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):

 

 

2008 Summer Civic Engagement Fellowship - Jackson Fellows

 

In 2008, the College of St. Benedict received an annonymous gift to etablish the Marie and Robert Jackson FellowsProgram. All 10 fellowships involved civic engagment and work devoted to improving community life and the common good through political and non political service activities. These students served for 10 weeks over the summer and received a stipend. They were all required to attend bi-monthly seminars on campus. We  based these meetings on the Bonner model of leadership development. Seven of these student leaders attended the Political Summit and SLI with Marah in June 2008. What an experience! The students could not stop talking about how much they learned, most pointedly how the world was so much bigger than CSB/SJU. They are very excited to connect with other students who hold the same interests and passions as they do. These students were embraced by the staff and students in the network and truly felt a part of the Bonner Family. We are excited to extend this program into a year-long Bonner Leaders Model.

 

                       

              Left to Right: Anna Schumacher, Asheigh Leitch, Stacey Endres, Judge Lindstrom, Heather 

              Cederholm, Katie Holt, Lindsey Cermak, Joe Kane, Kurt Sorensen, Zach Shaheen, Alex Kurt

 

1. The role of trainings, courses, & meetings 
2. First Year Trip
3. Second Year Exchange
4. Third Year (and beyond) Leadership Roles
5. Senior Capstone & Presentation of Learning

 

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):

 

The Liemandt Family Service-Learning Program

 

Developing effective community partnerships is a major goal of the Liemandt Family Service-Learning Program.  The Service-Learning staff is committed to staying current with the needs of our local and global communities through statewide memberships, conference attendance, service on local education boards and coalitions, and constantly listening to the diverse needs of our local communities. By working closely with faculty, students, and community partners, Service-Learning staff members exemplify listening, responsiveness, capacity, and commitment to meet the needs of the students and the community. Open communication honors the reciprocal relationship that must occur between the community partner and the student, where the student receives an opportunity for an integrative learning experience and the community partner receives a needed service. A recently formed Advisory Council, including local community partners, faculty members, and students, is an important conduit for listening to our various constituencies.     

 

The Service-Learning Program facilitates multiple opportunities for students to integrate service and academic coursework and has partnered with over 130 community organizations, agencies, and schools over the past ten years. More than 4,500 students have provided over 100,000 hours of service at these sites. Community partnership sites include Anna Marie’s (a shelter for battered women and their children), Habitat for Humanity, and the Minnesota Correctional Facility. Each semester, Service-Learning staff collaborates with about 15 different faculty members from different disciplines to integrate service and reflective learning into their respective courses.

 

The Education Department at CSB/SJU also has a formal partnership with local K- 12 schools. All students in EDUC 111 must complete a 30-hour service-learning requirement. More than 150 education students per year are placed at 30 sustained sites, including Saint Joseph Lab School, Kennedy Elementary, and Southside Boys & Girls Club. These sites rely on this established service-learning partnership to effectively serve their clients. The coordinator of the Boys & Girls Club attributes much of the club’s success to service-learning involvement: "the kids look forward to when the CSB/SJU students come. I think this shows the positive level of commitment students at CSB/SJU place at our site." Indeed, Service-Learning is a key campus structure that enables effective and meaningful connections with the surrounding communities. For example, a CSB student at Anna Marie’s shelter noted, "overall, I feel the experience opened my eyes to a new way of thinking. It has helped me to see how other people live and how I can better my life. I feel as though I have accomplished something. I feel like I have helped some people see that there is hope for a better life …. I plan on continuing my service in the future and am hopeful that I will be able to change the system in some way, shape or form."

 

The Service-Learning coordinator consistently receives requests from community organizations that have heard from others in the community about the success and value of service-learning students at CSB and SJU. Students express high satisfaction rates with the services and engagement opportunities offered. In spring 2007, a student satisfaction survey found that 76% received an adequate site orientation, 75% received enough service-learning experiences to meet course goals, 73% applied what they had learned from their service-learning experience to the classroom, 72% found the service-learning project enhanced leadership skills, and 62% stated that more courses should include a service-learning component. Such high levels of engagement in service-learning are consistent with the tradition of service at CSB/SJU.

