Somerville High School seniors Abike Beke and Dessources Domond are among a select group of students from across the country to be named Posse Scholars by the Posse Foundation this year. Both students will receive four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships to partnering colleges and universities, where they will work with fellow Posse scholars to serve as leaders and build community within their school environments. Students are nominated for consideration, and are carefully selected based on their leadership ability, academic potential, and overall motivation to succeed.

Abike’s goal is to enter into the medical field. She will be attending Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA and will be pursuing a degree in Neuroscience or Biology. A native of Nigeria, Abike entered the Somerville Public Schools system as an eighth-grader at West Somerville Neighborhood School. She has been a member of the SHS chorus for four years, and a member of the All-City chorus for two years. She was selected into the National Honor Society during the first round of selection her junior year, and is also a member of the Music Honor Society. She is a member of the Engineering Minority Club and the Community Service Club at SHS. Abike has completed extensive community service through Little Sisters of the Poor and completed an internship at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Houston, Texas the summer after her junior year. Her internship focused on working with the VA hospital nurses.

Dessources will be attending Union College in Schenectady, NY, and plans to pursue a degree in general engineering. Dessources and his mother moved to the U.S. from Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake. Dessources immersed himself in learning the English language when he first arrived in Somerville as a fifth-grader at the East Somerville Community School, while at the same time working on mastering the academic content. Dessources currently serves as the student representative on the Somerville School Committee. He was inducted into the SHS National Honor Society in the first selection round as a junior, and has been a member of the SHS Science League, Outdoor Club, Community Service Club, and the First Robotics Club. He worked as a teacher’s assistant/aide in the Summer Program for English Language Learners (SPELL) at the East Somerville Community School the summer after his sophomore year. Dessources has also been a member of the track team at Somerville High School for 3 years.

Congratulations to Abike and Dessources on this outstanding accomplishment! Learn more about the Posse Foundation, Inc. at:https://www.possefoundation.org/.