2009 ANNUAL REPORT OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

 

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

Student Development, Training, and Enrichment

 

1. A.                 Training

    

   New Bonners, including first-year students and transfers, participated in a three-day New Bonner Orientation.  On the first day, students receive a general overview of the Bonner Program, which includes history, requirements, service site information, site placements, and developing personal and group commitments.  We also provide an informational Q&A session for parents.  Dinner is held for the entire group at Tal Stanley’s residence, where the new Bonners can become acquainted with their new Bonner family.  On the second day, there was a service trip to the community of Fries, Virginia to further develop and instill the new students understanding of community, economic development, and service learning.  On the final day, the students do more community building exercises as well as a group reflection on the service trip and finish with a ceremony where they sign a commitment contract to the Bonner Program. 

    

   B.                 Enrichment

    

   Bonners have several opportunities to participate in educational lyceum and special events throughout the school year.  Lycea that Bonners attended this year dealt with issues such as American foreign policy, HIV/AIDS issues, and sexual identity.  Bonners also participated in a variety of social justice related events, including a Take Back the Night event, a Mental Health Walk, and a Cardboard City, all in conjunction with Emory Serves Week.

2. During the spring semester, the Appalachian Center focused on the issue of affordable and fair housing. Students participated in the Cardboard City, as well as attending a "Faces of Homelessness" presentation.  The Appalachian Center hosted these events and others to coincide with the College's building of a "House of Hope." Starting on March 27, Emory & Henry built a Habitat for Humanity house in three weeks. Much of the construction was completed by teams of community members and Bonner Scholars. This undertaking was the largest service project that the College or the Appalachian Center had ever done.  

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2. C.                 Reflection

    

   Each Bonner class group met once a week, for ten weeks each semester; reflection sessions last one hour.  The reflection curriculum is designed to support the Bonner developmental model and Common Commitments.  First-year Bonners explore community building and relational trust. As sophomores begin developing the skills to be more analytical and reflective, they explore in reflection questions of personal values.  Part of this involves ongoing conversations about how values are shaped, and how values influence service and academic work.  Juniors explore the importance of relationships and the significance of relationships to their work as Bonners.  Seniors begin to reflect on their own spiritual changes and developments, connecting that to their changing understandings of service and justice.  From this, seniors then move to a consideration of their developing spirituality and an exploration of their sense of calling and vocation.  All Bonners also complete several written journals each semester, dealing with a variety of social and personal issues and the relation to their service work.  Bonners also had three All-Bonner meetings during each semester in which they heard from members of the community about their stories of service, education and many other important parts of a college and life-journey.

    

   D.                Senior Bonners’ Presentation of Learning Event

    

   The seniors spent their final spring semester reflecting on their time at Emory & Henry College and the Bonner Program.  As a culmination of this reflection process, we held the Senior Capstone Presentations in late March.  This year, the seniors decided to have a singular presentation, done in collaboration to increase the efficacy and brevity of the Capstone. The seniors created a Power Point presentation, and wrote prose and poetry for the ceremony.  All of their remarks were presented to the rest of the Bonner students, their parents, E&H faculty and staff, and other community members with whom they had worked.  The seniors also included a memorial for their former classmate, Josh Smith. Josh's family was in attendance and remarked how special it was that the seniors would want to remember Josh this way. A reception was held afterwards in honor of the seniors and the good work they had accomplished.  This year, roughly 80 faculty, staff, students, and community members attended the event.  

    

   E.                 Service Site Placement and Service Teams

    

   This year, our first year students were divided in the fall into four groups that would work as teams in service-site placements. Group projects were: conduct, record, and transcribe interviews with people telling stories about their dealings with healthcare on behalf of a statewide, non-partisan campaign aimed towards educating citizens about healthcare issues in Virginia. Work to prepare outdoor classrooms with a local agency that promotes sustainable development in elementary, middle and high schools. 

