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Mars Hill University

Page history last edited by Josh Blair 12 years, 2 months ago

Mars Hill College


 

Mars Hill College

100 Athletic St.

Mars Hill, NC 28754

http://www.mhc.edu/

 

LIFEWORKS STAFF MEMBERS:

Deb Myers - Director

dmyers@mhc.edu; 828-689-1161

 

Cindy Frost - Bonner Scholar Coordinator

cfrost@mhc.edu; 828-689-1162

 

Caroline Twiggs - Field Coordinator

ctwiggs@mhc.edu; 828-689-1297

 

SENIOR INTERNS:

Sky Assif

Olivia Styron

 

BONNER CONGRESS REPRESENTATIVES:

Sherri Christopher

Clarissa Roberts

 

CAMPUS AT A GLANCE (brief description)


Mars Hill College acknowledges the inter-relatedness of its academic program and its extracurricular activities and affirms the belief that learning takes place in all experiences of daily living, not just in the classroom. The Student Life program encompasses housing, student government, student activities, counseling, health care, orientation, student organizations, and campus police. Closely associated are intercollegiate and intramural athletics, food services, and the bookstore. In addition, the college's integrated academic and co-curricular program, the LifeWorks Learning Partnership, links the liberal arts education to life and work.

 

KEY FACTS:

 

  • Please visit MHC's fact book:  http://www.mhc.edu/administration/factbook.pdf 
    • Founded in 1856, Mars Hill College is the oldest college in western North Carolina on its original site.
    • The college was founded by Baptist families of the region.
    • MHC's student-to-teacher ratio is 16. Average class size for first-year courses is approximately 22 students, while the average for major curriculum courses is approximately 15.
    • The college offers 5 degrees (B.A., B.S., B.M., B.F.A., and B.S.W.), 30 majors (with 61 concentrations), and 33 minors.
    • MHC competes in 19 intercollegiate sports at the NCAA Division II level. The college also has 43 clubs and organizations.  

 

 

 

Assessment for Bonner Program:

 

Community Partnerships

     Serving with our community partners is always rewarding. In the 2010-2011 year, we had two outstanding partnership examples. On April 11, our junior Bonner class partnered with My Sister's Place, a non-profit organization that serves Madison County by providing support to individuals and families who have experienced domestic violence or sexual assault.  Junior Bonners organized the annual campus and community event called “Dude Looks Like a Lady Pageant.” Students, faculty, and local citizens came to the pageant to cheer on their favorite contestants (who were male students dressed up like pageant girls) and during breaks, money jars went around the room for each contestant. All the donations went towards programming at My Sister’s Place, and a representative from the organization talked to the audience about domestic violence and what My Sister’s Place does within the community.  The mission of My Sister's Place is to end domestic violence and sexual assault by offering direct assistance to victims and inspiring awareness in the community. Preparations for this event included: scheduling the event location and other logistics; recruiting the contestants; publicity; and artistic design of stage. 
     Another strong community partnership continued with Three Streams Family Health Center, a non-profit health care facility. Last year, Samantha Oldham, a junior Bonner, wrote and received a community grant for Three Streams. Before the grant, the organization could only afford to aid adults. However, because of Sam’s grant acceptance, the clinic is opening up to all ages in the community and functioning more effectively, as some of the grant money was also used to purchase an automatic blood pressure system.  Also, a Hispanic doctor and an interpreter are now available for patients. Oldham said, “I know that the staff of Three Streams Family Health is so grateful to have the help of the Bonner scholars from Mars Hill College because every day I volunteer Ms. Lisa tells me, ‘Thank you for everything you do!’ They have so much to offer to any scholar looking into any field within medicine. Being able to have the opportunity to work with them is amazing because their commitment to serving the population is unbelievable.”

