The Bonner Foundation has selected five exceptional interns for the 2024 National Bonner Summer Internship program. These interns, from various universities and diverse academic backgrounds, will contribute to the Bonner network by developing resources, assisting in event planning, and working on strategic initiatives. The Bonner Foundation looks forward to the unique contributions these young leaders will make to the network.
In celebration of Elaine Wheeler's retirement, we honor her invaluable contribution to the Bonner Foundation. Her commitment and mentorship have been instrumental in our growth as a Foundation and the Network we have today. As she embarks on her retirement, we celebrate her legacy of dedication and look forward to the path she has paved for us.
With over three decades sharing campus examples, guides, and documents to download, the Bonner Foundation is excited to announce a recently updated Bonner Resources Wiki.
This summer, the five National Bonner Summer Interns at the Foundation — Anu Baskar (George Mason ‘24), Camila Guayasamin (The College of New Jersey ‘24), Dominique Dore (University of Houston ‘22), Mikaela Chin (High Point University ‘24) and Selah Ndouta (Capital University ‘22) — worked with the Foundation staff to refresh the look of the wiki’s homepage and, more importantly, update campus examples and other documents.
They devoted particularly attention to the Bonner Program Management and Community-Engaged Learning sections. In addition, Mikaela and Dominique also created a short video on how to navigate this wealth of knowledge.
Student excellence in academics and service were recognized during Tusculum College’s annual Honors Convocation Thursday, April 28.
Megan Buczek of Chattanooga was presented with two awards. Ms. Buczek received a Senior Honor Key Award in special education modified and comprehensive. Senior Honor Key Awards are presented to students who have earned a 3.25 grade point average or higher in their major, shown achievement and aptitude in the major and possess strong character.
Maps. They grace the walls of elementary school classrooms and line the halls of the Vatican. They can be found in art galleries and history museums. They can tell us about lands unknown. And, in reckless hands, can be used by their makers to wield power and control over those who reside within their lines.
That’s the lesson Dillon Massey, ’15, learned as a summer intern with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the U.S. embassy in Lima.
Stetson University will host the annual TEDx event, Friday, March 18, at 4 p.m. in Allen Hall, 508 N. Woodland Blvd., on the DeLand campus. TEDx is a subsidiary of the world-renowned TED organization which holds conferences relating to Technology, Entertainment and Design on a local scale...Probus is a religious studies major at Stetson. She is actively involved in campus life as a member of the Stetson Bonner Program, Stetson University Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra and the Stetson Center for Community Engagement, to name just a few organizations. Probus’ talk will focus on leadership skills.
You are headed to Cambodia to volunteer with the Peace Corps. What will you be doing?
I’ll be a community health education volunteer, which entails living with a host family in a rural village somewhere in Cambodia and working in the local community health center. My other main responsibility will be biking to nearby communities to deliver presentations in Khmer, the local language, on healthy living while focusing primarily on maternal health and disease prevention.
Denise Coffey, a student at Tusculum College, has been named a Newman Civic Fellow for 2015. Coffey has provided almost 500 community service hours to ASafeHarborHome, a local agency that serves victims of domestic violence and supplies them with safe homes.
The Newman Civic Fellows Award honors inspiring college student leaders who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country. Coffey is one of 201 people to be named a 2015 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact.
Less than six years ago, José Oliva ’17 lived with his grandparents in Tiucal, a rural village in Guatemala.
His mother had moved to the U.S. to work in the textile industry when he was a baby. Few people in his hometown attended high school, and fewer still had the opportunity to go to college. He didn’t speak English.
Today, José thrives at Guilford. He served the College as the first Latino president of Community Senate during his sophomore year, and he has served the wider community by educating hundreds of high school students — immigrants and the children of immigrants — about the college application process.
For the ninth year in a row, rising first-year Centre College Bonner students visited Caretta, W. Va., for an annual service trip. While helping to improve living conditions in the town during their June visit, the new Bonner Scholars joined the impressive group of more than 85% of Centre students who volunteer on a regular basis.
Centre’s Bonner Program is a network of 60 students on campus (and thousands nationwide) dedicated to alleviating poverty and improving education through active community service and civic engagement. For Director of Community Service and the Bonner Program Matthew Klooster, the first-year summer experience is also an important opportunity for student growth.
“I was pre-med since age 12,” says Jhewel Fernandez, ’14.
