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)
This was Hamilton's first year for having Bonners begin in the freshman year. We had a stellar and robust group of applications and began 7 students for 2008-09, with the intention at the beginning of the year to recruit 10 Bonners the next year, bringing Hamilton's number of Bonners to 20 by 2009-10. One student transferred from Hamilton after her first semester, leaving us with 6 first year Bonners and 5 Bonners completing their second year either as juniors or seniors.
We began with a several week orientation to the community designed around a workbook "Fall in Love with Your Community." The Orientation was led by an AmeriCorps VISTA, and several upper-class Bonners participated. First years chose to work at 4 of the seven sites and then chose the one they would most like to work in. Selections were made in late October. The six first years usually met separately as their needs seemed to be different than the older Bonners, who had their own group meetings, and all met together at least once each month for an all-Bonner meeting/training. First year Bonners made a trip to Puerto Rico, having arranged to volunteer at a school, a Veteran's hospital, and the Red Cross there. Once again we were planning for a second year exchange with Siena College and Johnson State College, but we were never able to find a time that worked. The first year Bonners were all in after-school programs for youth, and that gave a consistency to the issues they were addressing in their sites, though with age groups that varied from elementary through high school. All Bonner trainings included a "Bridges out of Poverty" training given by two community partners, which they all found valuable.
Bonners were also trained in thinking through the policy issues behind public school education and after school programs in particular. We began this approach, which will be deepened next year, to encourage an emphasis on policy education and to have the Bonners be better informed as to how policy influences practice at their sites. They gathered data for the "local" impact portion of the policy options wiki and participated in discussions about funding and planning for the future and began thinking about the needs of their agencies and why they function as they do. From beginning with an awareness and often criticisms of the way their agencies function, they began to do more critical analysis of the missing pieces, needs, and what could truly improve services where they work.
Two Bonner Leaders worked on the Serve 2.0 Initiative throughout the spring semester and acted as consultants for us to revamp our web pages and make them more attractive and accessible to students and faculty. Their work is continued this summer by an intern who is not a Bonner Leader. The two Bonners chose not to begin with a campus-wide wiki, which we had thought we would begin with, as they thought the website was going to be more important.
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)
The Bonner Leaders Director and VISTA met over the summer and early fall with community partners and spent time with new partners developing the site, possible internship activities, and plan for Orientation. Follow-up meetings with community sites were done solely on an individual basis this year, as it became too sporadic trying to gather them together.
We did institute a program this year that included community partners in our training schedule for the Bonner Leaders. Several of our community partners were brand new to us and we to them, as we determined to place the Bonners in sites relevant to a new AmeriCorps VISTA project for us -- The West Side Project. Kernan Elementary School was a new site, working with the West Side Coaltion to create "Family and School Connections." This included our Bonner in the after-school program, service-learning courses that brought student volunteers to the school throughout the spring semester, a working group that met at the end of the year on campus (school librarian, three faculty involved, one student, the AmeriCorps VISTA, and the Bonner Leader Director), and the VISTA's participation in the monthly Coalition meetings. Their Family and School Connections initiative will include Donovan Middle School, where we have three Bonners. It expands to include more generally the YWCA Y-Girls program, the Underground Cafe, and Thea Bowman, also Bonner sites for after-school care. These are sites where we've had Bonners now for the past 3 years.
A new Bonner is hired for fall to continue from her summer internship under the Policy Options initiative with the Bonner Foundation. Isabelle Van Hook generated an idea from her involvement with Refugee Resettlement issues to bring peer involvement to the younger adults learning English. We've now written a grant proposal to the NY/PA Campus Compact Consortium based on Isabelle's idea. She will be placed in a site with the Utica City School District, following our conversations with the community partners serving this population, especially with 18-20 year-olds for whom little funding is available to provide services when they come as immigrants or refugees. Isabelle will participate in generating a group independent study which will study this issue, create social events with their non-English speaking peers, and meet regularly with Judith Owens-Manley, who will oversee the independent study and arrange for guest speakers. Students will also be required to meet with non-native English language speakers on campus at the ESOL-sponsored "Conversation Tables." A second new Bonner placement will be filled by a returning Bonner who is changing sites. She will work with the International Red Cross on refugee and immigrant issues, locating family members, dealing with notifying families of mass grave sites when they are identified, and facilitating communication with family members abroad.
We developed a wiki for ESOL Exchange, a site for instructors of ESOL at the Refugee Center and BOCES Adult Education Centers. This is not widely used yet, but it will continue to be developed and has also engaged our ESOL Instructor on-campus, Barbara Britt-Hysell. We have committed ourselves to produce an annual workshop for those community ESOL teachers and our own students who take a teacher training course for ESOL with Britt-Hysell each spring.
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 campus structure changed significantly this year with the creation of a new office for the campus, Community Outreach and Opportunity Program (COOP) under the Dean of Students Office. The Office then decided not to participate in the Bonner Program, which had been co-led with the Levitt Center. This has altered all of our plans, which had been firmly in place to recruit Bonner Leaders through Admissions each year. The future of our Bonner Leader program is now in question, as a new proposal needs to be drawn up through the Levitt Center, which will require a stronger academic connection. We had hoped that the partnership between the academic and student development sides of campus would be strengthened through the Bonner program and communication improved. The COOP has now instead developed their own community internship program with Admissions and Financial Aid instead of participating with the Bonner Foundation. That will begin in the fall of 2009. The Levitt Center could choose to keep developing a smaller Bonner Leaders Program focusing more on the policy connections and the implementation of policy in local agencies. That will be the proposal to be funded as we go forward. We are studying the idea of having Bonner Leaders in three key issue areas, which would be overseen each by a faculty member as an expert in that area. Bonner Leaders would then be mentored by the faculty member in each area regarding policy issues and other relevant areas of study.
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)
Wikis: Please add a bullet describing how you are using wikis (e.g., for planning, project management, profiles, etc.) on campus and for this initiative. Please link the wikis your campus has created.
- Wiki to engage ESOL Instructors and students in teacher training course for ESOL to provide lesson plans, activities, and a place to share experiences and techniques. Linked with ESOL program on campus to include ESOL Instructor as resource.
- Wiki just begun for Civic Engagement in Public School Education -- Information gathered to begin and site just started.
Website: Please add a bullet describing how you are using your campus/center's website (e.g., for planning, project management, profiles, etc.) on campus and for this initiative. Please link the relevant webpages your campus has created.
Videos: Please add a bullet describing any videos you have created or are working on. Please embed a link to any completed videos.
YouTube: Please add a bullet describing how you are using YouTube (e.g., posting videos created, playlists you have) and if you have a user account/channel. Please link to your YouTube account/channel (and playlists if relevant).
Facebook: Please add a bullet describing how you are using Facebook (e.g., publicizing events, posting media, ads, etc. Please note how to find your Facebook Group or Fan Page.
- Just begun with pages and groups for each service-learning project -- project SHINE, Youth Development Project and VITA (Voluntary Income Tax Assistance. Full-time intern for next 5 weeks is adding to these.
Ning (Bonner Network Forum): Please add a bullet describing how you are using Ning (the Bonner Network Forum groups or your own site) for discussions, RSS feeds, blogs, etc. Please link to your campus's group/main page on Ning.
Blogs: Please add a bullet describing how you are using Blogs for discussions, reflection, etc. Please link to any blog you have.
Other Media: Please add bullets describing any other social media (e.g., Wiggio, Twitter, Volunteer Match, PolicyOptions Wiki) that your program/project is using. Please link to any relevant sites/pages.
Campus Issue Profiles
Add links to your completed or draft campus issue profiles here:
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