 

                          

                                   

 

 

 

Campus Wide Culture and Infrastructure

 

Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy & Civic Engagement

The Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy & Civic Engagement is a recent development at CSB and SJU. The mission of the center is to “cultivate the habit of promoting the common good through an integrative environment for learning and to promote the value of politics, our shared identity as citizens, and our engagement in public work.” The McCarthy Center facilitates civic engagement and expects students to become active, influential members of society. The center also links extensively with alumnae/i and has recently developed an alumnae/i chapter for graduates working in politics and public policy.

 

Academic departments most actively engaged with the McCarthy Center include Political Science, Economics, Sociology and Peace Studies, although dozens of departments and programs have collaborated with the center. Key activities of the center include the Eugene McCarthy Lecture series (the inaugural speaker in 2007 was E.J. Dionne), Congressman Kennedy’s “Frontiers in Freedom” lecture series, and hosting a McCarthy Scholar-in-Residence. Center staff members have conducted study tours to the immigrant communities of Minneapolis, sustainable green space projects in Chicago, the Iron Range, a local correctional facility, and the university powerhouse. The center places summer interns in Washington, D.C. with resident faculty and training to supplement the internship experience.

 

In response to an anonymous gift ($1 million to CSB), the McCarthy Center also will now offer nine full-time summer fellowships starting in 2008 at $4,000 each for students to conduct civic engagement projects. The civic engagement project must relate to public policy, politics, and/or community service in partnership with an off-campus organization in Minnesota.

 

 

Campus Ministry

 

   Sacred Heart Chapel, CSB              St. John's Abbey, SJU

 

CSB and SJU Campus Ministries preserve knowledge and tradition within the scope of Catholic culture by offering vibrant worship and sacramental opportunities. The Campus Ministry Offices on each campus are committed to serving the spiritual needs of students, focusing in particular on respect, appropriateness, and dignity. Whether the people on campus are of the Catholic faith or of another faith, Campus Ministry (as a cornerstone of a Catholic institution), is committed to enhancing and nourishing the spiritual journey of everyone. Everyone is welcomed, served, and educated without distinction of race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. This is expressly done through four key programs: Liturgy, Spirituality and Social Justice, Alternative Break Experiences, and the Fully Aware Catholic programs.

 

Alternative Break Experiences (ABE) and other volunteer opportunities, sponsored through CSB and SJU Campus Ministries, respond to identified local, domestic, and international needs. The ABEs are a part of Campus Ministry’s commitment to spirituality and social justice, sharing in that mission by seeking to help students learn to live in solidarity with people throughout the world who may be socially, economically, culturally, and/or politically marginalized. Campus Ministry at the College of Saint Benedict provides both CSB and SJU students with 12 domestic and international trips for Alternative Break Experiences during the winter, spring, and summer breaks.

 

Campus Ministry at CSB provides students with various alternative break opportunities during the winter, spring, and summer breaks. The alternative break trips are a part of campus ministry's area of SSJ, sharing in that mission by seeking to help students learn to live in solidarity with peoples throughout the world who may be socially, economically and/or politically marginalized, 'the poorest of the poor.' Every year, ABE works hard to provide meaningful trips, both nationally and internationally.  Campus Ministry firmly believes that exposure to other cultures, places, and ways of life will enhance the lives of the trip participants.  Based on Catholic Social Teaching and Benedictine Values, Campus Ministry strives to provide students with quality experiences that will complement their learning experiences and inspire them.

 

During Spring Break, ABE sends out 150-250 students and staff to various sites. Cost for ABE trips is $285 plus airfare where applicable. Often, students are required to participate in fundraising efforts to support the trip. Training for fundraising is provided by Campus Ministry. 

 

              

 

 

 

 

Following are options for our 2009 Bonner Leader First-Year Service Trip:

 

Alternative Break Sites 

International

San Lucas Mission - San Lucas Tóliman,  Guatemala

Students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Guatemalan culture, as well as build relationships with the community of San Lucas.  Father Greg, a Minnesota native and priest of San Lucas, is the founder of the mission.  Student work may include but is not limited to the following: assisting in cooperative community projects such as helping with the reforestation project, sorting coffee, assisting families on their land, and helping to restore buildings that are in desperate need of repair.

