Background & Purpose | Benchmarks | Examples of Excellence and Innovation |

Campus Examples & Resources

Background and Purpose:

Benchmarks:

CRITICAL CONTENT GUIDELINES: Activities and/or workshops that address the following areas are critical to effective Freshmen Orientations.

• Orientation to the Bonner Program and Community (e.g., history, vision, mission, and identity on a local and national level)
• Introduction to Bonner Program Guidelines (e.g., Handbook, hour requirements, initial nuts and bolts)
• Team and Community Building (e.g., activities that provide new Bonners with an opportunity to meet each other, form relationships, celebrate involvement, have fun, etc.)
• Personal and Cultural Awareness (e.g., activities that provide Bonners with a chance to consider their own and others’ identity and issues of class, age, race, ethnicity, and gender that may be important to functioning as a healthy, diverse community)
• Orientation and introduction to the campus structure (e.g., where is the Bonner Program housed and what other entities does it relate to; how to work across campus)
• Orientation and introduction to the surrounding communities (e.g., activities like tours, service, or partner presentations that expose students to the communities where they will serve, their assets and needs, and ways to work effectively and sensitively with community agencies)
• An opportunity for personal reflection (e.g., time to think about commitment, goals, aspirations)
• If you can (time allowing), build in other relevant training and enrichment workshops into the Orientation. Regardless, make sure to teach communication techniques and tools that are useful for groups through modeling and using them throughout the Orientation (such as icebreakers, group buildings, getting the group’s attention, dialogue activities, etc.)

CRITICAL PROCESS GUIDELINES: These elements are critical to effective Freshman Orientation.

• Have an agenda.
• Involve upper-class students in planning and/or leading activities. Some campuses have upper-class students entirely responsible (with guidance as to content).
• Make sure that the Bonner staff and other relevant campus staff are introduced.
• Try to model effective practices that you will expect of Bonner students, such as starting and ending on time, avoiding situations where only one or a few people are doing all the talking, and modeling respect and active listening.

OPTIONAL CONTENT GUIDELINES: Activities and/or workshops that address the following areas are also important, but not essential, to effective Freshmen Orientations.

• Challenge courses or ropes courses can be used as team and community building activities, but they are only a few of many ways to build community.
• Service projects can be a great way to expose students to the community and to introduce reflection, but if this happens after Orientation it’s fine too. If service is incorporated, it should be well-planned and well-implemented, modeling effective community orientations, teamwork, and reflection.
• Many campuses like to introduce a Bonner symbol or item as a way to reinforce the program’s identity and unity, but some campuses actually do not allow the use of symbols or distinguishing features.
• Once Bonner WBRS is fully functional, providing training in WBRS (using computers) could become an essential part of Orientation, but at this point it can also happen in the first few weeks.
• Including parents for part of the Orientation is a standard practice for many campuses. Providing parents with an Orientation and better sense of the program’s vision, structure, and requirements can assist in the college transition as well as supporting students to take advantage of the many opportunities that are available through the Bonner Program.

CRITICAL CONTENT THAT SHOULD BE COVERED IN THE FIRST MONTH (But may be too early at orientation):

• Training in how to complete a Community Learning Agreement may be better accomplished through small group meetings or one-to-one, after some exposure to the agency and placement opportunities.
• Training in completing timesheets and other paperwork can really weigh down an Orientation and may be better covered in follow-up meetings.
• Training in Bonner WBRS may also be better at follow-up meetings where computer access is available.

LENGTH:

• While we do not set a minimum benchmark for Freshmen Orientation, most campuses’ Orientations last 1-2 days. The Orientation should be long enough to cover key content. A few are as long as five days.

TIMING:

• The Bonner Foundation does expect Bonner Scholar Programs to hold Freshmen Orientation prior to the start of the school year, in order to ensure that freshmen make a good transition into the college environment.

OFF-SITE VS. ON-SITE:

• There is no benchmark for the Orientation being held off-site (e.g., with an overnight or retreat), but it should be noted that including an off-site activity like a service project or overnight excursion could be helpful to community building, as well as defining the program identity and behavioral expectations for students. Since first year students will participate in the trip during the second part of the year, this also provides staff with an opportunity to acclimate students to these kinds of off-site experiences.

Examples of Excellence and Innovation:

• Campuses in the Bonner Program tend to have different ways of implementing co-curricular activities during the first semester. For example, some campuses have a 1-day Orientation prior to the start of the school year that is followed by seven weeks of structured class meetings, while another may have a 5-day Orientation followed a month later by an All Bonner Retreat. It may help to think about the types of training, enrichment, and guidance provided as a whole during the first semester and break that down into the best formats to provide it.

• Going along with the above point, think about how to connect specific activities offered during Orientation with follow-up activities. For example, Davidson College has freshmen write a letter to themselves that they save until junior year and revisit to prepare for the senior presentation of learning. As another example, if you introduce students to the general notion of goal-setting, you might later introduce the Community Learning Agreement specifically during a class meeting and pick up on the topic.

• Contact the Bonner Program at Pfeiffer (Tracy Espy) for information about their Millennial Research program and its cultural awareness workshops. There are also several diversity workshops in the COOL Civic Engagement Curriculum; Identity Circles may be very appropriate for Freshmen Orientation. Or, try involving people through the Multicultural Affairs, women’s studies, ethnic studies or other relevant departments.

• It’s important that you consider such dimensions as the right amount of work to do, choosing an agency partner who can provide a great orientation to the community and issue area, and staffing the project to model effective delegation, preparation, work, clean up, and reflection. You may want to talk to campuses who have integrated service into their Orientations. Carson-Newman College (Doug Renalds) can be a resource.

Campus Examples and Resources:

• Berea Bonner Scholar Program Orientation Agenda (PDF)
• Guilford College Bonner Volunteer Retreat Agenda (PDF)
• Pfeiffer Bonner Leader Program Orientation Agenda (PDF)
• Rhodes College First Year Orientation Agenda (PDF)
• Rhodes College Bonner Retreat Agenda (PDF)
• TCNJ Bonner Orientation Agenda (other materials can be found under Student Development & Leadership)
• Waynesburg Freshmen Bonner Orientation Agenda (PDF)

• Mars Hill College: call to get an example of their extensive Bonner Freshman Retreat Booklet.
• Morehouse College
• Pfeiffer University
• Spelman College
• Warren Wilson College