 

Student Development

 

Meeting Structure:  

     In the spring, the Bonner Program meeting structure  included  issue groups, class year meetings, and all-Bonner check-ins. Both the issue groups and class meetings are bi-weekly, so a student will have either a class year or an issue meeting once a week. The all-Bonner meetings occur at the beginning and end of every semester to check-in at the start of the semester or wrap up at the end of the semester.  Class year meetings discuss topics relevant to their grade level that occasionally deal with the logistical side of Bonner. For example, at a recent senior class meeting, a veteran Peace Corps volunteer and Bonner Alumni spoke to the senior Bonners about what life is like living in a foreign country for two years.  Issue groups are focused on specific social justice issues in our society. We have four issues groups, and scholars must change groups every year, not to repeat any groups. The groups are: ethics, gender and sexuality, race, and class. Synopsis of each group is listed below:

 

ETHICS: Discussions on the levels of morality, the decision-making process of morality, the differences between morals and ethics, and various viewpoints of morality.

 

GENDER & SEXUALITY: Discussions on gender issues in the media and sexual identity in society. Organized a presentation about sex education and general health knowledge on campus for SLAM (Student Liberal Arts Mosaic) – an academic-filled day where all presentations are student-researched and student-led.  

RACE:  Focused on the distinct ways races have been treated in public establishments and society, like the Rwanda Genocide. Also looked at associations given to different races dealing with more than just color.

 

CLASS: Studied how to be proactive in breaking stereotypes within the cycle of classism. Collaborated a presentation that discussed the concept of altruism for SLAM.

 

Student Leadership Structure:

                Our student leadership includes senior and junior Bonner interns and the Bonner Leadership Team (BLT).  One of the senior interns, and possibly a junior intern as well, leads the BLT. BLT’s projects included Can the Dean Food Drive and Raffle, Earth Week activities, and HillFest (an arts festival).

The BLT consists of an advertising leader, logistics leader, scheduling leader, and a planning tracker leader.  Specific job assignments are as follows:  

Junior/Senior Bonner Intern:

  • Periodically check-in with new Bonners
  • Help plan agendas for class meetings
  • Co-lead BLT
  • Head up BLT events like Earth Day
  • Volunteer on Visitation Days to recruit more Bonners

 

Advertising Leader:

  • Create and distribute all fliers, posters, and emails for any BLT events or announcements
  • Maintain Facebook group, postings, and event invites
  • BonnerWiki entries and research

 

Logistics Leader:

  • In charge of facilitating and executing coordination reserving event locations, supplies, transportation, volunteers, set up, clean up, and all other related logistics
  • Must be flexible, patient, and quick-thinking/problem solver

 

Scheduling Leader:

  • Holds a calendar of all campus events to make sure that BLT events do not conflict with other on-campus activities
  • Establishes dates and times of events
  • Establishes dates and times of BLT meeting and is responsible of informing team of dates and times for meetings

 

Planning Tracker Leader:

  • Takes meeting minutes and is responsible for emailing minutes and task lists to members
  • Assists Senior Interns in keeping meetings on schedule, within the time limit, reminds intern of discussion topics and tasks
  • Works closely with the Logistics Leader to make a schedule of deadlines for task completion

 

Student Leadership Structure:

 

Training and Enrichment Calendar for Fall 2010 Attached

  

Cornerstone Activities:

 

First Year Trip: The Mars Hill College Bonner Program renewed its relatiionship with Big Creek People in Action in Caretta, WV. for the first year trip. In May 2011, the first year class traveled to McDowell County for a week of service and cultural immersion. Groups on home repair projects throughout the community for the week. Alongside our work, students had the opportunity to learn a great deal about the history and people of West Virginia. Visits with local families, an operating coal mine, and an evening of live bluegrass in the parking lot (along with some flat footing from world-famous Manuel) gave the students a real treat.

 

Second Year Exchange: For the past two years, Mars Hill has partnered with Emory & Henry's Bonner Program for the sophomore exchange. Each year, we've met on the slopes of Roan Mountain in northeast Tennessee to work with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy for a day of conservation work in a protected historical area. The full day retreat is complete with hard work, historical insights from local volunteers, reflection, and group building games facilitated by the two programs's students.  

