Two Bonners Selected as 2020-2021 Imagining America/JGS Fellows

The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues.

Imagining America annually selects a cohort of student artists from IA member institutions who receive a tuition scholarship, mentorship, and financial support for a community arts project, support to attend the IA National Gathering, and other professional development opportunities as part of joining a national working group of engaged photographers and digital media makers.

Ivy Miller, Senior Bonner, Oberlin College

Mai Moua Thao, Junior Bonner, Macalester College

Eight undergraduate students from across IA’s national consortium were chosen as this year’s fellows, including two Bonners. Ivy Miller, a senior studying psychology and studio art at Oberlin College and Mai Moua Thao, a junior studying media and cultural studies at Macalester College.

The goals of the IA/JGS Fellows Program are to elevate photography and digital media as pathways for undergraduate students to pursue their careers and to make a difference in their communities. The program specifically aims to support students for whom economic and family circumstances render such career pathways particularly challenging. 

Over the course of the fellowship year, each JGS Fellow will:

• Receive a $2,000 tuition scholarship.
• Receive mentorship and financial support for a community project.
• Attend the Imagining America National Gathering in October. Complimentary registration and travel awards are included.
• Participate in regular, virtual learning exchanges.
• Be connected to the consortium’s national network of scholars, artists, and community organizers.

More information about Imagining America and the JGS Fellowship can be found here.

New Graduate School Partnership with Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College

Corella & Bertram F. Bonner Foundation announces new graduate school partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy that will provide a minimum scholarship of $30,000 Bonner alumni admitted to the school.

The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy is home to two internationally recognized graduate-level institutions at Carnegie Mellon University: the School of Information Systems and Management and the School of Public Policy and Management. This unique colocation combined with its expertise in analytics set Heinz College apart in the areas of cybersecurity, health care, the future of work, smart cities, and arts & entertainment. In 2016, INFORMS named Heinz College the #1 academic program for Analytics Education.

Bonner Scholar/Leaders, alumni or staff interested in pursuing a master’s degree are encouraged to apply for admission to any of Heinz College’s master’s degree programs and will receive the following partnership benefits:

• Application fee waiver

• A minimum scholarship of $30,000 (with further consideration for additional merit-based scholarship support)

Join our email list to receive information about Heinz College. To learn more, prospective students can connect with us today or review details about our application process.  You may also email David Eber, the Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, directly at deber@cmu.edu.

For more information on Bonner graduate school partnerships, please contact Liz Brandt, Community Engagement Director, Bonner Foundation at liz@bonner.org.

Five Bonners Selected as 2020 Bonner Foundation National Summer Interns

Each summer, the Bonner Foundation welcomes four to eight motivated, passionate, and talented Bonner summer interns from our network of 65+ Bonner programs. During this eleven-week internship, these young professionals bring their Bonner Program experience and share it by developing new resources and strategies for the national network. This year, we are delighted to welcome five exceptional Bonner summer interns:

• Aly Bonilla, University of Lynchburg ‘22

• Grace Fischer, Widener University ‘21

• Robert Green, Macalester College ‘23

• Raj Toor, The College of New Jersey ‘21

• Sunny Toreihi, Rollins College ‘20

You can read each intern’s bio on our Bonner Foundation staff page.

Summer interns responsibilities already shift in focus from year to year. Given the global pandemic situation, we are adjusting to meet current challenges, such as anticipating moving the internship online and focusing on resource development for capacity building projects and capstones (which can be conducted online). The interns will also be involved in supporting the 2020 Virtual Summer Leadership Institute and several other Foundation initiatives, such as Bonner Alumni Network development. We will provide a community cohort experience through regular Zoom calls and other online platforms. 

We are delighted to work alongside (even virtually) such talented young professionals this summer, and we know that their work will have a long-lasting impact on the Bonner network.

A Legal Career Inspired by Service in the Bonner Program

Before becoming an attorney in Washington D.C., 2019 W&L Law grad Diane Gremillion was a Bonner Scholar at the University of Richmond with a major in Leadership Studies. 

“Bonner…made me question why different forms of poverty and inequality existed in my community,” Gremillion said. 

““The regulatory backbone of each problem made me appreciate the power of the law to have very real impacts, often disproportionately on vulnerable persons,””

— Diane Gremillion, Washington and Lee University School of Law ‘19

 Gremillion’s community service in Richmond sparked the realization that the lives of the people in need were directly affected by government structure and minutiae, “even the least interesting parts of the law and its various regulatory regimes.” 

As an attorney at Venable, LLP, Gremillion is working in the regulatory/administrative law realm.  Her summer internship with the firm as a law student confirmed that Venable was well-placed to make a difference.   

“[During the summer] I worked on a pro bono case, defending an immigrant family after nearby construction flooded their home, which culminated in mediation at the Venable office building,” Gremillion said. “Being with a large firm allowed us to defend the family with first-rate legal representation against multiple large corporations in ways that we would not have been able to otherwise.”  

Gremillion’s experience as a Bonner Scholar still informs her personal life and her career as an attorney. 

“Bonner instilled in me an appreciation for what is gained personally by helping one’s community. I gained so much more than I ever could give from those experiences. I’m also now aware that, even when I’m not working day to day and seeing poverty in my community, it is there. With my JD, I access the law and advocate in a way that is inaccessible to so many.”

If you are interested in pursuing a law degree, contact the Office of Admissions at W&L Law to learn more. We are proud of our new partnership with the Bonner Foundation, and we look forward to seeing more Bonner alumni in the law school student body. 

Washington and Lee Law Admissions 

lawadm@wlu.edu  

(540)458-8503

W&L Law School’s coverage of the partnership found here.