Zach Triplett: Career Takes Off

Zach Triplett: Career Takes Off

Zach Triplett said the values he learned at Emory & Henry are shaping him into a successful person who isn’t afraid to reach for the stars, or rather, the clouds.

Triplett is a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, a job that allows him to travel throughout the world. “And, I actually get paid for it, too,” said the 2010 alumnae, a resident of Port Orange, Florida. “I love my job because no day is ever the same.”

The sky is the limit for the E&H grad. In the Spring of 2013, Triplett received his Private Pilot certificate and in the next couple years, he plans to earn the remaining ratings and licenses in order to become a commercial airline pilot.

Davidson Bonner Receives Algernon Sydney Sullivan Student Award

Davidson Bonner Receives Algernon Sydney Sullivan Student Award

Our student  recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award goes to a young woman from Davidson, North Carolina.  She is an English major and ethnic studies concentrator. She has spent four years as a Bonner Scholar, and according to one, is the leader within the group, organizing the ideas and initiatives of her peers to bring to action. Her primary focus is on youth advocacy, whether tutoring at a local elementary school, The LEARNWORKS afterschool program at Ada Jenkins, or as a Servant Leader for the Freedom Schools in the summer.

Maryville Bonner Makes a Difference Among Special-Needs Adults

Maryville Bonner Makes a Difference Among Special-Needs Adults

At first, Elizabeth Dunn wondered how in the world she could fit community service into her college schedule.

Now she wonders how in the world she could have ignored her volunteer spirit.

Dunn, a first-year student at Maryville College, is a Bonner Scholar. In exchange for scholarship dollars, she volunteers at least 40 hours monthly at the Gateway to Independence, a local non-profit agency whose mission is to help young adults with disabilities to achieve independence by providing them with vocational training and social activities.

Henri Fitzgerald: Success Inspired by Service

Henri Fitzgerald: Success Inspired by Service

While most of his classmates were adjusting to being away from home, Emory & Henry alumnus Henri Fitzgerald was juggling a college education and raising a family.

“I was a parent for most of my time at Emory & Henry, so my family was very important to me,” said Fitzgerald. “I wanted to set a good example, so I tried to excel at everything I tried. This included being a father, husband, athlete, volunteer and good citizen.”

It’s clear the alumnus is no stranger to accomplishing the goals he sets for himself. In 2000, Fitzgerald graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business management and a bachelor of arts degree in political science.

Dustin Bruner Find His Calling at Centre as a First Generation Graduate

Dustin Bruner Find His Calling at Centre as a First Generation Graduate

When first-generation college graduate Dustin Bruner ’16 started his career at Centre College, he had a concrete idea of where his life was headed. But by the time he received his Centre diploma after graduating in May, his life—and his interests—had changed drastically.

Bruner had every intention of pursuing pre-med studies to become a doctor when he enrolled at Centre. But the variety of classes he took began to change his mind.

Maryville Bonner Starts Food Recovery Network Chapter

Maryville Bonner Starts Food Recovery Network Chapter

When Maryville College senior Brandon Denney ’16 began volunteering at local service sites, food became his focus.

As a Bonner Scholar, Denney spends 10 hours a week volunteering at local non-profits. Through his volunteer work, he witnessed food waste firsthand at various jobs and volunteer sites.

While volunteering at a local afterschool program, he also noticed that students in the program had access to healthy and nutritious food that many similar programs were unable to provide.

Full Circle: Guilford Connections with Refugee Communities

Full Circle: Guilford Connections with Refugee Communities

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.

Alumni Profile: Peter Coats

Alumni Profile: Peter Coats

"The Bonner Scholars program not only showed me the world, it changed the way I see it. Bonner Scholars who complete their service hours during the school year receive a stipend to cover travel and living expenses on an international service trip of their choice each summer. I was able to study and complete my volunteer work in Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Dubai, China, and India."

Mamta Gurung Named Public Health Fellow

Mamta Gurung Named Public Health Fellow

Mamta Gurung ’18, who is majoring in accounting, has been named the first Bonner Center Public Health Fellow in recognition of her work, including tutoring, mentoring and educating, members of international and immigrant communities.

The purpose of this new fellowship is to draw attention to significant health issues that can no longer be classed as local or international but must be regarded in an ever-shrinking world as both. Therefore, the Public Health Fellow is charged with exploring mentored, real-world experiences located here in the region and internationally.

Bonner Scholar Lives out Boy Scout Slogan

Bonner Scholar Lives out Boy Scout Slogan

oseph "Joey" Courtney exudes a volunteer spirit as he heeds the call to serve in the Boy Scouts of America, living out the Boy Scout slogan "Do a good turn daily."

Courtney, a 19-year-old sophomore at Maryville College, hails from Knoxville, Tenn. He is a Bonner Scholar who volunteers at least 40 hours per month in exchange for scholarship monies to apply toward tuition and books.

Guilford Attends N.C. Heritage Awards Ceremony

Guilford Attends N.C. Heritage Awards Ceremony

The 2016 North Carolina Heritage Awards recognized traditional backstrap weavers H Ju Nie and H Ngach Rahlan, who are Bonner Center community partners.