 

Leadership Roles:

     Two of our Bonners – Samantha Oldham (a junior) and Tina Rathburn (a senior) – helped to plan and lead our annual campus Hunger Week.  We had over eight hunger-awareness events in a six-day period.  These events included a 24-hour fast, a food waste demonstration, an Oxfam Hunger Banquet meal, and a CROP walk.  Empty Bowls – a Mars Hill student, staff, and community favorite – was held on Wednesday and raised over $2,000 for a local non-profit.  Mars Hill pottery students create bowls which are then sold in exchange for a soup and salad meal.

                Sam Oldham said, “I worked with Tina and a team of students to provide Mars Hill students with facts about hunger in the community, nationally, and globally.”

     Tina Rathburn said, “Sam and I oversaw the Hunger Week committee last year which involved organizing the meetings, keeping the committee members on track with their assigned tasks, communicating with LifeWorks and community partners, and working together to create a team that could provide a good base for the event.  Overall, I felt the week was very successful, we had record participation for all of our events and Empty Bowls raised the more than any previous year.”

     Our BLT also held a leadership role in organizing our first student arts festival called HillFest. Hillfest included numerous events like a craft-fair, a concert, dinner on the quad, and a student-D.J. Loft Party that spanned an entire Saturday on campus. The craft-fair involved the fashion department and arts department, and the loft party involved our Black Student Association. All of the events were used to draw students and local citizens to campus for a non-profit fundraiser, as the money earned from the day went to Neighbors in Need, a food assistance program/shelter.

 

Campus-wide Collaboration:

 

Student Leadership Structure: MLK Day

     Through collaboration across campus and within the community, our MLK Day of Service achieved much success. We were able to exceed our goal of 100 volunteers by 53 and go beyond our normal pool of volunteers to achieve the broadest range of students, faculty, staff, and community members we have ever had. We provided service to six agencies in our community and furthered the important work they are providing to low-income and vulnerable populations.  LifeWorks was also able to partner with many organizations on campus including the Black Student Association, NCAA Lifeskills program, campus ministry, fraternities, sororities, Honor Scholars, and Bonner Scholars.

     In connection with the MLK Day of Service, we put together a week-long Community Cinema Series leading up to January 22nd.  Through the film series, we were able to make solid connections between the academic classroom and service-learning.  The films were incorporated into many classes, spanning almost every field. Students were educated on relevant and current social justice issues and were given the opportunity to sign up for the Day of Service at the end of each film and discussion.  The collaboration with faculty and the wide range of documentaries screened aided in our diverse turnout.

     During the Day of Service we were able to get substantial amounts of overdue projects completed at each of the agencies. Pre and post reflection helped students realize the importance of their work and led them to pledge to keep serving the community. The MLK Day of service was a success in every way, from the number of volunteers, the diversity of volunteers in terms of ethnicity and organizations, the amount of service accomplished, and the incredible connections, friendships, and partnerships made. 

 

Serve 2.0

 

*Links:

 

LifeWorks:

                Name: LifeWorks at Mars Hill College

                Link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/LifeWorks-at-Mars-Hill-College/26072158594

Bonner:

                Name: Mars Hill BonnerAlumni

                Link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/bonner.alumni

 

Facebook has most definitely been our most useful media tool. Though we tried Wiki for our on-campus scholars, it didn’t gain popularity. The LifeWorks page is useful for the campus community and for upcoming service events, and the Bonner Alumni page is great in keeping up with past Bonners and announcing events like the Bonner Alumni Anniversary Celebration.

 

See useful links: PolicyOptions Wiki   |  Campus Implementation Guide

 

PHOTOS


 

   

  Alternative Spring Break Experience with Tampa Bay Watch rebuilding oyster beds on Florida Gulf Coast.

 

  

Sophomore Exhcange with Emory & Henry doing trail work with the Soutern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.

 

 

 

First Year Trip to McDowell County, WV working with Big Creek People in Action.


 

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