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: 

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

 

1)  Trainings, Courses, and Meetings

 

We began the year with with an Orientation Week for our Freshmen class.  Please see the front page of the Wiki for a description. 

 

Through our monthly Large Group meetings, we attempted to build community, to hear updates from different service sites, and to remind the Bonners of various program requirements.  As per an idea from the Leadership Team, during the Spring semester, we began to invite representatives from partner service sites to speak at our meetings.  These representatives are typically from sites that deal with issues that are not familiar to most of the students.  The purpose is to help the Bonners have a more comprehensive awareness of the differing social issues.

 

At the beginning of each semester, we held meetings for each of the individual classes.  The main purpose of the class meetings was to begin making plans for the class service project for the year. The projects took on many forms including day-long special events for community kids, programs to raise awareness of the plight of certain groups, and service-based retreats.  This past year we decided that starting in Fall 2008 each of the class projects will be based around the same theme taken from the Common Commitments, and they will focus on connecting the campus community to service.

 

In the Fall, we held our Service Learning class for the Freshmen Bonners.  The purpose of the class is to help initiate and transition the Freshmen into the Bonner program and to help them to understand the importance of their service and what motivates them to serve.  We discussed the nuts and bolts of the Bonner program and the reasons for the various requirements.  We discussed readings pertaining to service, and they wrote reflection papers on their experiences at different service sites and their philosophy of service.  They also did presentations about their first semester as Bonner Scholars.  Through this class, we also require them to experience a variety of service sites so that they can discover their options and determine where their gifts can best be used.

 

This past year we also required the Bonners to participate in both Service Reflection meetings and Campus-Wide Presentations.  Our Leadership Team led the Service Reflections, and we discussed such things as stress in service, becoming leaders at the service sites, and the progress of Hurricane Katrina relief.  All of the Bonners also read service and/or leadership related books, and we spent two Reflections digesting those books.  We even played Bonner Jeopardy to learn more about the Bonner program, the Bonner Foundation, and the network to which we belong.  Each semester, the Bonners were required to attend Campus-Wide Presentations, speakers who address specific social issues, so that they have a greater awareness of the world around them and the needs that exist.  They wrote a reflection paper on least one of the speakers describing what inspired them and the aspects with which they agreed or disagreed.

 

Please reference section II of the Annual Report, "Analysis and Self-Assessment Update", for a description of the roles of our Leadership Team and Site Coordinators meetings.

 

2)  The First Year Trip was held March 1-7.  For the fifth year in a row, we partnered with the Center for Student Missions in Philadelphia.  We served at a variety of sites including soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and a geriatric center.  One evening we walked the streets in order to provide a snack for the homeless and to distribute blankets, socks, and gloves.  Each afternoon we tutored children in an after-school program.  This experience exposed our Freshmen to urban poverty and the challenges facing the city of Philadelphia.  Since many of our students have never been exposed to urban issues, it was a life-changing and eye-opening experience. 

 

3)  We did not participate in a Second Year Exchange this past year.  The two Bonners schools within a reasonable distance from us were not available.  Also, after experiencing the Exchange last year, I (Brian) did not believe it to be a good use of the students' time and energy.

 

4)  Again, for a description of the Third and Fourth Year Leadership roles, please reference Section II.

 

5)  The Senior Capstones were very good.  With a little more guidance from their friendly Bonner Coordinator, including leading questions and a dry run, the Seniors presented intelligent, sincere, and often moving, descriptions of their experiences and growth over the last four years.  The only thing missing was a section of the Capstone in which they could display a depth of understanding of whatever issue they helped to address.  A possible solution for this is discussed in Section II of the Annual Report.  

 

 

Implementation of Community Partnerships: 

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

 

We are in partnership with fifty different service organizations to varying degrees.  Of the fifty sites, we have moderate to high student participation with thirty of them each semester.  The student participation includes the Bonners and also non-Bonners who are completing requirements for their Service Learning class and various other classes.

 

Each semester we held a Service Fair and invited each our partner sites to attend and recruit student volunteers.  Our desire is to have the students learn what is available and to meet some individuals from the sites so that they are less intimidated when beginning to serve at a particular site.  Approximately 25-30 partner sites attended each fair.  After the fairs ended, we briefly encouraged our partners to be co-educators along with the school.  At the end of the school year, we held a reception to thank them for allowing our students to serve with them and for their role in educating the students of Waynesburg.  During this reception, we had senior administration member from the school, a representative from a partner site, and a Senior Bonner student speak on the importance of these partnerships.

