Macalester College

Please complete responses to the following prompts by July 11, 2011. To upload files or documents: Click edit. Click Images and files in the right sidebar. Find and upload your file from your computer or server. You can also cut and paste it in.

Community Partnerships:

In a few paragraphs, describe 1-2 outstanding examples or highlights of community partnerships and projects that were accomplished with them through the regular school year. For example, you may choose to profile the work of a particular site team, research project, or other innovative initiative.

“The Minnesota AIDS Project envisions a world free of AIDS. Our mission is to lead Minnesota's fight to stop HIV through advocacy, education and service. “ The Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) works to educate, provide services, advocate for change through public policy and engage volunteers. Macalester has worked with closely with MAP through the Leaders In Service, Bonner Community Scholars, and Off-campus Student Employment programs for the past three years. Our initial partnership began with a volunteer opportunity in which 8 Macalester students volunteered weekly with the Pride Alive program. This is one of the Leaders In Service weekly volunteer opportunities that has a strong student leader and advocate for the work of MAP and has diligently worked on campus to recruit and retain volunteers. The first year working with the Pride Alive program, Macalester students were invited to one of MAPs public policy events. The volunteers attended the event and had opportunities to reflect on the event with a staff representative. Based on the student interest in MAPs work we continue to have a waiting list of students to volunteer. This led to the CEC approaching MAP to work with a student through the Bonner Community Scholars program. We have had a Bonner student at MAP for two years working within the education and services departments staffing phones on the AIDS Line and working at community outreach events. Bonner students earn their work-study working off-campus with local community organizations at 8-10 hours a week. Based on our relationship with MAP and having a Bonner student deeply involved in the organization, our Health and Wellness student organizer, a participant in both Bonner and Leaders in Service, worked with MAP to bring to campus a two-day Red Cross HIV/AIDS training workshop. The workshop was attended by 13 Macalester students and there are plans for hosting another workshop in the fall of 2011.

Macalester students have an opportunity to participate and engage in all aspects of MAPs work at a variety of levels of commitment and depth.The work of Darin Rowles, Manager of AIDSLine and Case Management Services, has been instrumental in solidifying the Macalester/MAP partnership. Darin has served as the Bonner supervisor and has a strong understanding of how to work with students and willing to mentor and coach students through their professional leadership and work experience. Through his leadership the vision for creating a deeper and multifaceted partnership between MAP and Macalester is being realized. Next year MAP will host two Bonner students one will spend time in training for staffing the AIDS line and staffing community outreach. The other student who will be a sophomore and continuing his work with MAP after his first year will continue with the AIDS Line and community outreach but will be building on his skills by sitting in on meetings with clients as well as learning more about the public policy initiatives of the organization. In addition to the two Bonner students, MAP will also have an off-campus student employee joining the organization in the fall. Based on Darin’s understanding of working with students and how to best connect student interest and passions with organizational vision and programs, Darin was asked to present to other Macalester Bonner Community Partners on developing higher level site placements for Bonners and how to integrate the work of students with the broader organization.

Student Development:

Please briefly describe your Bonner Program meeting structure here.

First years meet weekly for 1-2 hours

Sophomores-Juniors meet 2 times a month

All Bonner Meetings 1 time a month

Please briefly describe your student leadership structure (i.e., BLT, interns, etc.) and any key projects or initiatives they accomplished here.

Senior Interns

Conngress Reps: 2 from sophomore class

Bonner Leadership Team: Senior Interns, Congress Reps and 2 Reps from each Bonner Class

Please upload a copy of your training and enrichment calendar. Also, feel free to upload and briefly annotate any particularly useful training, education, or reflection sessions you can share with the network.

All Bonner

Welcome, Summer of Service Presentations

Service as Liberation

Empowering Campus Voices Overcoming Challenges to Dialogue at Macalester

A Focus on Mental Health

Resume Writing and Speed Networking

Vocation: So What DO you Do?

Junior Class Workshops

Critical Response

Communicating your goals and objectives in BWBRS

Senior Year Preparation

Sculpture

General Reflection

Sophomore Class Workshops

The 4 Rs in Volunteer Management

Identity

Community Building

Planning for Study Abroad

Academia and Activism

River Stories

First Year Class Workshops

Social Justice and Urban Education

BWBRS and Moodle

Youth Development and Curriculum

Managing Your Academic Work Load

Value of a Liberal Arts Education

Exploring Our Multiple Identities

First Year Service Trip Retreat

Issue Area Exploration

Advocacy 101

Academic Concentrations

Cornerstone Activities:

In a few sentences, describe your First Year Trip. Include the dates, location, type of service and key partners involved (name, address, website link so that we can build a google map of trip partners).

