Meet our 2025 National Bonner Summer Interns! Michael Deem Jr. from Rider University brings his expertise in film and storytelling, while Spelman College's Olivia Gray focuses on advancing educational equity. Oberlin's Joseph (JP) Liddy contributes his experience in event coordination and community building, and Centre College's Kayla Rogers brings her passion for policy advocacy and civic engagement. Together, these talented student leaders will support the Bonner Foundation's mission while gaining valuable professional experience in the nonprofit sector.
Maranda C. Ward, Ed.D., MPH, Spelman College Bonner Scholar ‘02 Alum has been awarded Campus Compact’s Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement. Dr. Ward is the assistant professor and director of the Equity Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
TCNJ’s Bonner Community Scholars Program launched 20 years ago, it started with just 12 Bonner Scholars — students who commit to 300 hours of community service annually in exchange for needs-based scholarships. Now, with close to 100 participants each year, the TCNJ program is one of the largest and most successful in a nationwide network of Bonner college programs.
In celebration of Elaine Wheeler's retirement, we honor her invaluable contribution to the Bonner Foundation. Her commitment and mentorship have been instrumental in our growth as a Foundation and the Network we have today. As she embarks on her retirement, we celebrate her legacy of dedication and look forward to the path she has paved for us.
With over three decades sharing campus examples, guides, and documents to download, the Bonner Foundation is excited to announce a recently updated Bonner Resources Wiki.
This summer, the five National Bonner Summer Interns at the Foundation — Anu Baskar (George Mason ‘24), Camila Guayasamin (The College of New Jersey ‘24), Dominique Dore (University of Houston ‘22), Mikaela Chin (High Point University ‘24) and Selah Ndouta (Capital University ‘22) — worked with the Foundation staff to refresh the look of the wiki’s homepage and, more importantly, update campus examples and other documents.
They devoted particularly attention to the Bonner Program Management and Community-Engaged Learning sections. In addition, Mikaela and Dominique also created a short video on how to navigate this wealth of knowledge.
Imagine awakening just before dawn to the sounds of roosters crowing and waves breaking on the shore just outside your cottage. Coffee mug in hand, you stroll out your front door onto a pristine, sandy beach to watch a magnificent South Pacific sunrise.
A dream vacation? Not exactly. For Emily Onufer, '17, such was the start of a typical day this past summer when she interned with the environmental nongovernment organization Te Ipukarea Society (TIS) on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
This winter term, three first-years and one second-year student will have the opportunity to pursue independent study and creative projects as recipients of the Oberlin Shansi In-Asia Grant.
The award provides $1,500 to support individual initiatives east Asia, southeast Asia, or south Asia, including internships with non-governmental organizations, art explorations, environmental research, or other projects during winter term or summer. The award is open to first- through third-year students.
Jodie Geddes, a native of Jamaica, spoke on behalf of the Class of 2014 at Commencement on May 17.
Jodie came to Guilford from in Brooklyn, N.Y, and she graduates with a degree in community and justice studies and a minor in education. She feels called to create change in her community; as a Bonner Scholar she found herself while working with refugees and immigrants in the Triad. She will be entering graduate school at Eastern Mennonite University in order to pursue a degree in conflict transformation.
Xzavier Killings '16 doesn't settle for anything less than his best effort, and he constantly strives to contribute more to the Davidson community. The senior biology major, track and field captain and 2015 homecoming king from Roebuck, S.C. recently broke the school record in the long jump–just one of the many ways he will leave a legacy on campus long after commencement.
In addition to his passion for athletics, community service is a cornerstone of Killings' life on campus. As a Bonner Scholar, he performs 280 hours of community service per year, averaging 10 hours per week on top of already demanding academic and athletic commitments. He served as Davidson's congressional representative for the national Bonner Scholars program, attending a national conference and engineering new civic engagement programs at Davidson.
Ancito Etienne ’17 is spending the summer gathering data, crunching numbers, and making the case for public investment in hunger relief and conflict resolution around the world.