Experiences: Spanish immersion, cultural diversity, restoration, hands-on

 

Working Boys Center - Quito, Ecuador

You will work at the Working Boys Center.  This is an organization that takes in children who were working on the streets.  They give them schooling through job training and provide them with food and showers.  They also help their families and parents.  After completing the training, there are factories on-site they can work at.  Participants can help teach English classes, tour the factories, and spend time with the children.

Experiences: Spanish immersion, cultural diversity, social justice, children

 

Fundacion Mahatma Gandhi - Dominican Republic

Students will have the opportunity to be involved in various programs.  They can: work with children between 6-15 years, do small building projects, hold soccer or sports camps, do environmental education in the community, visit the elderly, learn more about issues in the community, assist with teaching girls about sports, English tutoring, work in classrooms, do theatre projects, or create their own projects.  Students will stay at Casa Paz, volunteer housing for Fundación Mahatma Gandhi. 

Experiences: Spanish immersion, cultural diversity, social justice, children, hands-on

 

Educational and Justice Issues

Operation Breakthrough –Kansas City, MO

Operation Breakthrough is the state’s largest day care center.  Its mission is to help children who are living in poverty develop to their fullest potential by providing them a safe, loving and educational environment.  This organization provides day care, meals, Children’s Mercy Clinic, a dental clinic, speech therapy, play therapy, housing assistance, food and clothing to children and families of the inner city of Kansas City.

Experiences: Working with inner city children, education, poverty

 

Reservation Experience – White Earth Reservation, MN

Participants will learn about the Native American culture of Minnesota.  Working with the people you will come to understand their way of life.  The participants will have an opportunity to work in the Circle of Life School, volunteer at Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the reservation, and shadow home care nurses and doctors at the local clinic. 

Experience: Learning about the culture, working with youth, health care disparities

 

Jonah House- Baltimore, Maryland

Jonah House is a faith-based organization intent on seeking justice through nonviolence, resistance, and community.  Participants on this trip will spend the first part of the week living at Jonah House in Baltimore.  Here, they will take time for prayer, violence resistance training and community reflection each morning and evening. During the day, work will include various service projects and forms of community action.  Mid-week, the group will travel with the Jonah House community to Washington D.C. and participate in the annual Faith and Resistance Retreat at the capital.

Experiences:  Justice, resistance and non-violence training, living in a graveyard

 

Environmental

Cumberland Trail Conference—Crossville, TN

Volunteers will help build and revitalize the Cumberland Trail, a 280-mile historic footpath in the Cumberland Mountains of East Tennessee. Volunteers will possibly be working with volunteers from other colleges as well as participating in some educational programs and activities.  At this site participants should be prepared to camp outside during the week and participate in lots of hands on physical work on the trail.

Experiences: Physical labor, environmental, hands on

 

Ghost Ranch -- Abiquiu, NM

Situated in north central New Mexico, this ranch is a place where issues of environmental ethics and eco-justice are lived out in a beautiful natural setting.  By experiencing the local community, cultural history and mission of the church, the examination of our own lifestyles is a main component of this trip.  The week will also include a community work project - cleaning irrigation pathways or tutoring, as well as helping with various projects on the ranch.

Experiences: Environmental, eco-justice, Native American culture, hands on

 

Hurricane Relief

Students spend the week working in Louisiana to help reconstruct houses and repair damages of Hurricane Katrina. 

Experiences: Physical labor, culture, hands on, restoration

 

 

Student Activities and Leadership Development

Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD) promotes student engagement and service on and off campus. The department’s mission is to enhance the quality of campus life through services and facilitation of integrated learning opportunities. These coordinated opportunities foster social, educational, cultural, and leadership development in collaboration with institutional initiatives. Core values of SALD include learning, service, advocacy, balance, ethical decision-making, stewardship, and community.