II. The Bonner
Program: Goals & Strategies
C. Program Components
3. Campus Infrastructure
Many colleges and universities include in
their mission statements an expressed commitment to serve
society. The Bonner Program is designed to support these mission
statements and to help a school develop an infrastructure
that augments this culture. A slogan in the Bonner Program
is “Everybody, Every Day.” While every individual
on campus may not be involved in service on a daily basis,
the goal is to present a challenge and to develop an infrastructure
that consistently encourages and supports every member of
a campus community to become involved in community service.
a. Campus-Wide Community Service
As a means of strengthening the campus-wide
culture of service, the Bonner Program is intentionally
designed to be a part of a school’s campus-wide community
service operations. The Bonner Program is not meant to identify
and then isolate a small group of individuals; rather, it
is designed to support a group of students who will then
disperse throughout the campus to help create and maintain
campus-based service activities.
The Bonner Foundation encourages participating
schools to consider developing a community service center
that coordinates other campus service initiatives such as
service-learning, community-based research, and student
service groups. The Bonner Program can play an integral
role in uniting these diverse service initiatives into a
broad-based, comprehensive service program.
b. Bonner Web-Based Reporting System
(BWBRS)
The Bonner
Web-Based Reporting System allows for administrators
to collect and submit data about students and their service
activities. Administrators use the Internet to connect with
databases and special software that the Bonner Foundation
has developed. This web-based system serves as an effective
tool for managing the program, tracking student progress,
sharing data with campus faculty, and reporting information
to grantors. It also offers students and administrators
access to information about student participation, and service
site relationships so that staff members can work with students
to support them on their journey through the Bonner Program.
c. Higher Education Service Consortium
Schools that participate in the Bonner
Program become part of a multi-campus service consortium.
One of the strengths of the Bonner community is the diversity
of schools that participate in the program. Schools collaborate
on joint service projects, funding proposals, and academic
and service exchanges. Students, administrators, faculty,
and community leaders convene on a regular basis for training,
information exchanges, and professional and personal development.
As part of this consortium effort, the Foundation has created
and supports a student Congress made up of Bonner students
from each participating school. This group receives intensive
training and convenes three times a year to both plan activities
and provide feedback concerning current and proposed policies
within the program.
d. Student Impact Survey
The Student
Impact Survey Project began in 1998. It attempts to
measure the impacts of the Bonner Scholar Program on students
and ascertain the level of success we are having in accomplishing
our program goals. We started with the premise that participation
in the Bonner Scholar Program impacts students at Bonner
schools in significant ways and that we can measure this
impact by looking at three different development areas:
civic responsibility, educational attainment, self-perception,
and life skills.
The Foundation has enlisted the service
of Dr. Cheryl and Dr. Jim Keen to partner with us on this
project. The Keens are faculty at Antioch College and have
most recently coauthored the highly acclaimed book entitled
“Common Fire: Lives of Commitment in a Complex World.”
e. FIPSE Civic Engagement Certificate
Program
The Bonner Foundation received a FIPSE
grant to research and develop a Civic
Engagement Academic Certificate Program. With the growth
of service experiences available to college students through
service learning, community-based federal work-study, and
the Bonner Scholars/Leaders Program, an opportunity exists
to dramatically improve these experiences by coupling them
with a curricular sequence of civic study. The Civic Engagement
Certificate Program is a multi-year approach to student
development that delineates the skills, knowledge, values/attitudes
and experiences that will be enhanced in the Certificate
program.
Through the Civic Engagement Certificate
program, a Bonner Scholar student developmental model is
integrated into a curriculum based civic engagement academic
exercise. A group of four diverse institutions in the Bonner
Scholar/Leader program serve as the primary working-group
are creating courses and building curriculum that will become
the core of the project. Once developed at these institutions,
the Civic Engagement Certificate will be adapted and implemented
at other schools participating in the Bonner program as
well as schools across the country.
The outcome of the program will be to
provide students a richer service experience through connection
to an intentional curricular track of civic study. This
project specifically seeks to produce materials including
guidelines for program implementation, syllabi, reading
lists, a reflections series, searchable databases, and a
bibliography of materials linking service and civic life
and faculty training.
4. National Bonner Network
a. Bonner Advisory Committees
1. President’s Advisory Committee
Presidents have been gathered in small
groups to discuss ways to work better as a consortium of
schools. “President’s Summits” are now
held every two years (see Chapter 3-D-3. Summer Leadership
Institute); in the alternate years the Foundation sponsors
a fall gathering of all the Bonner Presidents. The Foundation
requires the attendence of the Presidents.
2. Directors Advisory Committee
The Directors Advisory Council (DAC) began
to take shape after the Summer Leadership Institute in 2001.
At that event, held at the Lawrenceville School, it became
clear that there was a need to create a smaller group of
directors and coordinators with whom the Foundation staff
could communicate on a regular basis.
Membership on the DAC includes one director
from each cluster and two at-large coordinators. Nominations
are made to the foundation and members serve a three-year
term.
Generally, the DAC holds monthly conference
calls during the school year and meet twice a year prior
to the Fall Directors Meeting and the Summer Leadership
Institute, while also encouraging communication between
directors and coordinators within clusters. This is has
meant regular phone calls and emails to Directors and Coordinators
from DAC representatives.
