For 25 years, the Bonner Program at Washington and Lee University has helped students connect their education with sustained community engagement. A recent university story highlights how service, reflection, and partnership have shaped the experiences of Bonners—and the communities they work alongside.
Offered through W&L’s Shepherd Program, the Bonner Program is grounded in an interdisciplinary study of poverty, its causes and consequences, and the collective responsibility to address it. The university reports that 43 undergraduates participate in the program. Over four years, Bonner Scholars complete 1,800 hours of service and leadership training, participate in summer service experiences, and complete a senior service capstone.
Connecting learning with community impact
One project illustrates how Bonners can build on classroom learning to address community needs. After connecting with the Street Medicine Institute through a poverty studies course, Kristina Ayers ’25 developed a senior capstone project with fellow Bonners Boris Pekar ’27 and Alexis Thompson ’27.
Together, they helped build an international database of street medicine providers. What began as an anticipated 600 to 800 entries grew to nearly 2,000. The database now powers a mapped directory that helps providers coordinate care and identify gaps in service.
Marisa Charley, associate director of the Shepherd Program, director of the Bonner Programs and instructor of Poverty Studies
Supporting civic connection in Rockbridge
The program’s emphasis on learning and public problem-solving also comes through in the work of Marisa Charley, director of W&L’s Bonner Programs and associate director of the Shepherd Program.
In 2026, Charley received a $1,000 Project Pericles Civic Engagement Mini-Grant to help poverty studies students develop civic health club programs with businesses in the Rockbridge area. The funding was designated to support childcare, refreshments, and events that encourage civic connection. The project offers another example of students bringing classroom learning into collaboration with their local community.
A foundation for life after Bonner
W&L’s story also follows alumni who continue to draw on their Bonner experiences. Ella Powers ’22 works at a free health clinic in Pittsburgh, where she sees how factors such as economics, transportation, and city planning affect people’s health. Katie Yurechko ’24, a computer science Ph.D. student, brings a human-centered perspective to research on how targeted algorithms affect vulnerable communities.
Their stories reflect the lasting value of a Bonner education: the opportunity to learn alongside communities, ask deeper questions, and carry a commitment to service into many different fields.
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