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.
Hicks, a native of Spartanburg, graduated from Wofford with degrees in government and finance; he is also a Gates Millennium Scholar, a Bonner Scholar and a Truman Scholar. Hicks recently completed a research stay at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. An aspiring civil rights attorney, he is a federal analyst at Deloitte.
As a Mitchell Scholar, Hicks will study race, ethnicity and conflict at Trinity College Dublin beginning in September 2017.
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.
We were happy to announce that four Bonners were selected as Newman Own's Foundation Fellows. This is the second year The Bonner Foundation has partnered with Newman's Own to identify strong candidates. These Bonners will be joining eight other fellows from across the nation as part of the Class of 2018 Fellows.
We have featured a brief profile for each Bonner with information on where they will be working and their personal reflection on how their Bonner experience has prepared them for this new venture.
Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has announced the 273 students who will make up the organization’s 2017 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows. The Newman Civic Fellowship is a one-year fellowship for community-committed college students from Campus Compact member institutions.
Of the 273 students, the following twelve Bonner Scholar/Leaders received this honor.
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.”
On March 15, 2017, the Watson Foundation announced the 49th class of Thomas J. Watson Fellows. The Watson provides a year of unparalleled international exploration for select graduating college seniors in any field. Two of the 40 fellows are Bonner Scholars; Imani Lewis-Norelle, Earlham College, and Tyler Harvey, Rhodes College.
Angel Vela de la Garza Evia ’18, a student at Washington and Lee University, has won a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant that will allow him to conduct a three-phased STEM-related project — STEMito — for primary school students in his home city of Monterrey, Mexico.
“If, through this program, we can motivate the students to continue their academic trajectory and make them realize that they can study STEM, then I am willing to put in all my effort to start making the difference.” - Angel Vela de la Garza Evia
A Centre College Bonner Student hopes basketball can be a key to creating better connections and understanding between the college community and the surrounding city and county.
Hari Perisic, a senior finance and economic major at Centre has developed a proposal for unique event featuring a community basketball tournament, a community conversation on difficult topics and a street party with local food.
“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
Theresa Kedinger, 29, of Fond du Lac, has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Costa Rica on Feb. 20 to begin training as a community economic development volunteer.
Kedinger will work at the community level to build one-on-one relationships with women, youth and potential entrepreneurs. She will advise business, marketing, financial management and product design plans, in addition to teaching literacy programs and facilitating business workshops.
Attention Current Bonners!
Submit an application to apasqua@bonner.org by March 10, 2017 to be considered for a 2017 Summer Bonner Foundation Intern.
For questions or concerns, please direct them to apasqua@bonner.org.
Attention Current Bonners!
Submit an application to bab@bonner.org by March 31, 2017 to be considered for the 2017-18 Bonner Advisory Board.
For questions or concerns, please direct them to bab@bonner.org.
Acceptance, diversity and inclusion are more than just nice words for Jonathan Zur, ’03. They are the ideas around which he orients his life.
As president and chief executive officer of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC), a nonprofit organization that works with schools, business and communities to promote inclusion, he works throughout the state to help people and groups “value and respect diversity.”
