2009 ANNUAL REPORT OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

Please add narrative text that responds to the questions in the four categories below.

Implementation of Student Development

Our meeting structure remains much the same.  Each class has continued to explore their assigned issue areas.  Freshman still meet weekly and upper classmen monthly to reflect about their individual service and discuss their commonly assigned issue.  While there is significant staff supervision for the first-year meetings, we have found that upperclassmen do well on their own with little need for staff intervention.    We are particularly proud of the growing professionalism and depth of the presentations and reflections at our monthly meetings.  Every month one of the classes is in charge of providing the reflection or educational piece for the All Bonner Meeting.  In the past, the classes mostly depended on inviting guest speakers on a particular topic or agency.  As the classes mature and become more involved and engaged with their assigned topics, we have seen more student generated presentations on issues and policies.  The computer, projector, power point, and youtube have become the norm in our monthly All Bonner Meetings.

Training is still a collaborative effort across campus.  We are lucky to have so many quality programming outside of the class room.  Highlights this year have been programming around vocation and professionalism by our Center for Calling and Career, our annual February Meetings featuring the Rev. Otis Moss III, and conferences surrounding diversity and the community by our Center for Strong Communities.  Next year we look forward to even more specific non-profit training from the Center for Strong Communities as Billy Newton launches our mini school for non-profits which will involve both community members and our students. 

Our first year trip was a great success this year.  This year’s first year class was assigned the topic of immigration.  Originally, we were hoping to take the first year trip to Mexico, however the economy, political violence on the border, and the swine flu all combined to force us to cancel the trip. After much searching and prayer, we were finally put in touch with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who run a community center and after school program for the immigrant community in Athens, GA.   A full account of our first year trip is now on the front page of the MC website: MC’s annual Bonner service trip focuses on immigration. 

Serve 2.0 is in process at Maryville College.  Students have slowly started to enjoy the video making process and the idea is gaining momentum.  There has been some serious talk about “commercials” for our various non-profit partners as a recruiting tool for our larger student body.  We had a great video commercial for our first “faculty/staff volunteer day” in which the Bonners invited faculty and staff to volunteer with them on specific projects.  Also, we had a “Day of Hope” video reflection the day of the 2008 elections.   Both of these videos were completed by Joey Courtney, a Junior Bonner Scholar.  While that is gaining momentum, we still have to prove to the students the benefits of a wiki.  No student has jumped up and taken the lead on this project and much of the work has been done by Preston Fields, the Bonner Coordinator.  He hopes that if he can set up the basic page structure, students will start utilizing the wiki more in the fall.

Implementation of Community Partnerships

Our community partnerships are still strong.  Although many non-profits in the area have been struggling under the weight of increased need in the community and lower giving rates from donors, we are excited that our Bonners have stepped up.  This year we had a community partnership gathering hosted by the Center for Campus Ministry, The Center for Strong Communities, and the Center for Calling and Career.  This was an excellent way to more clearly define how these three centers work as a team with students and to be a resource to fill their needs.  We also had time to talk about how we could best help them reach their program goals.  Periodically, the three directors of these programs have had private meetings with community partners who are new to the area. 

In addition, the creation of our own MCvoluntters wiki, although still being completed, has already introduced many of our partners to the wider campus community. We are excited about the prospects.  Soon our volunteer evaluations, which are sent out at the end of every semester, will be entirely digital to promote a higher feed back from our community partner surveys.   

Campus-Wide Culture and Infrastructure 

The Bonner program at Maryville continues to be a key player in campus-wide structures for service and community engagement.  Through the Center for Strong Communities, the Bonner scholar Program, and Volunteer services office of the Center for Campus Ministry, we help create a structure that strengthens outreach in every part of campus.

The Center for Strong Communities excelled in providing connections especially among the non-profit agencies of Maryville and BlountCounty.  From various workshops for leaders on non-profits, to monthly meetings for managers to discuss various challenges, the CSC provided a steadiness and even expansion of support during a year when many agencies were having to cut back because of budget woes.  As the recipient of a Bonner enrichment grant, the CSC facilitated community based research internships, where faculty and students partnered to make a difference in the community.  IN addition to Community Based Research programs, the CSC added a project called PolicyOptions that matches students and faculty with social needs and regional issues.  For next year, new research questions are currently being identified by community organizations, and our students and faculty continue with ongoing research on water quality, matching service dogs with autistic children, how students of color experience predominately white colleges, child welfare and advocacy, violence against women, refugee assistance programs, and access to adult ESL instruction.  The CSC became a recognizable arm of the college in the community, co-sponsoring such events as the Women’s Economic Summit, Earth Roundup activities, and other public events.

What the CSC did off campus, the Bonner Scholar program and Office of Volunteer Services did on campus.  Bonner Coordinator and Director of Volunteer Services Director of Volunteer services Preston Fields worked on numerous committees on campus, including a working group for the quality of services for male students, serving as advisor for the student diversity council, and publishing a book which offers brilliant stories and reflections on the intersection of religious life and life in the world (Hiking for Jesus ISBN 978-1-4196-7236-1  You should order it now from Amazon.com).  He improved access to volunteer service opportunities, through use of the CCM Wiki, making service opportunities and needs much more accessible to the student body, and we instituted staff volunteer service days, whereby staff members are granted two half days off each year to do common service projects.  Staff service days this year were in the fall and spring, and the challenge of getting the concept approved through staff council and the college cabinet brought a whole new level of recognition about service as a campus wide affair to the campus.

This was the year of new vice presidents, with the college welcoming a new VP for Enrollment, a new treasurer, and a new Dean of the College.  With each new VP, Anne, as Bonner Director and Campus Minister worked to make sure that they understood and appreciated the Bonner program and the service work that is at the heart of the Center for Campus Ministry.  In addition, Anne worked with the long-range planning committee to propose a strong set of strategic planning goals around the theme of faith, vocation and service.  This strategic planning process is scheduled to continue in the fall and it may change some, as President Gibson is planning to retire in 2010, but our efforts to articulate ambitious and attainable goals for service engagement on the campus hearten us as we look ahead.

Serve 2.0 

Apart from the videos already uploaded for the Bonner Video Contest and our facebook group, our other main focus has been a Bonner wiki.  After talking with the students about the wiki, it became clear that they had a larger view of what the wiki should accomplish.  We decided that it should not just unite the Bonner Scholars, but unite the whole campus around service.  The idea now in development is a wiki site with our community partner information and contacts and a different page for each service based club and scholarship.  In the fall, this will be an easy way to connect all of campus with up-to-date information on the club activities and meetings and also a place to post immediate volunteer needs in the community.  The address is www.mcvolunteers.pbwiki.com  .

Campus Issue Profiles

http://bonnernetwork.pbworks.com/Global+Issues+and+Diversity+-+Maryville+College