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Lynchburg College

Page history last edited by Elizabeth O'Hara 9 years, 6 months ago

 

Lynchburg College

 

                         

 

                                                                                                                                   

 


Latest Bonner Summer Highlights:

 

  • Lauren Lacourciere, a Bonner 9, completed an internship with the Harvest of hope project for the national Society of St. Andrews this past summer. While being involved in nearly all facets, Lauren focused on providing healthy meals and training for volunteers. For more information, please read a local news article describing one of the gleaning trips that Lauren helped to lead:http://dev.freelancestar.com/2014-07-27/articles/41574/column-northern-neck-harvest-will-feed-hungry-kids/ 
  • Recently, two Bonner Leaders completed summer internships with the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty at Washington and Lee (W&L) University.
    • Kelsey Hoffman, a Bonner 9 spending her summer in rural Arkansas, worked at the Family Center, which has two domestic shelters and a food bank. The experience convinced Kelsey that her double major in psychology and sociology is the right one to pursue. “Poverty is my passion,” she said.
    • Kelly Sawyer, a Bonner 9, spent her summer working at the Washington and Lee University Campus Kitchen in Rockbridge County, Virginia. She helped serve about 100 meals a day, and unlike many soup kitchens where clients come for help, Kelly also distributed the food.

KEY FACTS

Location: About 1 hour south of Charlottesville, VA

Enrollment: 2,500

Other interesting tidbits: Lynchburg College is the second oldest college in Virginia to be founded as coeducational. Additionally, the Lynchburg College Bonner Leaders Program founded the term F.O.B. (Friend of Bonner) and the official Bonner Beat publication.  

 

CAMPUS AT A GLANCE

 

Lynchburg College, a private coeducational institution founded in 1903 in covenant with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), offers distinctive undergraduate and graduate programs that reflect its commitment to teaching, scholarship, and service to the greater community.

 

The mission of Lynchburg College is to develop students to have strong character and balanced perspectives, to prepare them for intelligent and wholehearted participation in a global society and for effective leadership in the civic, professional, spiritual, and social dimensions of life.

 

Lynchburg College provides students with a wide range of rigorous educational experiences that are grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, enhanced by professional studies, and nurtured by a residential community. The College serves the region through its outreach programs, cultural opportunities, resources, services, and the expertise of faculty, staff, and students.


BONNER PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

Name of Campus-Wide Center: Center for Community Development and Social Justice

Relevant website: http://www.lynchburg.edu/ccdsj.xml

Type of Program: Bonner Leaders

Year Began: 2004

Bonner Program website: http://www.lynchburg.edu/bonner.xml

Number of Bonner Leaders: 30

 

Number in Bonner AmeriCorps Education Award Program:In 20114-2015, 25 Bonner Leaders will be working toward their 2-year 900 hour AmeriCorps awards. Four additional students will be returning for their 3rd year of the Bonner program (and will have completed their awards) to serve as Senior Interns.

Type of AmeriCorps Education Award: 2-year, 900-hour award

 

KEY CONTACTS

Lynchburg College President: Dr. Kenneth Garren

Bonner Director: Anne Gibbons, (434) 544-8158

Bonner Senior Intern(s):  Emily Bergman , Hailey Bossert, Lauren Lacourciere, Elizabeth O'Hara

Bonner Congress Representatives: 


Year at a Glance

          This past academic year, our Bonner students have worked diligently to continue to expand professionally in a multitude of ways. Throughout the Lynchburg College Bonner program, particularly through Orientation and Bonner meetings, one of the main goals is to equip our Bonner Leaders with leadership skills and training they can take with them to help their non-profits grow and expand. We brought in Communication professors to talk about how one effectively brands themselves and their organizations and created opportunities for connecting transferable job skill-sets. These skills can also help students develop as leaders and be utilized not just during their time as Bonner Leaders, but also in professional careers to help students excel in their vocation after college.

