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):

  Bonner Orientation-sophomore Bonners plan and implement orientation for new Bonners over the summer.  New bonners return to campus for a weekend to learn more about the Bonner Program and enjoy time getting to know one another and other Bonners.  Time is spent with teambuilding activites, discussions on service, reflections, and a service project.  This year, Bonners organized a car wash to raise money for the Volunteer Connection of Northwest Ohio. Defiance welcomed 12 new Bonners into the program.

1. First Year- Our Freshman Bonner Leaders jumped into the program with great interest and enthusiasm. They had the chance to meet with community partners on a more intimate basis as they were invited to our first meeting.  Freshman could then choose which agency to commit too.  Many first year Bonners chose to participate in a brand new initiative, the Hench Autism Studies Program (HASP).  First year Bonner self-selected themselves to work closely with adolescents that were diagnosed with Autism.  They participated in a class to learn more about Autism and then worked one-on-one with the Autistic Students.  Bonners were responsible for helping these students learn basic day to day skills such as cooking and interaction with college students. Bonners ate lunch with them, oragnized a book club, and even helped to start the Bumblebee Cafe.  This "coffee shop" was run by the autistic students and sold coffee and roles to the Defiance College community.  Bonners taught the autisitc students how to bake muffins, prepare coffee, and even how to make change when they sold items.  The cafe was a success and allowed the autistic students to develop their communication and social skills with other members of the college community.  The sucess of this program allowed three Bonners to present at the Common Good Symposium, held at Cabrini College in the fall. Most of these students had completed their 200 hours by the end of the school year.  Six first-year Bonners attended SLI to participate in the All-Bonner Service Track of the Summer Leadership Institute.  Many of their great ideas will be incorporated into next year's planning.
2. Second Year-  The Sophomore Bonner Leaders focused their efforts on accountability towards the end of the school year and chose to bypass their domestic service trip in the hopes to set a standard for the entire Bonner Program.   Throughout the school year, these students focused on a more active leadership role  within their agencies and also took the lead on several projects carried out on campus.  One event in particular, a cornhole tournament, to benefit flood victims in neighboring Putnam County, was led by several sophomore Bonner Leaders and was a huge sucess.
3. Third Year-  Our Junior Bonner Leaders spend the entire first semester preparing for the annual International Service Trip to Jamaica.  Learning Communities take the place of individual class meetings, so there is a weekly focus on the preparation of this trip.  The team traveled to Highgate Jamaica in Janurary where they spent time building a house for a family and visiting children's homes. Upon their return, the Juniors presented at the annual McMaster Symposium.
4. Fourth Year- Senior Bonner Leaders are involved with student-teaching, internships, senior capstones, and applying for jobs and graduate schools. Often times, senior Bonners have been accepted as McMAster Scholars and spend their yar focused on their community based research project.  We utilize Bonner meetings to help prepare for graduation and inlcude workshops that are beneficial to Bonners.  These include; opportunities in non-profits, year of service, and service resumes.

DC has utilized the Bonner Program to be the more advanced service program at the college.  Within the McMaster school there is another program, Citizen Leaders, that allows studnets to remain active in service and leadership through scholarship.  To differeniate between the two programs, we have pushed the Bonner Leaders to take a more active role within our community partners.  After one year in the Citizen Leader program, students can choose to apply to become a Bonner leader.  This requires more hours, however allows for more opportunity through professional development, conferences, trips, and work study money.  This is explained further in the next section.

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):

     A great amount of time this year was dedicated to tallking with Community Partners to get a better understanding of their specific needs and whether or not Defiance College was meeting those needs.  We did site visits to many partners and began to examine how best we could utilize DC students, specifically Bonners, to have a more active role within the agency.  We moved to a site-placement model in which the first semester, Bonners could choose three sites to do their service.  The main reason for this was first, these agencies would support the large number of students, second these were the agencies where a majority of basic service (first-year service) was done, and third it allowed for more organization within the program.  Bonner knew what their agency was before school even began so could plan ahead.  The three agencies were America Reads Program, YMCA, and Big Brother, Big Sisters.  Each of these partners came to our first meeting to recruit and meet new students.  This was used as an initial orientation then followed up by additional orientations depending on the specific program Bonners chose to be a part of (i.e. coaches meeting if they were coaching at the Y, tutor training if they did America Reads, etc).

     With the assistance of the Bonner Foundation site visit we began to develop student leadership roles at some of our more advanced community partners.  We have created student coordinator roles as the YMCA, Humane Society, Big Brother, Big Sisters, the United Way, the Volunteer Connection, Skylark Youth Center, and are working on more.  We have reallocated work study money to provide Bonners with a more active role within the agency.  Bonners, sophomore, junior, and seniors, have become the volunteer coordinators for these specific locations and we are working to develop more.  This has allowed the community partner to not feel so overwhlemed with finding things for students to do if they need hours, or stressing about trying to find enough volunteers for specific projects.  They utilize the Bonner Coordinator to do these things for them and take on a more "staffing" role within the agency.  As mentioned, we have set aside work study money for these positions.

     This has also been important for placing students that are part of the Citizen Leader Program.  Bonner Site coordinators recruit Citizen Leaders to help with various projects.  This also allows a clear distinction between the two programs as Bonners are seen as more advanced in their service, acting as staff members to the agencies.  It is important to note that the agencies Bonners serve as site coordinators, are aligned directly with their majors and often serve as an internship or capstone experience within their junior and senior years.

     We have begun to utilize community partners more, specifically within our senior year.  We have invited partners to share opportunities in non-profits and even conduct practice interviews.  We plan to utilize them more as we plan for the next academic year. The new hire of an AmeriCorps VISTA will allow for the development of a community advisory board and more time to develop new partnerships and strengthen existing ones.

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):

     The McMaster School for Advancing Humanity serves as the focal point for all service and engagement at Defiance College. The programs under the McMaster School include the fellows and scholars program, which emphasizes community based research projects nationally and internationall, the Honors Program, and the Service Leadership Programs (Bonner Leaders and Citizen Leaders).  The McMaster Council guides all these programs and consists of faculty and staff from across campus and divisions.  This allows for collaboration from all across campus. One of the main goals of the council for the 08-09 academic year is to develop a minor in civic engagement and develop credit for students work in the Bonner Program and as McMaster Scholars.  In addition they will look at offering service learning designations on transcripts for all related coursework.

     The college's strategic plan includes that all students encounter some form of active and meaningful engagement experience while at DC.  The McMaster School becomes an important part in the strategic plan and works hard to provide meaningful experinces to all students.  Student within the Leadership Programs (Citizen and Bonner) work to do just this.  For example, last year, some Citizen Leaders started an Alpha Phi Omega Chapter on campus.  APO is a co-ed fraternity dedicated to service and leadership.  They saw this as a way more students could get involved with service.  To date, the program has 20 active members in just one year.  Bonner and Citizen Leaders work to create opportunities for students across campus through many collaborations.  This includes a literacy project with the education department that collected over 500 books for low-income famalies.  In addition, students organized a birthday party for Dr. Seuss in which books were read and games were played.  This was open to all children in the Defiance area.  Citizen Leaders have begun a great tradition of engaging all of campus for Constitution Day.  Last year, they created a mock jail and arrested people walking by between classes.  The president and provost even managed to get arrested.  In order to get someone out of jail, students had to answer three questions correctly about the constitution.  This was a huge success and will be done again this year.  Bonners and Citizen Leaders have already committed to taking on even more projects this year around the election.  It is the goal to have campus-wide programs that stem from McMaster, but include everyone. Bonner and Citizen Leaders will have major roles in these programs.