Step 3: Creating a Student Development Plan

Step 3: Creating a Plan for Your Student Development Model

All students in the Bonner Program are guided through intentional opportunities to develop as thoughtful, engaged citizens of our national and global community. We recognize the individualized nature of a student’s participation in and development of values, cognitive abilities, skills, and experience. We envision graduates who have a multitude of experience, commitment, and proficiency to continue as effective “servant leaders,” even while they contribute through different localities, occupations, political persuasions, networks, and viewpoints.

The program follows a student developmental progression which we call the Five E’s: expectation, explore, experience, example, and expertise. The Bonner Community has defined six Common Commitments as well as a set of twenty-four personal, professional and leadership skills. The Common Commitments: community building, civic engagement, diversity, international perspective, spiritual exploration, and social justice represent a core set of value exploration we expect students to have the opportunity to explore in the program. The skill sets were articulated as concrete examples of what can be mapped into the program experience.

Programs execute their student development plan in both co-curricular and curricular contexts. Regardless, there are key components to every Bonner Leader Program. These include: Orientation, Advising, All Bonner Meetings, Vocational Discernment and a Presentation of Learning. For the training and enrichment component, programs make extensive use of the more than 60+ training modules the Foundation commissioned from the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL). COOL/Idealist-on-Campus hosts a national conference annually that has come to be a key experience for training and enrichment for many Bonner Programs.

Questions to Consider:

• What campus and community professionals could assist with training and enrichment activities for students?

 Back to Step 2: Designing a Program | Continue to Step 4: Connecting to the Network. 

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