            At LC, we model our students’ growth from the Bonner Developmental Model with the intention of growing students into more active, capable, and influential citizens, as well as building capacity for our community partners. We start this at our week-long orientation which includes everything from the Bonner History to reflection on how to embrace where one starts on the developmental model and provides tools for getting to the next level. Our first year students typically fall into the first two categories of the developmental model, “exploration” and “experience” – we emphasize the first semester as an opportunity to explore the Lynchburg community and its opportunities for service with various organizations. By having students exposed to various types of organizations and service, they are better able to discover a site and service that best matches up with their interests, skills, and passions. The second semester is aimed towards gaining experience within their main service site, delving deeper into the organization/service and beginning to identify and understand the intricacies of the challenges they are facing with their site, whether hunger, education, or environmental concerns.

          For our second and third year students, we expect them to begin to move into the “example” and “expert” categories. For our community partners, these two stages are all about higher-level capacity building. Our “example” and “expert” Bonners are recruiting more volunteers, heading up new initiatives within non-profits, taking on intern roles, and spreading awareness of the community issues they experience at their sites through presentations and casual conversation. It is exciting this year to see a lot of our first year Bonners being leaders in our community and rapidly ascending the Developmental Model. We have first year Bonners serving as interns with a domestic violence halfway home and with sustainable environmental projects. This shows the fluidity of the model and how it looks different for every individual.

 

Campus-wide Development

It is no secret that students at Lynchburg College get involved. Featured in Loren Pope’s Colleges that Change Lives as one of 40 colleges that change the lives of the students who attend, Lynchburg College has a rich tradition in volunteerism and engagement in community. It was noted that students feel as if you should get involved. The initiative to get involved is at the core of the student body. An open mind, tolerance, and diversity are key aspects of why Lynchburg College is also featured in the Princeton Review as one of the best colleges in the United States.

The college has made it a concrete point to establish ongoing community relationships and ongoing community service opportunities. In fact, we are working to collaborate efforts within our campus-wide Office of Community Involvement (OCI) and the Bonner Leaders program to further the community relationships. The campus works with not-for-profits in the fields of youth development, animal care, elderly population, tutoring, office work, environmental care, hunger, housing, homelessness, intellectually disabled population, sexual assault and domestic violence preventions, and hospital volunteer programs.

 

Our students have continued to develop their on-campus roles from running Special Olympics for the entire campus to engaging Hunger and Homelessness week is also another aspect of campus-wide and community involvement. The week includes different speakers and activities. Raising awareness, raising support, and exposing the campus to the reality that some members of the Lynchburg community face, such as homelessness are duties fulfilled throughout the week. We hosted our first Poverty Conference that week as a 3rd Year Bonner Senior led the charge with this. Students continue to lead by example and connect their service to their academics.

One of the multiple roles of faculty and staff is to inspire and play a pivotal role to the ideology of the college regarding engaging with the community. In class syllabi, the five core college goals potentially allude to the engagement. The five goals are Inquire, Explore, Conclude, Persuade, and Engage. From the beginning of their time at Lynchburg College, every student is presented these goals and motives to becoming an active citizen, not only in the classroom, but also in the community. Some courses and faculty engagement take the practice to a further level.

For example, assistant professor of nursing, Yvette Otey, focuses on social justice in her class. Discussions that take place include ethical topics regarding the nursing field. Another professor of nursing, Dr. Overstreet, has her graduate students discuss topics such as inequalities in health care delivery and barriers to access within healthcare. Other students in an entry level nursing class look at health policy, political activism, ethics, and social justice from the lens of the nursing profession.

 

As far as student collaboration this year, April 15-20, 2013 was dubbed “Human Trafficking Awareness Week: Break the chains.” The intention behind the week of awareness and action was to shine light on the estimated 27 million people trapped in modern-day slavery. The forms of modern day slavery include sex trafficking and forced labor. The week demonstrated a campus wide involvement represented by several faculty, staff, and students from various disciplines. The team organized to fulfill the weeks’ tasks included Dr. Todd Olsen, representing the health and physical education department, Anne Gibbons who is the assistant Chaplin, Chris Gibbons as director of the SERVE office, and Graduate assistants Lauren Hammond and Jorge Santos. Furthermore, the community also had representatives; one local pastor and a few other local members were also involved.