He has a summer internship with Mercy Corps, an international aid organization that helps people whose lives have been impacted by global conflict. Mercy Corps’ Policy and Advocacy team will use Ancito’s research to advocate for reform in food aid and peacebuildng activities.
A lot of preparation went into the Berea Hunger Games last month which was the first of what will be an annual fundraising event dedicated towards raising funds for Syrian refugee relief. According to Matt Walker, senior Bonner Scholar who has been working on the event since last year, “We tried to incorporate fundraising and awareness-raising into events that we know that a lot of people can get interested in.” Walker added, “We are trying to reach out to that crowd that might not think they are really invested in social justice issues and show them that they can be.” Walker and his colleagues were pleased to raise over $500 from the entire event.
North Carolina Campus Compact, a statewide network of colleges and universities committed to community engagement, has recognized Ben Randazzo ’16 for his outstanding leadership and service.
Ben has received the 2015 Community Impact Award, an honor given to one student leader at each school in the network.
As a Bonner Scholar, Ben has been a leader and an advocate for service. In 2014 he served as lead coordinator for the National Bonner Congress held at Guilford College, a role that led to a summer position at the Bonner Foundation in Princeton, N.J. In the absence of a staff coordinator, he has recently taken on even more responsibility for the Guilford Bonner program.
Rashaun Bennett '16 has received two nationally competitive fellowships that will further support his aspirations for a career in public policy. Selected from more than 600 applicants, he is among 58 winners of a Harry S. Truman Scholarship and is the fifth Davidson student to receive the award in the past eight years. He joins Richmond Blake (2008), Darrell Lamont Scott (2009), Alexandra Francis (2011) and Haley Hardie (2014).
Dec. 3 was a big day at Allenbrook Elementary School in Charlotte. The school hosted its first-ever student art show, and unveiled a large wall mural created through Davidson College connections. Bonner Scholar Morgan Mercer '18 worked at Allenbrook last summer as an Education Scholar. Among other duties, the school administration asked her to envision ways of "enhancing student culture." Mercer settled on the idea of a large wall mural, and obtained a Bonner Community grant to fund the project. Mercer's friend Stuart Robertson '15, who last year painted a large mural in the Alvarez College Union, agreed to work on the Allenbrook mural as well.
The Lindsey Wilson College Bonner Scholars Program has won an online contest to help its members fund and operate a kitchen to serve the area's needy.
Lindsey Wilson learned Monday afternoon that it won an online contest held March 7-14 for a grant from the Campus Kitchens Project, a national organization that empowers student volunteers to fight hunger in their community. Lindsey Wilson will receive $6,000 to start a kitchen that will be housed at Columbia United Methodist Church.
The kitchen will begin serving two or three meals a week to area needy residents sometime in September, according to LWC Director of Civic Engagement Amy Thompson-Wells.
As in life, business often comes down to just a few moments. For a small throng of budding Oberlin student and alumni entrepreneurs, or “Oberlineurs,” one such moment happened in the Bertram and Judith Kohl Building on January 31.
The entrepreneurs participated in the third annual LaunchU venture accelerator and pitch competition. Evolved out of Oberlin’s signature Creativity & Leadership Program, LaunchU provides resources, training, advisors, connections, and investment capital to help start, accelerate, and grow Oberlin student, alumni, and faculty ventures.
Jeri Howell, a Spanish major at Centre College, is spending her summer getting to know some of these workers through an internship at the Backside Learning Center (BLC), a non-profit organization created to enhance the lives of backside workers at Churchill Downs through education, life skill resources and community-building.
‘Hero’ is a Greek word meaning “to protect and serve.” Stetson University has had her share of heroes and that service is at the core of the spirit that connects Max Cleland ‘64, Stetson’s Bonner Program and senior biology major John Massey, the second recipient of the Max Cleland Award for Excellence in Public Service.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – When Yves Engelmann got his acceptance letter to Wofford College, the young man from Rwanda who had never stepped foot in South Carolina – much less onto the Wofford campus – read it in disbelief. That was nothing compared to when he read the subsequent letter from the college’s Bonner Scholars program telling him his entire four-year college career would be paid for in full.
