The Journey program, a life skills class for students and parents referred by Jefferson County Juvenile Court, is a proven confidence builder for at-risk teens. The program, designed by Youth Services Officer Michelle Nix, graduated 37 teens this school year, most of them referred for truancy — and boasts an 85 percent recidivism record.

This year, four graduates voluntarily returned to complete the program again. There were three sessions (fall, winter, and spring), and each included an excursion trip lead by Tommy Clapp of B.O.L.D. Counseling in Jefferson City. Four Bonner Scholar mentors from Carson Newman University assisted: senior Hannah Pierce, junior Nick Cockrell, and new mentors Tanner Shivley and Diana Garber.

As a Bonner leader, Sara Balte (C’17) implemented a program called “New Life,” that continues to enhance the lives of people in and around Sewanee. Through the Bonner Leader program, prospective apply for a four-year service internship and leadership program to forge connections with community partners and engage with the greater Sewanee community once on campus as freshman.

New Life is a non-profit agency that serves as a day home for people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities in Winchester, Tennessee. Balte’s involvement in the program began when she was asked to make a business plan for their art therapy program at the day center. Although this business was outside of her realm of expertise, she began attending New Life in Winchester when the idea came to her: “What if we start a group that comes to Sewanee?”

Arielle Pollock ’20 spends two days a week tutoring children, helping them with their homework, reports or just sitting and reading together. 

As a Bonner Leader, she has been working with the R.I.C.H. House, a safe haven for at-risk children, since day one as a first-year student, an opportunity she said has given her a quick connection to her new home.

Empty Bowls of Greene County recently raised more than $3,000 for the Weekend Food Program Fund at the Community Foundation of Greene County.

The Empty Bowls project, which was held April 2 at the National Guard Readiness Center in Waynesburg, was organized and conducted by a group of Waynesburg University Bonner Scholar students led by Kenny Knouse, a junior from Catawissa. This was the fourth year Bonner Scholars were able to lead and coordinate the Empty Bowls event.

Working with the city’s sustainability office isn’t Foo’s first exposure to sustainability. The summer after her first year at Richmond, she worked as a nutrition education intern for a food bank in Rochester. Not only did she educate citizens in the low-income areas on how to eat healthfully and affordably, but she also sold local fruits and vegetables at to those who typically don’t have access to fresh produce. The internship was also part of the Bonner Scholars Program, and Foo says there are natural links between her work at the food bank and her climate change research for the city.

"Capital has been focused on the community for decades, but it’s been more of the traditional model of popping in and doing something short-term, then leaving again,” Paul said. With the students who will be part of the Bonner program, she wants to build “much more sustainable relationships with the community,” with Capital and Near East Side neighborhood leaders deciding together which problems to address and what to try.

Joining the foundation’s list of more than 60 partner colleges and universities means that Capital will devote money and staff time to building a corps of student volunteers. Each student, called a Bonner Leader, will be expected to spend at least 10 hours per week on service work coordinated through the program.

Kentucky Wesleyan College is pleased to announce the launch of a Bonner Leaders program. Bonner Leaders is nationally recognized community engagement and leadership development program where students are placed at local non-profit organizations working on an issue or cause of interest for eight-10 hours a week.

In addition, participating students attend weekly workshops aimed at developing leadership skills. Students typically become Bonner Leaders as freshmen and continue with the program for four years, earning more responsibility at their partner organizations and the opportunity to mentor younger Bonner Leaders.

Lindsey Wilson Bonner Scholar Lindsey Daniel of Russell County, KY, told those in attendance at the March 16, 2017, meeting of the Adair County Board of Education how important the work of the Camp Casey program is. "She volunteers in Camp Casey and the impact of that program is what she credits for educating her to the needs of our communities children," Dana Harmon, Camp Casey Director, said. "Unlike the Family Resource Center, 21stCCLC CAMP CASEY addresses the academic needs of our students throughout school time programs before and after school and in the summer. After school students get a snack and during the summer they get hot breakfast and lunch through the USDA school meals program." 
 

Waynesburg University will celebrate its 168th year and the 167th anniversary of its charter by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at convocation Tuesday, March 21, at 11 a.m. in Roberts Chapel. The University will also honor the 25th anniversary of its Bonner Scholar Program.

“On Charter Day, we reflect on our history and reaffirm our commitment to our values of faith, learning and serving,” said Waynesburg University President Douglas G. Lee. “This year, we are also celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of our Bonner Scholar Program. This program has had an immeasurable impact on the community and the students who are a part of it, and it is a privilege to reflect on it during this milestone.”

“I am hopeful and optimistic for the Danville community,” Senior Harrison Kirby said. The refugee family is his service site for Bonner.

Kirby will be involved with the family by organizing transportation services for them and even personally driving them on occasion. The family will attend orientation classes in Lexington to help gradually adapt to life and culture in the United States. Kirby and other Bonner students involved with the family are coordinating transportation to these meetings, as well as for basic trips to the grocery store, bank, ESL classes, etc.  

You may be familiar with the health care crisis and coverage gap that has affected our country’s millions of poor, uninsured adults who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to be able to afford private health insurance or qualify for marketplace subsidies. But do you know how the gap has affected our community