 

Dr. Todd Olsen, associate professor of health promotion and physical education, conducts a yearly trip to the Gulu region in Northern Uganda. Dr. Olsen engages with Sports Outreach Institute; headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia in order to facilitate the trip, and many students take advantage of this opportunity. The trip offers humanitarian assistance, disease prevention, community building, and health promotions. Over 100 Ugandans have received Lynchburg College certificates in health and wellness training. The training specifically addresses the challenges of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, nutrition, child and maternal health, mental health and safe water. One of the most prominent ways this impactful trip and service engagement is noted on campus, is through the Ugandan service-learning projects.

 

Lynchburg College sponsors annual Gifts for Gulu Sports Festival. The festival includes a 5k run to raise money and supplies for the Ugandan projects. There is also the Water for Life fundraiser which raises funds to build well in villages in Gulu. This was especially near and dear as Bonners went this past May. One Bonner, Michelle Pfluger,  went  to administer knowledge as a nurse and former Bonner to serve the community of Uganda. This is one of the reasons she attended Lynchburg College: http://www.lynchburg.edu/content/journey-uganda#.UcC335zKWSo

 

Best Practices

  • ·Students raising awareness for the Presidential Debate (not counted as AmeriCorps)
  • ·Taylor Thompson presenting his ideas relating to poverty and homelessnes in Lynchburg, VA at the Senior Symposium lecture series here on campus

In the 2012 Congress Big Idea, students developed a strategy they wanted to share not only with Bonners but campus-wide. For the 2012 Bonner Congress, rising juniors and seniors from Lynchburg College presented a successful workshop to help students turn their passions into action. This presentation, titled “Advocacy into Action: 5 Simple Steps,” served as a foundation for the Lynchburg College Bonner Leaders’ Big Idea: to share these steps to our Bonner Leaders and students on campus. During Lynchburg College’s Anderson Leadership Conference, the Congress Representatives led another workshop open to the entire campus.

The following is a summary of the presentation:

ØDo your homework: “If you are going to advocate for something, know the population/ issue you are advocating for”

ØMake an Action Plan: Use the S.M.A.R.T Goals (Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Realistic. Timely.)

ØEstablish Relationships: “Establishing relationships can help you find venues, funds, speakers, and much more”

ØGet Funding: While money is not everything, it helps to have funds for food, speakers, venues, etc.

ØRoll Out the Red Carpet: Watch your hard work pay off, do not be afraid of failure, and learn from your mistakes

(Here is the link to our Prezi presentation: http://prezi.com/kck1own48awy/congress-workshop/)

Bonner Beat- See PDF attachment

 

 

 

 

 

 


INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITY PARTNER RELATIONSHIPS, Q&A WITH FOUR BONNERS:

Ø April Love (Bonner 10), Special Olympics

          How long have you served at this site/worked with this issue? What is your role?  

I have volunteered with Special Olympics for two years. My role is usually as a buddy for an athlete, or working in the Olympic Village, as well as going to events throughout the year to promote and raise awareness about Special Olympics.

          How have you delved deeper? (Ex: conferences, presenting, initiatives)

During this past Special Olympics, I got the opportunity to work as the volunteer coordinator for the event. I managed and organized all volunteers for organizations, classes, and sports teams. That role was really exciting for me because I was able to learn a lot about the organization and how the Special Olympics organization works.

          What is your legacy at the site/with the issue?

The relationships made with the athletes are so fun and getting to know them has been very inspiring. I hope that I leave the athletes and participants with as much joy as they leave me with.

Ø Daniel Gordy (Bonner 10), Interfaith Outreach Rebuilds

          How long have you served at this site/worked with this issue? What is your role?

