While many seniors still don’t know what they want to do after high school, senior Osaze Chimeka-Tisdale could soon find out he has a well-established path.

The IB Diploma Program student is a Posse Scholarship finalist and if he secures the highly coveted award it will mean a full-ride academic scholarship at Texas A&M University.

This scholarship is extremely competitive and only awards money to ten students for each of the five universities it partners with. There’s a strong precedent for North Atlanta students winning Posse and attending Texas A&M. Last year, Class of 2017 graduate Raquel McDaniel was named a Posse Scholar and now is a freshman at the university in College Station, Texas.

In order to qualify as a finalist, Chimeka-Tisdale had to go through many qualifying rounds. One of the most challenging parts of the process were the series of interviews. From group interviews to talking one-on-one, Posse thoroughly analyzes each applicant. By demonstrating leadership in robotics and Boy Scouts as well as taking initiative as a section leader in North Atlanta’s jazz band, he evidently had more than enough qualifications to impress the Posse representatives.

His teachers are certainly impressed by him as well. His exemplary skills in the classroom have distinguished him among his peers. “He is always focused on his schoolwork and motivated to keep improving,” said math teacher Nancy Hunter.

Despite the long hours of effort and hard work that earning this accolade entails, he has managed to avoid becoming overwhelmed. Also, even though becoming a finalist for Posse is extremely prestigious and distinguished, he is still modest and down-to-earth about his accomplishment. “I just showed up for the interviews and things pretty much worked themselves out from there,” he said.

If he gets the scholarship, Chimeka-Tisdale would have to meet once a week with the other Atlanta Public Schools Posse winners who will attend Texas A&M for bonding and team-building exercises. However, this is a minor detail in the grand scheme of things as this scholarship would allow Chimeka-Tisdale to pursue his dream of studying computer engineering.

Even if he doesn’t win the scholarship, Chimeka-Tisdale has already demonstrated that he has skills that will serve him years beyond this competition. Despite the blood, sweat and tears he has put into making it this far in the process, Chimeka-Tisdale is still level-headed about his prospects. “If I won, I’d be super happy. It would make my whole week,” he said. “But no matter which way it goes, I know I’ll be fine for college.”