The creation of the Directors Advisory
Council has played a significant role in improving the lines
of communication and strengthening the Bonner community.
The Directors Advisory Council exists
alongside the Presidents Advisory Committee, the Bonner
Student Congress and the newly created Bonner Leaders Advisory
Council. All four groups will help strengthen and lead the
Bonner program.
3. Bonner Congress
Since the inception of the Bonner Scholars
and Leaders Programs, student leadership has been a vital
component in creating, implementing, and strengthening the
Bonner Program. Over the years, Bonner Scholars and Leaders
have come together from all participating schools to develop
ideas, plan initiatives and give important feedback and
input in the shaping of policy concerning the Bonner Scholars
Program. The Bonner
Congress is designed to offer leadership opportunities
for students and provide a chance for students from different
schools to come to know each other better through working
together. The role of the Congress is to create opportunities
for students to advise the Foundation on policy and programs,
provide critical feedback, and where possible, implement
certain Bonner-wide activities. Congress members are expected
to represent students’ ideas and concerns to the Foundation
and, in turn, represent the Foundation’s ideas and
back to their peers. The Bonner Congress has also represented
the Bonner Program regionally nationally and internationally
at different conferences, events, and service activities.
b. Bonner Alumni Network
There are already more Bonner Scholar alumni
than current Bonner Scholars spread out all over the world.
Employers have begun to spot the scholarship on a resume and
make connections at churches, in businesses, and community.
The Foundation seeks to create the Bonner
Scholars Alumni Network to accomplish the following:
- Create a network of graduated Bonner Scholars, linked
to their communities through other Bonner graduates, current
Bonner Scholars, and all the Bonner campuses.
- Encourage Bonner graduates to seek employment in service-related
fields.
- Provide opportunities for those not in a service-related
job to continue their meaningful service experiences.
- Track Bonner Scholar graduates and produce publications
such as directories and newsletters.
- Recruitment efforts including visits from alumni to local
schools, community centers, and churches.
c. Annual Gatherings
The following list the regularly scheduled
meetings organized by
the Bonner Foundation. Visit our web site for an up-to-date
calendar of events.
1. New Directors/Coordinators’
Meeting
Because of the high turnover of Coordinators,
we started to have New Coordinator Orientations. During
these times, both new Directors and Coordinators are introduced
to guidelines, consortium-wide projects, and job related
tasks. This time also serves as a space for coordinators
to build relationships with foundation staff and other colleagues.
2. Fall Bonner Directors’
Meeting
Each year in early to mid-November, the
Foundation organizes a gathering of all Directors and Coordinators
and Directors to share ideas, in community and for the Foundation
to make announcements and get input on current inititiatives
within or related to the BSP. The two and a half day meeting
includes large group discussions, workshops, and free time
to esxplore the area around our meeting site. It serves
as a time for coordinators.
3. Summer
Leadership Institute & President’s Summit
The Summer Leadership Institute is an
annual event held in early June; every other year, we extend
the SLI to include the President’s Summit Meeting.
The SLI is organized for Bonner directors, coordinators,
and students; the President’s Summit adds presidents,
faculty, and community partners to these campus teams. These
meetings are the equivalent of the Bonner Scholars Program’s
national conference, with concurrent workshop sessions,
and large group sessions where also part of the schedule.
Students and coordinators as well as foundation staff and
outside facilitators are invited to present.
4. Bonner
Student Congress Meetings
The Bonner Student Congress began in 1993
when a group of students voiced their need for a national
group to share ideas, and network across the constituency
of Bonner Schools. These meetings are typically packed full
of program nuts and bolts, evaluation, training workshops,
and time devoted to planning the next year’s activities.
5. All Bonner Service Events & Bonner
Alumni Reunions
In conjunction with the Summer Leadership
Institute (SLI), an All Bonner Service event is held in
and around the community where the SLI is hosted. All participating
in the Bonner program are invited and encouraged to attend.
The All Bonner Service event runs from Thursday morning
through Sunday morning the first weekend of June. Times
and dates are subject to change. Participation in the All
Bonner Service event is one way to fulfill the sophomore
service exchange. Bonner alumni are welcome to attend.6.
Bonner Cluster Meetings
Schools participating in the Bonner Scholars
Program are currently organized into six regional clusters:
- Georgia,
- The Carolinas,
- Tennessee- Kentucky,
- Indiana-Ohio,
- Pennsylvania-West Virginia, and
- Virginia-Maryland.
Bonner Leader Programs are encouraged
to connect with the cluster that geographically relates
to them. Over the years, the regional clusters have served
as a way to organize the Bonner Program including:
- The directors who serve on the Directors Advisory Committee
are selected based on regional clusters. These members
are encouraged to stay in contact with, and when appropriate,
communicate information to other directors in that cluster.
- Cluster meetings and service projects are organized
to encourage networking between schools. Such gatherings
serve to communicate to students the multi-campus nature
of the Bonner Program. Over the past several years, all
first-year Bonners were required to attend a regional
cluster event. The cluster events are no longer required,
however schools are still encouraged to convene for joint
service projects and trainings.
- Now that second-year students are required to participate
in the sophomore service exchange (where students are
required to perform service with students from another
school), the cluster offers a valuable opportunity for
planning such events.
Resource Documents
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