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Guide for Organizing a 1st Year
Service Trip
Basic Information
- All Bonner Scholars are required to participate once,
during their first year in a service trip to a geographic
region outside their campus community.
- First-Year Service trip hours may count towards meeting
the student’s school-year service hour requirement.
- Dates: When should groups go? Spring
Break, Winter Break, during a J-term, the week after graduation,
etc.
- Destination: Where have groups gone in
the past? Bonner Foundation has a list of all past trips
- Participants: Who should go? Program
staff and 15 first-year Bonner scholars, upperclassmen leaders
- Budget from Bonner Foundation: Directors/Coordinators
may apply to the Bonner Foundation for financial support
of up to $250 per Bonner Scholar taking the trip and $250
for each of two people attending in a supervisory capacity.
(see 4.4.9 for First-Year Service Trip allocation guidelines)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Should this be a sophomore
trip?
- No, The Bonner Foundation feels strongly that this
should remain a 1st year trip. We did encourage schools
to change the Cluster Meeting so that it is for 2nd
year students.
- Is the current maximum of 8 hours a day appropriate?
- The time emphasis is actually on the number of days,
which we think should be 4-7 (the language has been
emphasising a week but that has been left up to interpretation).
- Should student have the option of counting the
hours toward spring semester or summer?
- So far the Bonner Foundation has encouraged schools
to allow this trip to be counted towards spring semester
hours when needed by individual students.
- Is $250 per person from the Bonner Foundation
an adequate amount given the requirements for the trip?
- We provide an additional $250 for up to two additional
people (staff or other student leaders) who join the
trip. It is not always an adequate amount, however,
given the other categories of Bonner Scholarship support
it is the most we can afford to provide at this time.
Schools that need more for particular trips generally
raise additional funds.
- Are there mini-grants available from the Bonner
Foundation?
- No. We encourage schools to tap into their Community
Fund to provide funding for the actual service being
done during the trips. However, the Community Fund should
not be used as a source of funds to pay for the trip
itself.
- Should a school have to leave its technical region
(i.e. go from Southeast to Midwest)?
- One goal of these trips is to give students an experience
outside their region, but the actual definition of what
that means is up to the each school.
Planning Option A — First Years Plan
Their Own Trip
Meeting #1
- DRAW:
- As students enter, have them draw a picture of a particular
area of service or community that they would like to
learn more about. Bring paper & markers
- SHARE:
- Have students share their drawings with the group.
As they share, compile a list of communities/areas.
Bring post-it flip chart paper for list.
- PLAN:
- Tonight, as a group, students will begin planning
their first year service trip. Ask the students, What
is the next step?
- BRAINSTORM:
- a list of locations, service experiences, etc. Let
the students guide the process. Rhodes students chose
to brainstorm a list of cities/communities.
- POSSIBLE SITES:
- Miami, Florida; Wyoming; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL(&
possibly St. Louis); Washington, DC (& maybe Baltimore,
MD); Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX; New Orleans, LA
- RESEARCH:
- Have students do some research into the opportunities
and experiences available with the different programs
& communities.
- Have students group up and do the research in groups
of 2 or 3 (number in each group will be dependent upon
the number of options being considered.
- QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER WHEN RESEARCHING OPTIONS
- How practical is it for us to visit this city, state
or community?
- What is unique about the city and what can we learn?
- What organization(s) do we work with?
- What project(s) will we assist with/work on?
- How far will we have to travel? How much will it cost
for us to get there?
- Will we go out to eat or have facilities available
to prepare our own meals?
- What different lodging options do we have?
- What fun stuff is there to do and see?
- KEEP IN MIND THAT WE WILL NEED TO:
- Complete RFP to submit to Bonner Foundation for Funding
- Contact ResLife in the event Bonners need clearance
for an extended stay on campus
- Liability waivers
Meeting 2
- PRESENT
- Have group make brief presentations based on their research.
- ASK
- After the presentations, ask the students how to proceed.
- DISCUSS
- Our students discussed each of the options and really
took into account the amount of travel time required
for each option.
- VOTE
- Our students chose to vote on each option, with each
student voting twice in order to narrow down the options
to the top 3 options. Then, each Bonner had one vote
and the decision was made.
- MORE RESEARCH
- Once the choice was made, the Bonners decided to divide
up into four groups to research different aspects of
the trip. Each group will focus on one of the following
topics: Transportation, Service, Lodging, Fun.
- QUESTION Is any training/trip preparation necessary?
Subsequent Meetings
- REPORT
- Each group will give a brief report at each subsequent
first-year Bonner meeting. With the help of the group,
decisions will be made regarding each component of the
trip.
- QUESTIONS TO KEEP IN MIND
- Is any training/trip preparation necessary?
- Will we need to raise more funds?
Planning Option B—Bonner Program Staff
Plan the Service Trip
- Where do we go?
- When do we go?
- What existing resources are available for trip planning?
- How practical is it for us to visit this city, state or
community?
- What is unique about the city and what can we learn?
- Do we want to focus on a certain issue or community? Are
there Bonner partners we can work with?
- What organization(s) do we work with?
- What project(s) will we assist with/work on?
- Is there an existing weeklong service-learning program
we can participate in?
- How far will we have to travel? How much will it cost
for us to get there?
- Will we go out to eat or have facilities available to
prepare our own meals?
- What different lodging options do we have?
- What fun stuff is there to do and see?
- Will we need to raise more funds? If so, what options
do we have?
- Liability waivers
- What training/trip preparation necessary?
- Complete RFP to submit to Bonner Foundation for Funding
- Contact ResLife in the event Bonners need clearance for
an extended stay on campus or an early return to campus
Resources
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