2009 ANNUAL REPORT OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

Please add narrative text that responds to the questions in the four categories below.

Implementation of Student Development Implementation of Community Partnerships Campus-Wide Culture and Infrastructure  Serve 2.0  Campus Issue Profiles

 

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Implementation of Student Development

What was the structure and content for the implementation of the developmental model this year?  In particular, please share (no more than one page text needed):

• 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)

 

The 2008-2009 academic year started out with a focus on recruitment of our largest class to date. Since this was our first time offering work-study, many of the Bonners were involved in information sessions and application reviews. We had over 30 students apply for 15 spots and we ended taking a few more than 15 because we could not decide between several candidates.

After the recruitment process, we started off by using one of our great community partners as an introduction to service. Shari Bellish from Carlisle Cares spoke to the Bonners about the benefits and challenges of working for a non-profit. The goal of this session was to deepen the students understanding of service work so they do not think it is all easy or fun and games.

We followed this with our orientation for the new students by working with Paw Prints dog sanctuary which takes care of dogs for those called up for military service (See video on our wiki). Upper-class Bonners were heavily involved in the orientations aspects of the weekend. For the rest of the semester, Bonners meet with Shalom Staub from academic affairs to talk about the tie between academics and service, we participated in Philadelphia Cares day with Dickinson Alumni, we covered time management, bwbrs review, Race in the presidential campaign, and spiritual development.

The Spring semester included a beginning retreat where several of our community partners and faculty members dialogued with us about the impact of the economy on non-profits. The major events students could choose from in the Spring included the MLK panel discussion series, An evening with Martin and Langston: the art of activism, What is wrong with Public Service, Leading with Integrity, and attendance at a Carlisle City Council meeting. Each student was asked to write a reflection on our blackboard site after attending these events which created good dialogue amongst the students.

The Bonner meetings we had throughout the year changed from informal times to catch up with each other, to formal business meetings, to discussions on placements and what each person was learning or experiencing.

The intent of our structure was to offer practical and developmental opportunities for the Bonners and some choice about which events they would attend to get these experiences. As indicated above, there were a number of different activities and they all related to the Bonner student development model, the core commitments, and the Dickinson Dimensions.   

Cornerstone Activities

Our first-year Bonners joined Dickinson’s Serve the World group run out of our Religious Life and Community Service Office in New Orleans for a Spring Break service trip. This was highly successful and again the first for our Bonner program. Our second-year students attended the Impact Conference in College Park Maryland and took away many great things from the experience. We continued to utilize the leadership team concept with our senior intern and two other seniors as a decision making group. All seniors previously presented information about their placements as a capstone experience.

Serve 2.0

One of our rising juniors was responsible for the wiki while our first year students have begun to get involved in the Serve 2.0 initiatives and they will help continue to move our program in a direction that effectively uses technology. We have made good progress on the wiki and with the SLI 2009 have developed several plans to utilize a blog for reflection in place of the Blackboard site. We also have plenty of footage from our flip camera and our in the process of editing it.

 

 

 

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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)

 

Our Community Partners have been stabilizing as a group over the past two years. While there are a few that I am unsure if a Bonner is a good fit, a vast majority have worked out great and look forward to having more than one Bonner. To cultivate these relationships, I meet regularly with the community partners in the summer and in the winter. These one on one meetings have allowed me to push the idea of site based teams and to resolve issues unique to their offices.  In addition, I send out a group email to them 3-4 times a semester with updates and agendas for each semester.

 

Many of our partners participated in the educational process for all of our Bonners this year. Starting with the dinner we held to introduce new students to all of our partners, to the campus events which all partners were invited to, to the January discussion of the impact on the economy for non-profits, and ending with our end of the year banquet, our partners are essential in the learning experience of our Bonners. The one-on-one meetings I mentioned earlier are again helpful in drawing on particular interest and expertise of partners to participate in our educational program.

 

Because our partners are connected with many other programs through Dickinson, we have been meetings as a group to determine what we can do to make it more cohesive and understandable for our community partners.  One effort in this direction is to have one monthly meeting with all of our community partners connected with the College instead of 3-4 different meetings. These meetings have been both practical and developmental for the community partners.

 

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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.

 

This past year the Bonner program worked with Academic Affairs in two important areas related to connecting service to academics. The first was a meeting between the Associate Provost and the Bonner students to discuss how to connect their service to courses they may take. This session gave a broad overview of service learning courses and well as other courses that connect with civic engagement. The session also offered individual follow up for academic advising for each Bonner student which several students took advantage of.

The second important area was adding the requirement for the incoming Bonner class to take at least two academic courses related to their service placement over the four years they are at Dickinson. By intentional academic advising and collaboration with Academic Affairs, we anticipate this dimension greatly enhancing the Bonner experience for our students.

We have collaborated with Admissions, Academic affairs, student employment, and Financial Aid to continue to strengthen our program. For the first time, Admissions has submitted the names of students who they believe would be interested in the Bonner program. Those students will be targeted for applying as will all of the work-study students who financial aid assists us with identifying.

In addition, we are collaborating with other student leadership groups to combine trainings and experiences. Last year we shared the economic impact discussion with the Student Senate Leadership and we shared the first year service trip with Serve the World. Next year we are planning with the Office of Religious Life and Community Service and the Career Center to share an event with Alumni who work in non-profit organizations.  

Also in the spirit of collaboration, The College has developed pamphlets that will take the form of a webpage which incorporates all the civic engagement initiatives on campus and in the community that Dickinson is involved in. It will be listed by program such as the Bonner program or specific CBR courses, but also by topic such as homelessness or health related issues.

 

 

 

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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)

 

Our wiki is located at http://dickinsonserves.pbworks.com/

This has been the main focus of our serve 2.0 work this past year. We have a student who has asked to be responsible for managing it and we have given access to all of our students to develop their own pages. We have also extended the invitation to Dickinson Bonner Alumni who have their own pages as well.

 

We see the main focus of the wiki as a recruitment/marketing tool, a resource for our community partners, and a Bonner community space for our program. We are about 80 percent complete to where we initially want the space to be. Each Bonner was asked to do a video of their placement. We have most of the footage complete and just need to edit them and post them on our community partner page. See http://dickinsonserves.pbworks.com/Carlisle+Area+Family+Life+Center-+Video for an example.

 

Next year, the College is no longer using Blackboard which was a main source of information sharing for the Bonner program. We plan to convert the information to the wiki, including a way to have discussion board reflections for our students. As a result of the 2009 SLI, the two students who went have many other plans to incorporate technology into our practices.

 

 

 

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Campus Issue Profiles

Add links to your completed or draft campus issue profiles here:

•   We are still developing this area. The Summer SLI was useful in having students present to think through how to best incoporate this into our program.