 

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Implementation of Community Partnerships

 

Community Service Placements and Partnerships

  

Following is a list of the major sites in the surrounding communities where Emory & Henry College Bonner Scholars are heavily involved. 

 

 

Emory & Henry Tutoring Program

 

Tutors are trained to tutor elementary, middle, and high school students in areas of math, reading, science, and social studies.  Bonner Scholars are assigned 2-4 students (depending on preference and availability) with which they work at least twice a week.  Bonner Scholars travel to local schools and tutor during “free” time, offering one-on-one help to any willing student. The Emory & Henry Tutoring Program served as a host for a team of first-year Bonners this year.

 

Boys and Girls Club of Bristol

 

The Boys and Girls Club of Bristol serves as a safe place for youth to gather and socialize after school and over weekends.  Bonners volunteer at both Bristol and Abingdon, Virginia club sites.  Bonners serve as tutors, mentors, and game leaders.  They organize and supervise a wide variety of group activities. 

 

River’s Way

 

River’s Way is an outdoor adventure camp that sponsors weekends for groups of differently abled high school students.  Bonners help plan the weekend events and spend the semester learning about persons with mental and physical challenges.  During the weekend retreats, Bonners are paired with a high school student, helping with tasks from brushing teeth to completing group initiatives courses.  Bonners serve as friends and guides as their partners complete challenges that allow for their full participation in a world from which they are typically kept away.  Volunteers meet several times during the semester to prepare for the intense and emotionally demanding weekends.  They also visit area high schools and have lunch with the will-be-participants.

 

Valley Health Care Center

 

Valley Health Care is one of the largest assisted living facilities in the area.  Bonners have a number of options for work there, and VHC relies heavily on our student volunteers to offer more personal attention to its residents.  Bonners organize recreational and other types of group activities, assist with meals, deliver and read mail to residents, and build one-on-one relationships with residents who lack a core group of close relatives and/or regular visitors. 

 

Ecumenical Faith in Action

 

EFIA provides a number of services to hundreds of families throughout the area.  A large food bank, fuel assistance, home repairs, and a number of medical assistance programs are all based through the Abingdon center.  Bonners serve this facility in a number of capacities.  Many volunteer with the weekly operations of the food bank, which provides food to nearly 400 families a month.  Others provide transportation for elderly citizens to doctor’s offices or for trips to the pharmacy.  Still others spend time with shut-ins of the community providing in home services in order to allow family members to go out for a while.

 

Busy Little Bees Daycare Center

 

BLB provides daycare to families in the Emory community.  Every weekday, Bonner students along with a few employees of the daycare provide a nurturing environment for the children at the daycare.  Bonner Scholars remain to be key to the operation of the under

 

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County

 

During the school year and the summer, a handful of Bonners spend a great amount of time with their little brothers or sisters.  Most of the volunteers spend their time tutoring and mentoring.  The Bonners who work at this site, speak very highly of the impact this work has on them, and the opportunities it gives them to develop relationships with youth in need of a friend outside of their home.

 

Other Partnerships

 

It should be noted that two of our strongest community partnerships are with Big Creek People in Action in Caretta, WV, and Meadowview First in Meadowview, VA.  These sites provide a range of opportunities for our students from occasional volunteer to project leadership and practicum experiences.  Both agencies are committed to policy change and social justice and serve as two of our most dependable and educational partners

 

 

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Campus-Wide Culture and Infrastructure 

Academic Links

 

Following is a list of service courses with which the Appalachian Center has worked directly and/or for which the Center has offered logistical support during the 2008—2009 academic year.

