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II. The Bonner Program: Goals &
Strategies
C. Program Components
The Foundation’s strategy for accomplishing
the above goals reflects the integrative and inclusive nature
of our student, community, and campus development goals. Bonner
Program students are part of a developmental model that attempts
to identify, develop, and integrate service passions, career
interests, and academic pursuits. Because the Bonner Program
is a multi-year commitment, students are challenged and supported
to grow and develop in their service work. As a result, students
become more involved and take on additional responsibilities
and leadership roles as they advance in the Bonner Program.
The Foundation developed a student development framework known
as a Transformational Service Leadership model that articulates
student development goals.
An Experiential Education Model
Many of the BSP’s resources and
trainings are based upon “experiential learning”
concepts. The methodology assumes that all learning takes
place in an active environment where the participants are
active doers and not passive receptors. In an experiential
learning scenario, the participants gain knowledge and understanding,
explore their own attitudes, see their skills in action,
learn from each other, and validate their own learning through
structured experiences.
A Service-Learning Model
The BSP’s view of “service
learning” uses experiential learning as a Foundation.
In experiential learning, the experience is often a role
play or case study that takes place in the enrichment session
or classroom. In service-learning, the experience takes
place in the “real world” through a community
service project or related activity.
The service experiences should:
- Meet real community needs;
- Be coordinated between the community and the program;
- Be integrated into intellectual and cognitive areas
of growth and practice for each individual;
- Provide structured time for individuals to reflect
(through thinking, talking, or writing) about what they
did in their service activity;
- Enhance what is taught (and learned) elsewhere by extending
the learning environment beyond what we usually consider
to be its “normal” limits; and,
- Ask participants to apply experience and knowledge
of present circumstances to current needs.
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