Growing up in a tough New York City neighborhood, Maribel Vasquez didn't have many aspirations — until her first year of high school, when she befriended a Posse scholar named Johanna.

The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students who have extraordinary academic and leadership potential but may be disadvantaged economically or socially.

Johanna spent years mentoring Vasquez about making important decisions in education, enabling Vasquez to become a Posse scholar, to get accepted at Franklin & Marshall College and, now, to become a Fulbright scholar.

As a Fulbright scholar, Vasquez, a senior at F&M, will travel to Venezuela in October to begin a 10-month position as an English teaching assistant at a high school or college.

Vasquez, 22, said there's no way she'd have had such success in her career if she hadn't been accepted as a Posse scholar.

Posse's partner colleges and universities award Posse scholars four-year full-tuition scholarships. Students are grouped together and placed at schools according to their preference. Vasquez was a member of the first group of Posse scholars to attend F&M four years ago.

"It it wasn't for Posse, there would be no F&M and no Fulbright," Vasquez said. "I would never have put that financial burden on my family."

While she has a supportive family, Vasquez said, her hopes of attending college were dim.

"I grew up in a troubled neighborhood," Vasquez said. "It wasn't very nice. There was a lot going on."

Eight months before her arrival at F&M, Vasquez met with other Posse scholars to train. Training included workshops about racial sensitivity and other social issues.

When Vasquez finally got to campus, she felt very much under pressure.

"I felt like I just couldn't relax," Vasquez said. "You can't sneak by people. They know that you're a Posse scholar."

Just as Vasquez adjusted to her new life at F&M, tragedy struck. Shortly before final exams, her godbrother was murdered in New York.

Shattered, Vasquez started packing to leave the school — perhaps for good.

"I was going to take all F's," Vasquez said.

But another Posse scholar contacted the campus Posse mentor, who told campus administrators about Vasquez's situation. They asked her to reconsider, and she did.

Instead of receiving failing marks, Vasquez made arrangements with professors to receive incomplete grades until she returned from New York and made up the work.

During the past two years, Vasquez studied in Uganda and Bolivia. It was then, she said, that she was hit by "the travel bug."

In September 2008, Vasquez made the commitment to begin the Fulbright scholar application process.

Vasquez said she was surprised when she received an acceptance letter late last month because she wasn't supposed to hear until June.

"I read it every two days to remind myself that this is real," Vasquez said.

Vasquez will graduate from F&M with a bachelor's degree in government next month.

Susan Dicklitch, an associate dean of the college and Vasquez's faculty adviser, said Vasquez always has shone as a student.

"She is so eager to learn and just has a passion about her," Dicklitch said. "I hope she is not an anomaly, but I think she might be."

This summer, Vasquez has an internship with the organization Humanity in Action for which she will travel to Europe to study immigration and minority rights. After her teaching stint in Venezuela, she said, she'd like to study immigration law.

Vasquez said her academic career couldn't be going better.

"I always thought I would never have the life I deserved," Vasquez said. "I never dreamed of this happening."

E-mail: mpennino@lnpnews.com