As a Bonner Scholar, Fernandez met with her University of Richmond advisor and, like all students on a pre-med track, was encouraged to choose a clinic or public health-related service site for the program’s community-service commitment.
But Fernandez’s advisor gave her one additional piece of advice that changed her life. After recognizing her interest in social sciences and experience working with children, he suggested she try two service sites — a clinic and a school. Within weeks, she knew the clinic environment wasn’t for her.
With a $10,000 grant and an idea Telavive Taye '17 returned to her childhood home of Hawassa, Ethiopia, to create an enterprise she hoped would promote peace and prosperity.
The recipient of a Projects for Peace grant from the Davis United World Scholars Program, Taye established a car wash managed completely by and for youth, with the goal of engaging them in a productive business in a growing city with high rates of unemployment. In fact, official estimates place the country's rate of youth unemployment at more than 50 percent.
Imagine awakening just before dawn to the sounds of roosters crowing and waves breaking on the shore just outside your cottage. Coffee mug in hand, you stroll out your front door onto a pristine, sandy beach to watch a magnificent South Pacific sunrise.
A dream vacation? Not exactly. For Emily Onufer, '17, such was the start of a typical day this past summer when she interned with the environmental nongovernment organization Te Ipukarea Society (TIS) on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
This winter term, three first-years and one second-year student will have the opportunity to pursue independent study and creative projects as recipients of the Oberlin Shansi In-Asia Grant.
The award provides $1,500 to support individual initiatives east Asia, southeast Asia, or south Asia, including internships with non-governmental organizations, art explorations, environmental research, or other projects during winter term or summer. The award is open to first- through third-year students.
Jodie Geddes, a native of Jamaica, spoke on behalf of the Class of 2014 at Commencement on May 17.
Jodie came to Guilford from in Brooklyn, N.Y, and she graduates with a degree in community and justice studies and a minor in education. She feels called to create change in her community; as a Bonner Scholar she found herself while working with refugees and immigrants in the Triad. She will be entering graduate school at Eastern Mennonite University in order to pursue a degree in conflict transformation.
Xzavier Killings '16 doesn't settle for anything less than his best effort, and he constantly strives to contribute more to the Davidson community. The senior biology major, track and field captain and 2015 homecoming king from Roebuck, S.C. recently broke the school record in the long jump–just one of the many ways he will leave a legacy on campus long after commencement.
In addition to his passion for athletics, community service is a cornerstone of Killings' life on campus. As a Bonner Scholar, he performs 280 hours of community service per year, averaging 10 hours per week on top of already demanding academic and athletic commitments. He served as Davidson's congressional representative for the national Bonner Scholars program, attending a national conference and engineering new civic engagement programs at Davidson.
Ancito Etienne ’17 is spending the summer gathering data, crunching numbers, and making the case for public investment in hunger relief and conflict resolution around the world.
He has a summer internship with Mercy Corps, an international aid organization that helps people whose lives have been impacted by global conflict. Mercy Corps’ Policy and Advocacy team will use Ancito’s research to advocate for reform in food aid and peacebuildng activities.
Experiential learning through community engagement is a long term investment. Sometimes the payoff takes decades because Guilford College's stewardship is built on the idea that some good things can't be measured by quarterly returns or academic semesters. Bonner Center for Community Service and Learning and its student coordinators and teams of student volunteers have run some community sites for years, long enough for refugee and immigrant children who were tutored by Guilfordians to have grown up ready for college themselves.
A lot of preparation went into the Berea Hunger Games last month which was the first of what will be an annual fundraising event dedicated towards raising funds for Syrian refugee relief. According to Matt Walker, senior Bonner Scholar who has been working on the event since last year, “We tried to incorporate fundraising and awareness-raising into events that we know that a lot of people can get interested in.” Walker added, “We are trying to reach out to that crowd that might not think they are really invested in social justice issues and show them that they can be.” Walker and his colleagues were pleased to raise over $500 from the entire event.
North Carolina Campus Compact, a statewide network of colleges and universities committed to community engagement, has recognized Ben Randazzo ’16 for his outstanding leadership and service.
Ben has received the 2015 Community Impact Award, an honor given to one student leader at each school in the network.
As a Bonner Scholar, Ben has been a leader and an advocate for service. In 2014 he served as lead coordinator for the National Bonner Congress held at Guilford College, a role that led to a summer position at the Bonner Foundation in Princeton, N.J. In the absence of a staff coordinator, he has recently taken on even more responsibility for the Guilford Bonner program.
