Background & Purpose | Benchmarks | Examples of Excellence and Innovation | Campus Examples & Resources
Background and Purpose:
“All endings are just beginning, we just don’t know it at the time.”
- Mitch Albom
"Students will not have the support and tutelage of those in the closely knit BSP when they go out into the real world. We need to help them explore practical solutions for keeping in touch with other Bonners, meeting others who share similar values, accessing support resources, and learning how to draw upon themselves for inspiration. We should also help them identify assessment, enrichment, and training resources to facilitate this type of reflection in other formal venues so they may identify which career fields fit their educational experience, skills, interests, and work preferences and finally lead them to the Bonner Alumni Network and where they can receive mentoring during and after the undergraduate experience.”
According to the Bonner Foundation, the Capstone experience can be defined as:
“both a process and an event
that asks each Bonner to reflect on his/her experience
and to articulate the communal and personal transformation
brought about through his/her time and work as a Bonner Scholar
while anticipating his/her place in the world.”
Benchmarks:
An effective Senior Presentation of Learning will include the following minimal level of performance and/or implementation.
For the process
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Use of 1-on-1 meetings and group meetings to guide Bonners in their processing of practical experiences, Bonner Fundamentals (such as the common commitments and 5 E’s), and their personal enrichment.
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Written guidelines are established for the capstone project/presentation.
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Students are challenged meaningfully synthesize their experiences on a broader scale (for example: meaningfully integrating vocation and civic engagement).
For the event
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A celebration or other ritual event that includes a public presentation by the senior Bonners.
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Students are encouraged to invite parents, mentors, site supervisors and other appropriate guests as identified by the Bonner Coordinator/Director to hear their presentation.
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Senior Bonners are given some form of tangible recognition for their contributions to the Bonner Scholars program (plaque, certificate, medallion or cords to wear at commencement).
Examples of Excellence and Innovation:
Bonners are given written guidelines for their capstone project/presentation at the beginning of their senior year.
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It is important to provide Bonners with clear expectations about the work they are to do in conjunction with their senior project/presentation. Guidelines should: outline the nature of the capstone project (are they expected to do a presentation or to complete a project or a combination thereof), provide a suggested timeline, articulate the length of presentation (for example, 15 minutes), expectations for quality, and provide instruction regarding invitation of guests. Other guidelines may be added based on the unique nature of the host institution.
Capstone presentations are evaluated to emphasize the importance of the synthesis and reflection process.
Senior Capstone experiences challenge students to utilize both oral and written communication skills.
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Berry College has developed a Senior Capstone Presentation. Prior to exiting the program, seniors are asked to reflect on their Bonner experience and assess the impact it has had on their lives. Students are given focus questions to assist them in their thinking. These questions encourage them to consider how their time as a Bonner has: influenced their education, been instrumental in their personal growth/development, and equipped them for life after graduation. Their reflections are to be integrated in a 3-5 page, typed paper and a 5 minute presentation to the Bonners.
Campus Examples and Resources:
Mars Hill College holds a Senior Capstone program two nights before commencement. Students are allowed to invite family and a community partner to be their guests. The students then give presentations about their Bonner experience (where their placements have been, their most meaningful experience, how they have grown, and where they see themselves going next). In addition to their presentations, students are also asked to present a visual display (tri-fold boards, power points, memorabilia from their placements, etc.).
Berry College has developed a Senior Capstone Presentation. Prior to exiting the program, seniors are asked to reflect on their Bonner experience and assess the impact it has had on their lives. Students are given focus questions to assist them in their thinking. These questions encourage them to consider how their time as a Bonner has: influenced their education, been instrumental in their personal growth/development, and equipped them for life after graduation. Their reflections are to be integrated in a 3-5 page, typed paper and a 5 minute presentation to the Bonners.
Union College asks their Bonners to give a presentation of no more than 15 minutes to their fellow Bonners. Seniors are given a set of guidelines including the presentation date, a series of seven questions for reflection (including a question focusing on how their understanding of local, regional and national issues has increased), and a list of suggestions for capstone projects (write a song or poem or speech or essay, paint a picture, make a video, etc.). The seniors are encouraged to invite guests to their presentation and the Bonner staff arranges for advisory committee members, placement supervisors, and the President to attend as they are able.
Davidson University has developed the “Not Quite a Box Project.” This activity reminds students that before they can “think outside the box,” they must start a box. The “Not Quite a Box Project” is described as a way for students to pay attention to all the world has to offer, to focus on what matters to them, and an opportunity for students to share the things that matter with others. Bonners begin the Box Project with a box or a file folder and gradually fill it with items that are collected over the course of their college career that inform and/or inspire their sense of place in community. Some items that might find their way into a box are: poems, thank you notes, pictures, newspaper clippings, artwork from a child with whom the student has developed a relationship, Resource Link to Davidson’s “Not Quite a Box Project.”
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