On July 28 to 31, the Bonner Foundation welcomed twenty-one staff and faculty to the Bonner Network during the 2024 New Bonner Staff Orientation hosted at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.
Participants include representatives from seventeen institutions of higher education, including eight with established Bonner Scholar Programs, eight with established Bonner Leader Programs, and one school that is expecting to start a Bonner Program this fall.
2024 New Bonner staff, faculty, guest presenters, and Bonner Foundation staff in front of Trenton Hall at The College of New Jersey
The Orientation provides an overview of the history, fundamentals, and best practices for building and managing a Bonner Program. The meeting offers opportunities for participants to share models of curricular and co-curricular programs that help build a culture of campus-wide engagement. Sessions cover how the program promotes student success and a culture of reciprocity in community engagement.
Since 1990, the Bonner Program has provided students with “Access to Education and Opportunity to Serve.” The program serves as a model for campuses to strengthen their culture and infrastructure for community-engaged learning, as well as successfully promote greater access and diversity amongst students. The Bonner Program is built on a unique student-centered avenue for institutions of higher education to build reciprocal and sustained partnerships with communities. Students, staff, and faculty collectively tackle issues like hunger, homelessness, health, education, using an asset-based approach to community development.
Attendees join a diverse and inspiring network of individuals and campuses comprised of dedicated, generous practitioners across 65+ institutions who openly share their wisdom and experience. With student leadership at the core, Bonner Program staff and faculty work diligently to fully engage their campuses in ways that make a difference. During the orientation, we were joined by guest presenter, Dr. Krystal Woolston, Director, Public Service Programs at Montclair State University and recent TCNJ Bonner graduate and 2023 and 2024 Bonner Foundation Summer Intern, Bryan Wood, who shared their insights and expertise with building and sustaining student leadership, developing mutually reciprocal community partnerships, and scaling this work on their campus and in their communities.
Following on the success from last year, this year's orientation featured a visit to The College of New Jersey where participants engaged first-hand in learning how to develop and implement high-impact Bonner cornerstone activities. TCNJ's staff members, Althia Muse, Director of the Bonner Institute and Destiny De La Rosa, Bonner Program Coordinator, graciously shared their approaches to planning and implementing TCNJ Bonner New Student Orientation, First-Year Trip to New Orleans; state-wide Bonner Sophomore Exchange, and junior/senior community-engaged capstone projects.
Participants included:
Coral Ramos, Program Manager, Bonner LEAD Fellows, Augsburg University
Pero Brittz, Coordinator, Bonner Scholars Program, Carson-Newman University
Courtenay Folk, Director, Center for Community Engagement, Carson-Newman University
Claire Lentsch, Associate Director-Community Leadership Initiatives, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
Anna Sherrill, Coordinator of Civic Engagement and Bonner Scholar Program, DePauw University
Jinessa McCamey, Community Engaged Scholars Coordinator, Maryville College
Mikaela Guzman, Bonner Leader and Service Coordinator, Montclair State University
Paul Larkin, Program Coordinator, Morehouse College
Keely Torsak, AmeriCorps VISTA, PCCE, Nazareth University
Tezeru Teshome, Director, Center for Civic Engagement, North Park University
Abby Aresty, Program Director for Engaged Learning, Oberlin College & Conservatory
Gabby Valentine, Bonner Scholars Program Director, Oberlin College & Conservatory
Evyn Lundy, Bonner Scholars Program Coordinator, Oberlin College & Conservatory
Laura Eppinger, Program Coordinator for Community Partnerships, Rutgers University-Camden
Mallory Holland, AmeriCorps VISTA: Bonner Coordinator, Stetson University
Rayjohn Felicia, Coordinator, Bonner Institute, The College of New Jersey
Emilia Hodal, Assistant Director of Student Engagement and Bonner Scholars Program, University of Richmond
Bernadette Ludwig, Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of Civic Engagement, Wagner College
Taviare Hawkins, Associate Provost for Research, Development, and Civic Engagement, Wagner College
Grace Deep, Bonner Coordinator, Waynesburg University
Alicia Burns, Bonner Leader Program Coordinator, Wilkes University