From March 23 to March 25, an event called PossePlus Retreat is being held by Case Western Reserve University’s first group of Posse Scholars. The Posse Foundation is an organization centered around identifying, recruiting and training student leaders to form multicultural teams, called “Posses,” of 10 Posse Scholars at top-tier universities nationwide. When some people hear about Posse, they think of it as an affirmative action effort, but I can assure you it’s not.

You will find Posse Scholars making an impact in a variety of places on campus and in the surrounding community, and this is no accident. They weren’t chosen to be here based on their skin color or economic status alone, but on their potential to make a big impact on this world despite the cards dealt to them by life.

Posse Scholars are students that push the people around them to think in new ways, aspire for more and excel in all areas of life.

The PossePlus Retreat is what usually drives this point home. The PossePlus Retreat was first held in Vanderbilt University by the very first Posse. These Posse scholars were very active on their campus, but wanted to do something as a collective that would have a larger impact on their school as a whole. The idea of this retreat was to take students, faculty and staff off campus to talk about issues affecting their campus and the world surrounding it. Over 20 years later, the goal of our retreat remains the same, but stronger.

This year’s retreat is being held in over 55 colleges and universities across the nation with the theme being “Hope, Hate, and Race in the United States.” The last time a topic such as this one was held was 10 years ago, which is to say that the source of conversation is not a generic one in the least.

Each year a new topic is chosen by Posse Scholars; the topics are ones they feel have a strong presence, and need to be discussed based on current events. Every year is a new and interesting topic that invokes thought and conversation. The PossePlus Retreat is built on conversation-focused discussion on issues facing communities so it provides an interesting experience.

It’s a rare chance to find better understanding of topics uneasy to speak about in public and also free for CWRU students, faculty and staff, so I highly encourage all to go if possible.

Anthony Nunnery is a first-year student currently undecided on his major. Happiness is contagious, so spread the germ.