Diplomas Count - June 5, 2014 - 13

EDUCATION WEEK JUNE 5, 2014
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Diplomas Count > www.edweek.org/go/dc14
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High school seniors
Stephanie Herrera, Lisa Liu,
and Ashley Walters, of the
Babson Posse 11, work on
a project during one of their
weekly meetings.
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in 2008, it was the first to start
a science posse, established at
the urging of chemistry professor
Irving R. Epstein. He noticed
scholars who started out intending
to major in a science discipline
would get discouraged and leave
the field-sometimes with the encouragement
of their posse.
STEM Support
"Others would say: 'You are
smarter than we are, working
twice as hard. Get out of science,'
" said Mr. Epstein. "If all
10 were committed to science,
the push would be inward, not
outward."
The students participate in
a two-week science-immersion
program before the fall semester
to help ease the transition to the
rigorous coursework. The scholars
then take many of the same
introductory science courses and
study together in groups.
Nicholas L. Medina is a member
of a STEM Posse at Brandeis
who is graduating this spring
with a double degree in biology
and environmental studies.
He said the first year in general
chemistry was rough, especially
coming from a high
school in the Bronx borough of
New York City that had limited
science-lab facilities. Members
of his posse relied on each other
to lift their morale, he said.
Mr. Medina recalled one particular
meeting his freshman
year when everyone was feeling
down after just getting back
a chemistry test. The group
talked about the disappointment-and
even laughed. "If I
was on my own, I don't know
how I would have moved forward,"
Mr. Medina said.
After that, the group members
rededicated themselves
to studying together and
learned to leverage each others'
strengths.
Brandeis has had a science
posse on campus every year
since, and there are now 10
colleges committed to having
science, technology, engineering,
and math posses over the
next five years, according to the
foundation's Ms. Bial.
The faculty member or graduate
student in the field who
serves as mentor can be a critical
part of helping the social group
function as a motivating force.
Katie A.Q. Cousins, a Brandeis
graduate student in neuroscience
who was the mentor for Mr.
Medina's science posse, said she
encouraged students to look at
failure as an opportunity to learn.
"In high school, if you 'get'
a topic immediately, you are
smart. Finding things easy is
always a good sign and finding
things difficult is a bad sign,"
said Ms. Cousins.
"In college, the measuring
stick is much different," she
said. "It's learning to adjust
what you are doing and not see
grades as a critical assessment
of your intellectual ability, but
that you are doing something
wrong and you have to re-evaluate.
... If you look at it that way,
then it's manageable." I
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Diplomas Count - June 5, 2014

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