Since both Greensboro weavers are elderly, Bonner Center Volunteer Training Coordinator Andrew Young and his wife, Betsy Renfrew, herself a weaving expert, accompanied the artists to the North Carolina Executive Mansion for dinner May 24 with Gov. Pat McCrory, N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz, and N.C. Arts Council Executive Director Wayne Martin.

Student Help Homeless on Trip to NYC

Student Help Homeless on Trip to NYC

Seventeen Emory & Henry College students travelled to New York City in March to assist in projects related to hunger and homelessness.

The students, who are E&H Bonner Scholars, sorted and distributed food in large-scale food pantries, cooked and served meals to homeless guests, and assisted in childcare facilities. Bonner Scholars are awarded scholarship in recognition of their commitments to service.

Bonner Scholars Assist with Carnival in McDowell County, West Virginia

Bonner Scholars Assist with Carnival in McDowell County, West Virginia

Being born and raised in Tazewell County in Southwest Virginia, I know first-hand the struggles and challenges that living in a coal mining community can have on every aspect of human life.

A nearby town in McDowell County, W. Va., also knows the challenges of this lifestyle all too well. War, a once booming coal mining town and the place to go in the 1940s, is now a ghost town due to the trickle-down effect of losing the major economic sector of the community.

A Hunger to Help

A Hunger to Help

Not long after Helen Mandalinic ’14 arrived at Guilford in 2010, she began volunteering with the Community Kitchens Project, a program that packages cafeteria leftovers into meals and delivers those meals to the area’s needy.

She quickly realized her passion for service didn’t need to be put on hold for her studies, and her education at Guilford would extend beyond the classroom and the campus.

Public Policy Site Debuts as Resource for Community

Public Policy Site Debuts as Resource for Community

     People in the Davidson area and beyond who are interested in public policy now have a great new resource, thanks to the college's Bonner Scholars. The Bonner Scholars recently unveiled their latest project–a comprehensive website called PolicyOptions.org focused on bringing together in one place information regarding public policy, policy changes and social services.
     Naomi Coffman '16 and Rashaun Bennett '16 are the Bonners primarily responsible for keeping the website up to date.
     The project began at Davidson in the fall of 2013. Kristin Booher of the Center for Civic Engagement office encouraged Coffman, along with Zoe Williams '14 and Philip Yu '16, to get involved, and Coffman immediately saw the potential.

Sewanee Bonner is "Opening the Scope of Masculinity" for High Schoolers

Sewanee Bonner is "Opening the Scope of Masculinity" for High Schoolers

For the last two years, Davis and his fellow Sewanee student leaders have gathered groups of boys at Grundy County High twice a week for this program, which they named “Man Up.” Davis is a Bonner Leader, a participant in a service internship and leadership program that sends students into Sewanee and neighboring communities to serve in a variety of ways. Davis and other Bonner Leaders founded the Man Up program in 2014 after talking to another Bonner Leader who had started a regular women’s empowerment luncheon at GCHS and thought the boys in the school could use a program made just for them.

Davidson Students Serve and Learn During Trip to Selma

Davidson Students Serve and Learn During Trip to Selma

"We went on our Alternative Break (AB) trip to help teach schoolchildren, but I think we learned more than they did," said senior Bonner Scholar Rebecca Worrell.
Worrell and 13 other Davidson students went to Selma, Ala., for spring break. During five busy days they worked at three schools, visited sites that are historically significant to the Civil Rights Movement and participated in non-violence training courses.

Bonner Scholar Develops Saturday Reading Program

Bonner Scholar Develops Saturday Reading Program

Kindergarten student Quentin Larkey rarely missed an opportunity to read books each Saturday morning this semester with Emory & Henry students who volunteered at a children’s reading program at the Glade Spring Library.

His mother, Rachel Larkey, said her son was very excited to attend the reading program each week. “Toward the end of the semester, he was already reading easy readers. It helped him tremendously with his skills.”

Tusculum Students Talk about Their Spring Break Service Trip

Tusculum Students Talk about Their Spring Break Service Trip

    In early March, students from Tusculum College’s Bonner Leader program participated in an alternative spring break that included a focus on service, rather than surf time.
    The students took a trip to Orlando, Fla., where they stayed with members of the College Park Baptist          Church and took part in activities that benefited the community. Due to the onset of snow, they arrived a day late to Florida but they were nonetheless excited to start their spring break and volunteering, according to Ronda Gentry, director of the Center for Civic Advancement at the college.

Centre's Bonner Program Places First-Year Students

Centre's Bonner Program Places First-Year Students

Among the typical fall-term conversations about mid-terms and the upcoming fall break, other important conversations are being had by first-year Bonner students: in particular, where they will be performing up to 2,000 hours of community service in the years ahead.

Centre currently hosts up to 60 Bonner students on campus, each of whom have a specific service site they work at every week. Bonners are dedicated to addressing a variety of social issues, including poverty, diversity, access to education and/or healthcare and community development. Bonners work to solve these problems in the Danville and Boyle County community through eight to 10 hours of community service per week—a hefty commitment when added to demanding course loads and extracurricular activities.