II. The Bonner Program: Goals & Strategies
C. Program Components

1. Student Development

Once a student is selected and enrolls in the Bonner Program, she or he commits to a series of expectations. Each Bonner Scholar or Bonner Leader is expected to:

• Arrive before the regular orientation for an orientation designed specifically for new Bonner Scholars;
• Serve an average of ten hours a week at a community service site during the school year
• Complete at least one full-time summer service internship;
• Develop a Community Learning Agreement with their agency supervisor and Bonner coordinator that both outlines service and learning goals and describes the activities through which to achieve them;
• Attend regular group reflection, enrichment, and skill and leadership development activities.
• Participate in a student developmental model that challenges and supports each Bonner to develop her or his skills, knowledge, commitments, and responsibilities;
• Commit to working with a group of diverse but similarly engaged group of students; and,
• Recommit to the program at the end of each year in the program.

While any student can qualify and receive a Bonner Scholarship, the Bonner Scholars Program awards most of its scholarships to students with a significant amount of documented financial need.

In the Bonner Scholars Program, we do not draw hard and fast lines of demarcation between program elements. However, we do organize our processes and program design (and the major chapters of this handbook) around these themes to assist us as we attempt to understand the primary and secondary purposes of those developmental dimensions that appear to be most directly associated with a specific developmental dimension.

a. Four-Year Student Development Model

As stated above, the developmental goal of the Bonner Program for students is:

To develop the skills, knowledge, experience, and attitudes of students engaged in community service over the years of their Bonner Program experience.

Based on the developmental model originally created for the Bonner Scholars Program, the primary student development model articulated through the Bonner Program is known as “The Five E’s.” The Five E’s represent a series of five developmental stages that it is believed students pass through during their time in the Bonner Program. Since the Bonner Program is a campus-based program, the Five E’s are congruent with the four academic years of a typical college career. The following model serves as a visual depiction of the Five E’s.

1. Expectation: Students apply and prepare for participation in the program.
2. Explore: First-year students are involved in a variety of service sites and activities including short-term service trips.
3. Experience: Second-year students are encouraged to focus on a particular issue within a singular organization that enables Bonners to fully experience a particular agency and to develop a better understanding of community issues. This approach also offers agencies consistent and reliable support to help run and manage their programs.
4. Example: By the third year, Bonner students are expected to take on more expanded roles and responsibilities in the local and campus community. For many, this translates into leadership positions with a campus service organization and/or a community agency.
5. Expertise: The Bonner Program works to identify interests and skills on the part of students and match them with community opportunities and needs. Students that have been involved in the Bonner Program are encouraged to integrate their academic pursuits and career interests with their service activities. As a result Sociology majors become involved in research projects, English majors will write annual reports, or Communications majors assist with an agency’s public relations.

In Chapter Seven, we provide a more detailed description of the developmental model and describe key action goals for each of the five developmental stages, and the roles the Bonner Program, Community Partner, and Bonners might play during each of these critical phases of development.

b. Common Commitments

What is at the heart of the Bonner Program?

Certainly the goals off the Bonner Program transcend number of hours served and amounts of financial assistance received. The Bonner Program is committed to engaging and supporting individuals to be involved in thoughtful, meaning full and transformative service activities that benefit all involved. How do we articulate what it means to serve thoughtfully and effectively?

The Bonner Foundation has engaged in an intensive process of information gathering from students, faculty, administrators, and community members from within and outside the Bonner community. Through this work, six common commitments have been identified that embody the work of those involved in the Bonner Program.

While these specific common commitments have yet to be officially recognized as the defining elements of the Bonner Program, it is clear that these issues are important and active in the daily life of the Bonner community. These commitments are meant to guide and support the direct service and reflection work that we engage in as members of that community.

It is our hope that all Bonners will encounter these commitments in one way or another throughout their time in the program. Our belief is that exposure to these commitments through the Bonner Program will help to create students that graduate from the Bonner Program and go into the world well prepared to live and serve as educated, culturally aware, and civic-minded individuals.

• Social Justice: Advocate for fairness, impartiality and equality while addressing systemic social and environmental issues.
• Civic Engagement: Participate intentionally as a citizen in the democratic process, actively engaging in public policy and direct service.
• Community-Building: Establish and sustain a vibrant community of place, personal relationships and common interests.
• Spiritual Exploration: Explore personal beliefs while respecting the spiritual practices of others.
• International Perspective: Develop international understanding that enables individuals to participate successfully and sensitively in a global society.
• Diversity: Respect and engage the many different dimensions of diversity in our public lives.

The terms we have used to identify these common commitments are meant to convey a concept and an ideal without providing a final definition to a word. Individual campuses, based on their unique cultures are encouraged to define these ideals in ways that there respective cultures. Over the course of the next several years, we will move together individually and as a community to explore, develop and engage the notion of common commitments throughout the Bonner Program.

c. Bonner Skills

Created in 2003-2004 through collaborative efforts of the entire Bonner community (students, administrators, community partners, and Foundation staff), the Bonner Skill Sets were created to connect to and complement both the Common Commitments and the Five E’s. It is the hope that every Bonner graduate will gain and grow in each of the 24 skills listed below by the end of their time in the program.

d. Civic Engagement Training

While the Bonner Scholars Program is not narrowly designed as a leadership program, it does expect participants to prepare and take on leadership roles in their service. Students are trained in skills that help them perform these leadership functions. Participants are expected to attend a two or three day orientation, regular meetings, enrichment and training workshops, and regional gatherings of students from different schools. In addition, many Bonner students attend and present at regional, national, and international conferences.

e. Financial Aid

While service is the major focus of the Bonner Program, it is also designed to provide financialassistance to individuals pursuing their educational dreams. Most students in the Bonner Program receive financial assistance either from the Bonner Foundation, Federal Work-Study, or other forms of need-based financial aid. What the Bonner Program seeks to do is ensure that the work expectation within their financial aid package is met through community service rather than a campus-based position.