Young Harris College Congress Proposal


 

 

 

Young Harris College

Building Bonner Awareness

 

Background

 

The Young Harris College Bonner Leaders Program was developed in 2009. During this time the college itself was in a transition period. YHC recently made the move to a four year institution, creating the perfect environment for different aspects of the campus to evolve. One of these aspects is most definitely experiential learning.

Young Harris College’s mission statement reads as follows: “Young Harris College educates, inspires, and empowers students through a comprehensive liberal arts experience that integrates mind, body, and spirit”. These aspects closely relate to the Bonner Foundation in many ways. It was a natural fit.

 

 


Big Idea

 

The Case: Since this is the initial year for the YHC Bonner Leaders Program, the Program is not as well-known around the campus community as we would like for it to be. In order for the Program to develop and to receive recognition, we need to form working connections with other campus agencies and offices, as well as expose students across the campus to the mission and to the opportunities that the Bonner Program offers.

 

The Solution:  To increase campus awareness of the Bonner Program, we proposed a trip to the 2010 IMPACT Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, that would be open to the entire student body. This would provide an opportunity for YHC students outside the Bonner Program to gain a deeper insight into the Bonner Program and to form relationships with the current group of Bonner Leaders. It would also give us a better idea of what students at other colleges and universities are doing to incorporate Bonner Programs into the larger life of campuses. We also proposed forming a working committee that would help coordinate community engagement efforts across the campus. Currently, community engagement efforts are splintered across groups that fall roughly under campus activities/student development, religious life, and the Bonner Program. Coordinating the efforts of these three programs would help orchestrate, unify, and publicize these kinds of opportunities. 

 

The Process: The Bonner Program decided to take several Bonners and several non-Bonners to the IMPACT Conference, along with one additional staff member from the College community. One of the non-Bonners who went was accepted as a Bonner Leader for next year. Another non-Bonner who went will help form our Bonner Partners for next year. The Bonner Program now works with the Director of Campus Activities and the Director of Religious Life to coordinate and publicize community engagement events for the campus. The first project was Earth Day this past April. The Bonner Program received front page coverage for both of these initiatives in the College newspaper, which generated a large amount of interest in the Bonner Program across the campus.

 

 

 

 


 

 


  

 


 

 

 

 

 


Review the guidelines on the project before getting started: Bonner Congress Project Proposal Guidelines.pdf

For a written proposal example click here: Mock Congress Proposal .pdf

For a video example click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz7Nbw7XFTI

 

 

Update - Report to Share in the 20th Anniversary Congress Booklet


We intend to create a beautifully designed book to be distributed at the 20th Anniversary Summer Leadership Institute that shares with the entire Bonner Network the work of Congress Representatives in 2009-2010 on their big ideas. Please write your report in the format below. For an example, click on this page:  http://bonnernetwork.pbworks.com/Big-Idea-Summaries

 

1) Title (of your project/big idea - feel free to update from the fall).

 

2) The Case: Tell us briefly the history of the challenge you tackled with your Big Idea. This should be no more than 100 words.

 

3) The Solution:  What is your Big Idea?  What was the idea to tackle this challenge?  This should be no more than 300 words.

 

4) The Process: Tell us in more detail what your Big Idea is.  Please illustrate how your “Big Idea” addresses the root issues of the problems you are working with.  What are the specific issues, needs, or gaps your idea sought to improve and how did it improve them?  This should be no more than 500 words (two paragraphs).

 

Please upload 2-3 relevant photos (of your Reps, project, etc.).  Try to select photos that have high resolution quality. This will appear in the booklet.

 

The deadline for this update if you want your school to be considered and included in the book is FRIDAY, APRIL 30th!

 


Reminders

 

March 2010

 

June 2010