I have now served at Interfaith Outreach/ Rebuilding Together for a little over a year. At Interfaith Outreach I help do a variety of services on numerous homes in our community, but I also act as the form of communication between Interfaith and the Bonner program.  This ranges from laying shingles or floors, to help orchestrating the next group of Bonners to serve at Interfaith.

          How have you delved deeper? (E.g. conferences, presenting, initiatives)

My responsibilities at Interfaith have definitely expanded from simply working on the service sites to now being able to function independently with April. We are helping get other Boners involved with the organization, but during the week we hardly see the supervisors at Interfaith. Instead, we are trusted by the supervisors and simply receive an address and a task, and we are expected to be able to do it on our own.     

          What is your legacy at the site/with the issue?

I do a lot of work with poverty and home repair whether with Interfaith Outreach or Appalachian Service Project. I hope by devoting so much time to this issue, it leaves me with the legacy of being committed to my community and to bettering the living conditions of those around me. At Interfaith Outreach, I hope my legacy is one of an individual who is hard working and able to do many tasks, while also being a leader to help combat the issue of poverty.

 

Ø James Coleman (Bonner 10), Lynchburg Beacon of Hope

          How long have you served at this site/worked with this issue? What is your role?

I have served there for a little over a year now. While serving at this site the core issue that I advocate for is youth education. This service site is located at Heritage High School so my target audience is high school students. My role at this site is Youth Mentoring Coordinator, and in that role I plan the events, topics, and I act as a hands on mentor with the students.

          How have you delved deeper? (E.g. conferences, presenting, initiatives)

Beacon of Hope has developed me in multiple ways, which has caused a transformation in my life. As a result of this site, I have become a stronger leader, a better active listener, and a better communicator. When dealing with youth you have to be engaging and interactive, which forces me to be on my "p's and q's.”

          What is your legacy at the site/with the issue?

My legacy at this site is that I am the first one to do it. I am the first person to create a mentoring g program within the years Beacon of Hope has been active. It is an overwhelming honor to know that I am making history at this site.

 

Ø Olivia Elwell (Bonner 10), Adult Care Center

          How long have you served at this site/worked with this issue? What is your role?

I have served at the Adult Care Center (ACC) for 3 semesters as well as serving there for my summer service. While I take part in many activities at the ACC, my main role has been to interact and engage with the participants. I have had the opportunity to assist the participants in activities one on one.  I also have led group activities, such as exercise and games with the participants.

          How have you delved deeper? (E.g. conferences, presenting, initiatives)

I have delved deeper into my service by becoming a summer intern at the ACC, during this time I had the opportunity to participate in grant research and writing to help with fundraising for the ACC. I have also explored the topic of gerontology in my classes I have written research papers and participated in projects for my classes inspired by my experiences at the ACC, from this I have gained a unique perspective on the issues within the aging population.

          What is your legacy at the site/with the issue?

I have gained so much from each and everyone of the participants and staff at the ACC , I always leave there with a smile on my face and I hope my legacy is that I was able to bring as much joy and happiness to their lives as they brought to mine.

 

 

INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITY PARTNER RELATIONSHIPS, Q&A WITH A SUPERVISOR:

Ø Shanda Rowe, Director, Adult Care Center

          How have Bonners impacted the growth and development of the ACC?

          Every member of the Adult Care Center staff values the Bonners who have spent time here with us. We very much appreciate several characteristics of all the Bonners we’ve had the           pleasure of working with. Bonners are reliable. If they are scheduled to be here at the Center and need to change their schedule, they always notify us in advance. Bonners are flexible.           If they arrive at the Center planning to conduct a specific activity and we need them to help do something else, they change their plans. Bonners are warm and relaxed. The senior           population we serve thrive on special attention paid to them by volunteers. Bonners are great at making our seniors feel wonderful. Bonners have good attitudes. No matter what we           ask them to do, they always seem happy to do it. And finally, Bonners are a joy to all of us. They arrive at our Center with smiles on their faces, eager to interact with our participants           and ready to pitch in and help. We love our Bonners!  


 

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