Annual Report – Programmatic Section

Please complete this template below to share programmatic highlights.  The entire report can be three pages or less.  Please share information and highlights, in a letter-like or reporting format, that addresses the following three categories and provides a synopsis of your Bonner Program this year.

Implementation of Student Development: 

How did you implement the developmental model this year within your co-curricular and service activities? (suggested one page text):

1. The role of trainings, courses, & meetings:  We have designed a four year model, with weekly leadership meetings for each class of Scholars.  The meetings  are designed around a  15-week semester, with five weeks on a knowledge goal, five weeks on a skills goal, and five weeks on a values goal. The themes for each semester are connected to the curriculum of our general education program, called Liberal Arts in Action, and the readings in these courses serve as reflection and dialogue prompts for the meetings.
2. First Year Trip: As stated above, we went for the second year to Atlanta in partnership with DOOR Atlanta. DOOR is a national organization that helps young people experience and understand the challenges of urban communities.
3. Second Year Exchange: We took our group to Lees-McRae and participated with their campus wide Relay for Life event to benefit the American Cancer Society. Our students worked with the Lees-McRae Bonner Leaders on fundraising activities. They also got to develop relationships and get to know these students, as it was an overnight event.
4. Third Year (and beyond) Leadership Roles: Our Junior year theme is on resource development, and this year the students worked on raising awareness and funds for a new non-profit that was formed by one of the Junior Bonners: Joseph Majak. Joseph, along with fellow Sudanese Lost Boys David Thon and Abraham Maker (also Bonners), worked with their network of Sudanese refugees to form SEDA, the Sudanese Empowerment Development Agency. Their goal is to build a training center in the southern Sudan to train and equip teachers and other community workers to help rebuild their wartorn communities.
5. Senior Capstone & Presentation of Learning: We held our annual Senior Bonner Banquet, which the senior class plans and organizes under the guidance of Gill Bosonetto (advisor to the Senior Bonners and director of Career Services). The students invite family members and community partners to the banquet, and they each present highlights from their Bonner experience. They also added something new this year with a video montage of their learning.

Implementation of Community Partnerships: 

Please share a summary of your work with community partners, touching in particular on the following categories (suggested one page text):

1. Orienting and managing community partnerships (orientation, site visits, meetings, strategic planning): We have an annual community partner fair/luncheon for our core community partners, to introduce new scholars to the opportunities. We also spend the first semester taking the first year students to a different site each week, giving the community partners an opportunity to showcase their work and to recruit. We were not able to do as much planning with partners this year, as our Field Coordinator resigned to take a position with Habitat for Humanity. We look forward to having Travis Proffit come on board later this summer as our new Field Coordinator, and one of his responsibilities will be to strengthen our partner development work.
2. Partners as co-educators and other unique initiatives (including new academic linkages): We have not done a lot with this aspect of our partnerships this year, again due to the absence of a Field Coordinator. In the coming year we hope to work on the connections between our partners' work and the curricular themes in our Liberal Arts in Action program. We also hope to re-form an advisory board of core community partners, which has been inactive for a number of years.
3. Integration of site-based or issue-oriented teams: This is a goal for the coming year. We have identified several of our key partners to work on this with.

Campus-wide Culture and Infrastructure: 

Please describe key elements and progress in 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, touching on the following (suggested one page text):

1. Key relationships and activities involving faculty and academic connections.  In particular, what work was done with relevant coursework, a minor, or other curricular integration: We worked with faculty on the Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues grant, which focused on building cultural competency around several diversity issues: race, sexuality, and religion. A dozen faculty members representing four of our five academic divisions participated in course enhancement work to infuse diversity issues into their courses, as well as skills of facilitationg dialogue.
2. Key relationships and activities involving other departments or divisions on campus (for example for recruitment, student wellness or retention, financial aid, and so on). We collaborated with Student Life, Campus Ministry, the Cafeteria, and community partners to implement Hunger Awareness Week in the fall. Hunger Awareness Week was planned and implemented by two of our sophomore Scholars. We also collaborated with Campus Ministry on an alternative break trip to East St. Louis.
3. Unique initiatives (such as events or strategic planning) that have enhanced institutionalization of service and civic engagement on campus. We participated in training activities for the first year seminar faculty and student assistants, focusing on diversity issues.