2009 ANNUAL REPORT OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
Please add narrative text that responds to the questions in the four categories below.
Implementation of Student Development
- The Structure for training, courses, & meetings
- Cornerstone Activities including First Year Trip, Second Year Exchange, Third Year (and beyond) Leadership Roles, and Senior Capstone & Presentation of Learning
- Roles of Student Leaders in integration of the Serve 2.0 initiative (e.g., developing and using web-based tools for service)
In order to support our student members, weekly meetings were held throughout the spring semester and continue to be held during the summer semesters. Members are required to attend each meeting, which are an hour in length. Each meeting begins with a review of how each site is operating, and then it moves into a variety of topics including reflection, planning of events, working on CLAs, and/or exploring new fundraising options. These meetings have helped to strengthen our program by providing all members with an opportunity to share and reflect upon their service experiences, and by creating a positive social network that helps to bond the members together and keep me informed of any potential concerns.
All but three of our members were also thrilled to be able to attend the IMPACT Conference this past spring. The conference not only taught members a variety of strategies and skill-sets that they could bring back to our program, but it also inspired our members to become more passionate about community service and to create their own training and day of service back on our BCC campus for Global Youth Service Day.
The day of service that we held in the spring was BCC's first ever service day, and over 100 college students participated in the event. Our Bonner AmeriCorps Leaders created, planned, and ran the day of service, which ran from 10 AM to 3 PM and included both service opportunities and trainings on hunger and homelessness issues. Students were transported by BCC faculty to three of our partner sites where they worked on a variety of service projects. Afterwards, they returned to the campus where they listened to a Faces of Homelessness panel and then participated in a hunger banquet. Overall, the event was a success, and our members left the day feeling that they had inspired their peers to partake in community service opportunities and to learn more about hunger and homelessness issues that plague us locally, nationally, and globally.
In order to participate in the Serve 2.0 initiative, our student leaders and AmeriCorps Coordinator are currently working to develop our campus's wiki site so that it can provide useful information to our members and interested ommunity members. Furthermore, this spring we participated in the Bonner Video Project and Chloe Bercaw took the lead in creating a video that emphasized the problems many Americans face due to hunger and homelessness. We will be using this video to discuss the issue in more depth during our next day of service in the fall.
Implementation of Community Partnerships
Please share a summary of your work with community partners, highlighting your work regarding (no more than one page text needed):
- Arrangement and management of community partnerships and placements (orientation, site visits, meetings, strategic planning)
- How partners were engaged as co-educators, including academic linkages, courses, and student advising
- Partnerships managed through site-based or issue-oriented teams, as well as other issue-based organizing undertaken
- Capacity building initiatives for community partners (such as workshops, policy research, or resource development)
Because we began our program in the spring, much of our time spent working with community partners involved building connections, establishing the service positions, and trouble shooting any problems or concerns. In order to stay connected with each site, I conducted two site visits over the course of the semester, and I stayed in regular contact with each site via phone and email. Now, all sites are going to have monthly meetings where a campus administrator, student members, and the community partner administrator will be present to reflect on how the service opportunities have been going as well as to plan for the future of the program at each site.
Our day of service provided an excellent opportunity for faculty to connect service learning opportunities to their classroom curriculum, and our community partners were thrilled to create academic links through the service opportunities they provided. For example, our Head Start sites ran reading initiatives and a variety of outdoor activities that students could then take back and apply to their academics and the courses in which they were receiving service learning credit.
Campus-Wide Culture and Infrastructure
Please describe key activities and structures related to the development of campus-wide infrastructure and the role of the Bonner Program in enhancing (or being enhanced by) campus-wide culture and participation in service. In particular, share (no more than one page text needed):
- Key activities for faculty engagement and academic connections. In particular, note any connections to curricular offerings that are linked to the Bonner Program.
- Key relationships and activities involving other departments or divisions on campus (for example for recruitment, student wellness or retention, financial aid, and so on).
- Unique initiatives (such as events, assessment, or strategic planning) that have enhanced institutionalization of service and civic engagement on campus.
The Bonner program has created some unique opportunities for faculty to create service learning opportunities in their classrooms. For example, as previously stated, during our day of service, over six of our faculty members created academic assignments that linked directly to the service opportunities being offered that day. Moreover, some faculty members received release time in order to support and participate in the event. Last spring, co-op courses were offered to all of our members, and many of our members were able to receive college credit through this program by meeting core objectives at each of their service sites. This fall, we are excited to be offering an acdemic course for our Bonner AmeriCorps members which will focus on creating and implementing site-based projects that solve problems faced by the clients at our community partner sites. Students will also explore the history and importance of community service in our country as well as learn about specific populations of individuals who have been historically underserved or in-need. Also in the fall, we are looking to connect interested faculty to service learning opportunities that can be found at our community partner sites.
Our Bonner program is housed under Liberal Arts and Student Activities, which has allowed us the opportunity to work with our faculty and our other campus clubs in building campus connections. Other clubs on campus actively supported our day of service by promoting it and participating in it, and our Bonner site leaders are active club members who attend monthly student activity meetings and serve leadership roles in Student Activities. Because many of our members receive work-study compensation, our program has also developed a relationship with our financial aid department and the majority of our members receive hourly work-study wages for the hours that they serve. Furthermore, we have also connected with our career placement program by recruiting new members through the career placement website and by having all members participate in a training held by the career placement team.
Since our day of service was deemed a success by students and staff alike, our campus has decided to hold a day of service at least once each semester in order to connect our students and staff to service opportunities. We are also actively looking to make service learning an integral component of some of our courses and to do this via connections with community partners that were developed through the Bonner program.
Serve 2.0
Please highlight your key activities related to the integration of web-based tools as they are connected to the design, management, and outreach for service. In particular, share (no more than one page text needed):
- Link to your campus-wide service center or Bonner Program wiki ,web-site, or Ning site. Please explain how it’s most used and by whom.
- Your integration with other social media tools (such as the Bonner Network Forum/Ning, Twitter, YouTube, the Bonner Video Project, PolicyOptions Wiki, or others)
Since we are a new program, we are just beginning to work on the Serve 2.0 initiative. We are currently improving our campus wiki site so that it can provide up-to-date information for our members and community partners about upcoming events, opportunities, and who we are. The site is currently just used by our AmeriCorps members, but we hope to expand its usefulness so that community partners and campus staff can also learn from it.
Our program participated in the Bonner Video Project, and we developed a video that attempted to inspire viewers to become active participants in the fight against hunger and homelessness. This video was posted on YouTube and will be used in an upcoming service day. Our video production team on campus also documented our day of service, and we have uploaded that video on YouTube and plan to upload it onto our website as a recruitment tool for interested volunteers and/or community partners.
Campus Issue Profiles
Add links to your completed or draft campus issue profiles here:
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.