 

Last May and June and this May and June, we visited many of our main partner sites.  The purpose of these meetings, as we continually reminded the sites, is that the more we know about them (their goals, vision, events, etc.), the better we can act as advocates for their sites on our campus.  We also used these visits to talk further about their roles as co-educators.  In particular, we asked them to place their veteran Bonner Scholars in roles of greater responsibility and leadership.

 

Each semester, our service partners completed evaluations of both the Bonners and non-Bonners who served at their sites.  The Bonners are informed of any positive and uplifting evaluation that they receive.  If a Bonner or non-Bonner receives a poor evaluation, we meet with them to discuss their struggles and how they can serve better in the future.

 

This past year we were able to increase the number and improve the leadership of the student Site Coordinators.  (Again, please see Section II of the Annual Report for further description.)  This allowed the Center for Service Leadership to have greater communication with many of our main partner sites which, in turn, created more awareness of the sites on campus.  Throughout the year, our partners would communicate volunteer opportunities and organizational or programmatic changes to us.  We encouraged them to be more specific in the types and times of volunteer opportunities with their site which led to greater student involvement due to a deeper understanding of what is expected of the student.    

  

 

Campus-wide Culture and Infrastructure: 

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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):

 

The campus-wide infrastructure and campus-wide culture of service continues to be a focal point for our University.  Service is a defining hallmark of Waynesburg University and a Waynesburg University education. 

 

Progress continues to be made in the area of faculty implementing service-learning projects in more discipline based courses.  As more faculty implement service-learning projects in their individual courses, this has a profound effect on the culture of service at Waynesburg.  Through this, faculty, staff and students begin to realize that service goes beyond the Center for Service Leadership and the Bonner Scholars Program.  Individuals realize that anyone can serve and become involved in and passionate about service.

 

This year, service-learning mini-grants were awarded to two faculty members to implement service-learning projects within a course they were teaching.  Students and a faculty member worked with two local schools on environmental and science projects, while another class worked with junior and senior high students at Laughlin Chapel to write articles for a magazine distributed to over 50,000 people in Wheeling, WV.  Both projects went well and positive feedback was given by everyone involved.  In building upon the service-learnng mini-grants, six faculty members will receive mini-grants to implement service-learning projects in courses during the 2008-09 school year.

 

Curricular integration of service-learning continues at Waynesburg University.  Our Biblical and Ministries Studies professors require all students to participate in a service-learning project and submit a paper.  In addition, all freshmen enroll in a common course called Fiat Lux for one credit hour.  A three-hour service-learning project is required of all students in Fiat Lux and most professors complete their project as a class.  The importance of service and service-learning is introduced to freshmen during their first semester at Waynesburg.  Additionally, over 260 students were enrolled in a one-credit hour service-learning course this past academic year.  Each student completed 30 hours of service and wrote papers reflecting on their service.  General sections and theme sections of service-learning are offered.

 

We continue to work with our athletes and coaches to encourage them to get involved in service opportunities and mission service trips.  This has been met with mixed results and we will continue to develop this.

 

A struggle we have identified is getting students interested in the service leadership minor.  Our first student in the minor graduated this past May and a second student declared the minor in early fall.  An incoming freshman was awarded the servcie leadership scholarship and has declared the minor, but we need to recruit more students for the minor.

 

While not a new initiative, a significant part of ethos of service at Waynesburg University is the service-learning component of mission and service trips.  During each break (fall, winter, spring and summer), domestic and international mission service trips are offered.  This year, 17 mission service trips were offered and 197 students participated in trips.  Faculty, staff and students lead all trips.  In December 2007, the Center for Service Leadership worked with the Nursing Department to offer a medical mission trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico in partnership with Peacework and the Mexican Red Cross.  We are excited about this partnership and the long term relationships that could develop.

 

Another unique initiative is the partnership we have with Greene County Habitat for Humanity.  Two years ago we entered into an agreement to raise funds for our University to build two Habitat homes within walking distance of campus.  This initative was born out of our desire to develop a campus-wide service initative that our students, faculty and staff could get behind and support.  The first home was dedicated in April 2008 and work will commence on the second home in September 2008.