 

 

Service-Learning Courses by Academic Division

 

 

Education Division:

1.      EDUC 305/EDUC 505 – Human Growth and Development (Ron Diss)

2.      PHED 222-01 – Recreation, Health, and Physical Education (Rebecca Buchanan)

3.      PHED 222-02 – Recreation, Health and Physical Education (Rebecca Buchanan)

4.      PHED 232 – School and Community Health (Joy Scruggs)

5.      PHED 236 – Advanced Physical Fitness/Conditioning (Leigh Ann Adams)

6.      EDUC 116—Tutoring (Carolyn Wilson; Ron Diss)

7.      PHED 211-01 Foundations of Health, Safety, PE (Beverly Hatch)

8.      PHED 370—Nutrition (Leigh Ann Adams)

 

Humanities Division:

1.      SPAN 203 – Spanish Conversation (Beatriz Macione)

2.      SPAN 351—Advanced Grammar and Composition (Beatriz Macione)

3.      RELG 342—Ministry with Youth (Joe Reiff)

4.      RELG 343 – Church and Community Ministries (Joe Reiff)

 

 

 

 

Social Science Division:

1.      ACCT 310 – Income Taxation (Cindy Fields)

2.      ACCT 451 – Continuing Issues in Accounting (Cindy Fields)

3.      GLST 450 – Guatemala Past and Present (Marilyn Walker)

4.      HIST 316/HIST 516/GEOG 316 – History and Geography of VA and TN (Jack Roper and John Morgan)

5.      PPCS 100—Introduction to Public Policy and Community Service (Tal Stanley)

6.      PPCS 200 – Community Organizing (Peter Redvers-Lee)

7.      PPCS 225 – Applied Civic Methodologies (Tal Stanley)

8.      PPCS 300 – Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality (Julie Wilson)

9.      PPCS 345—Sustainable Community Development (Peter Redvers-Lee)

10.  PPCS 400—Senior Practicum (Tal Stanley)

11.  PPCS 450 – Senior Seminar (Tal Stanley)

12.  MCOM 101—Mass Media and Society (Tracy Lauder)

13.  MCOM 350 – Public Relations (Tracy Lauder)

14.  MCOM 390—Persuasive Communication (Tracy Lauder)

15.  MGMT 450—Seminar in Small Business Management (Scott Ambrose)

16.  POLS 103—Politics of the United States (Megan Pratt)

17.  STATS 162—Introduction to Statistics for the Social Sciences (Peter Redvers-Lee)

 

 

Natural Science Division:

1.      BIOL 310 – Exercise Physiology and Human Anatomy (DC Cobler)

2.      BIOL 411—Ecology (Chris Yarnes)

3.      BIOL 425—General Physiology (Christy Fleet)

4.      ENVS 100—Intro to Environmental Studies (Ed Davis and Laura Hainsworth)

 

 

Visual and Performing Arts Division:

1.      MUSP 238 – Trumpet Ensemble (Matt Frederick)

2.      THRE 102—1B—Practicum (Richard Wolf-Spencer)

 

 

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Serve 2.0 

 

Serve 2.0 has had steady progress at Emory & Henry. During the past year, the Appalachian Center for Community Service have created a wiki containing a community partners directory as well as a facebook page for our students. The Bonner Scholars also logged onto the Bonner Scholars ANGEL page for the first time this year. The ANGEL page was used to announce meetings as well as to make available handbooks, calendars, and documents online to conserve paper. 

 

Our summer student staff have also created a second Bonner Video for the Bonner Video Project. This video features the Appalachian Center for Community Service.

 

We are in the process of improving the Appalachian Center's facebook page. While we have had a facebook page for almost a year, we are finding new ways to make it more attractive and easier to be found by facebook users. Our hope is to allow visitors to explore who we are, and the places we serve as well as to be able to recruit students to our work through social media who we were not able to recruit through conventional organizing.

 

Our website has links to our programs and staff. We have found it difficult to keep the website managed and current. Anything that we wish to be changed or displayed on the website must go through the college's PR department. We look for new ways to use social networking, as well as wiki-based, and other media to convey information about the work of the Appalachian Center. 

 

 

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Campus Issue Profiles

 

Community & Economic Development:

http://bonnernetwork.pbworks.com/Community+and+Economic+Development+-+Emory+and+Henry+College