Bishop Kearney grad named Posse Scholar

Annaliese Tucci selected for leadership qualities

August 8, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Annaliese Tucci enjoys the view on the campus of Dickinson College, where she will be a freshman in the fall. Photo courtesy Annaliese Tucci

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Annaliese Tucci is heading up a posse, but it has nothing to do with rounding up a bunch of cowboys to go after stagecoach robbers in the Old West. Tucci, a Dyker Heights resident who graduated from Bishop Kearney High School in June, has been named a Posse Scholar by the Posse Foundation Inc.

The Posse Foundation Inc. works to foster future leaders. Its scholars take leadership roles on college campuses across the country.

“To be named a Posse Scholar is a great honor and privilege. The Posse Foundation has helped me become more of a leader, and a listener. This scholarship has the potential to change my college campus and make a positive difference for the future,” Tucci told the Brooklyn Eagle.

Tucci, who was president of her senior class at Bishop Kearney, will be attending Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the fall.

The road to becoming a Posse Scholar was long and challenging, she said.

In 2015, 3,700 students were nominated for the honor. Only 131 scholarships were awarded.

“The first interview was in early September, and I went through a series of interviews up until December. I didn’t find out I received the scholarship until the middle of December,” Tucci said.

She was nominated for the scholarship by her Italian teacher, MaryAnne Maffei. “I then had to submit academic information such as essays, resumes and my transcripts,” Tucci recalled.

“I just finished an eight-month pre-collegiate training program with nine other scholars from New York City who will also be attending Dickinson. Posse’s mission is to create a group of roughly 10 diverse students from various backgrounds to work together and create a visible change on their college campus,” said Tucci, who plans to major in international studies.

Her resume is impressive.

During her years at Bishop Kearney, she volunteered at the Giving for Living Foundation. As part of one project, she collected more than 1,200 bras for poor women in Nicaragua. She also spent time as a volunteer for the Francesco Loccisano Memorial Foundation, assisting the organization’s fundraising efforts for families of children with cancer.

As a member of the Class of 2016 at Bishop Kearney, Tucci won the English Award, the President’s Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence, the Bishop Kearney Outstanding Leadership and Service Award and the school’s Lay Faculty Association Award for Distinguished Achievement.

Also at her school, Tucci started a chapter of Girls Learn International, a feminist club aimed to educate students in the U.S. about women’s rights issues around the globe. She was also a member of the Italian Club, Book Club and the NextGen Vest Club.

She believes that her high school gave her a strong foundation. Bishop Kearney, located at 2202 60th St., is a Catholic high school for girls.

“Being a Kearney student definitely helped me receive the Posse scholarship because Kearney has been such a supportive foundation for my academic success. Kearney has prepared me to find my voice in this world and explore my passions. Although Kearney is a small school, it has such an extraordinary opportunity for engagement and resources to grow as a student and person,” Tucci told the Eagle.

Prior to Bishop Kearney, she attended P.S. 204 in Bensonhurst and then went to Mark Twain Intermediate School for the Gifted and Talented in Coney Island.