I had been waiting for the email. The tension was building,” Alassane said. “It finally came, I opened it up, it said I got accepted, and I was jumping for joy. It was really beautiful.” 

He said his family was excited too.

“They were so excited for me,” Alassane said. “Especially my mom. She was very happy.” 

Both students went through two rounds of interviews before being awarded the scholarship. In the first interview, they had to work in a group setting with other applicants to build a tower out of straws, tape, and cups. Alassane and Diene say Posse was trying to test their communication and collaboration skills. 

They were also given five writing prompts, and they had 20 minutes to respond to one of them. 

The second interview was one-on-one.

“The first interview didn’t feel like an interview,” Alassane said. “It felt more like we were going there on an educational field trip.”  

“I was a bit nervous during the first interview but once I got used to the people that were there, I was a lot more comfortable,” Diene said. He added, “It’s not that stressful.” 

Both Alassane and Diene plan on majoring in Computer Science at their respective schools. Both schools also have squash programs. Alassane says he definitely plans on playing at Connecticut College. Diene remains undecided but says he’d like to play.