As an integral part of the Bonner program and cornerstone experience for the first years we have made an on-going commitment to the rebuilding of the New Orleans metropolitan area. The Bonner First Year Service Trip to New Orleans is designed to promote learning about multiple social issues through service, community connections and discussion. This year marked the sixth Macalester College alternative break trip to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and underscores an institutional commitment to this work.
While on the alternative break, 16 first year students and 3 professional staff worked with longer-term partnerships the Civic Engagement Center has worked to establish across the New Orleans metropolitan area, including:

Tours & Presentations

● “Social, Cultural & Economic Geography” presentation and tour with Rich Campenella, Associate Director of the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane University

● “Geology of Katrina” presentation and Levee Tour with Steve Nelson, Chair of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Tulane University

Large Group Service Projects

● The Porch - Creative fence painting and backyard debris removal.

● ARISE Academy – 2 days worth of projects: college workshop w/3rd grade students. Values lessons on achievement, respect, innovation, service, and enthusiasm w/2nd graders. Classroom assistance, prep testing, and cleaning out of a storage area to turn into an office for small group and individual student assessment. The Bonner first years exchanged pen pal letters with each 2nd grader at ARISE in preparation for our work together.

Small Group Projects

● The Green Project – Operates a warehouse store and lumberyard to sell building materials that otherwise would go into New Orleans Area landfills. Students mixed paint (creating their own paint color named “Bonnerlicious” which we purchased to paint the fence at the Porch) and prepared donated materials for sale.

● MLK day of service with Dillard, Tulane, Xavier, and Loyola in their “Day On” projects

● RUBARBIKE – A partner organization in St. Paul works with Rubarbike, sending bikes from Saint Paul to New Orleans. Students gutted and assisted with renovation projects on the organization’s new space.

● Green Light New Orleans - Students installed free energy efficient light bulbs “to demonstrate that a mass movement of individual actions creates a significant impact on our environment and community.”

Cultural & Museum Tours

● Backstreet Cultural Museum – “Holds the world’s most comprehensive collection related to New Orleans’ African American community-based masking and processional traditions, including Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, social aid and pleasure clubs, Baby Dolls, and Skull and Bone gangs.”

● New Orleans African American Museum - Preserves, interprets and promotes the African American cultural heritage of New Orleans, with a particular emphasis on the Tremé community.

● The Presbytere – “Living with Hurricanes,” an exhibit which documents the human struggle in the face of a natural disaster, incorporating everything from survivors' personal mementos to their thoughts and feelings. The exhibit documents how the recovery has brought about innovations — turning the region into a laboratory of new ideas.

Reading and Reflection

● All participants received a packet of readings selected to prepare them for their trip and to provide background on NOLA and the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Opportunities to discuss and reflect on the readings in the context of their experiences and service are built into daily reflection.

Social Engagement

● An annual tradition is to gather with Macalester alumni in the area.

● Students learned about the personal impact of Katrina through a homemade gumbo dinner with Robert Green, a resident of the Lower 9^th Ward who is connected to the work of the Make it Right Foundation.

See Bonner Program Service Trips - Macalester College in NOLA for more info.

In a few sentences, describe your Second Year Exchange. Include the partner campuses, dates, location, main activities (i.e., service, conference), and key partners involved (name, address, website link).

Macalester Sophomore Bonner Congress Representatives and the Bonner Senior Intern hosted 10 Augsburg Bonners and 4 Bonners from the College of Saint Benedict’s/Saint John’s for the Sophomore Exchange. Congress Representatives from the three schools took this opportunity to solidify the Bonner network within Minnesota, connecting with and re-energizing each other about their shared work and Common Commitments. In organizing the day- long exchange, student leaders intentionally mixed training with semi-structured socializing and more structured civic engagement. The reflection after these activities focused on the Common Commitments. Each school hosted a workshop and Jamie Monson a Macalester History professor led a workshop on “The Ethics of Service.” Workshop participants also took a neighborhood tour of Saint Paul’s West Side, and Augsburg Bonners led a service project in conjunction with their Campus Kitchens program.

In a few sentences, describe any Junior or Senior Enrichment projects or leadership roles that upper-class students in your program played this year.

None

If relevant, please describe the structure for Senior Capstone projects. Select one that you'd like to share with the network.

Campus-wide Collaboration:

In a few paragraphs, describe an initiative or project that involved cross-campus collaboration this year. For example, you may want to highlight an initiative (service day, awareness week, issue forum) involving faculty, career services, multicultural life, student affairs, and/or other clubs and organizations. Or you may want to describe collaboration that contributed to improvements or success with core Bonner Program functions (i.e., recruitment, staffing, PR).

Our recruitment and retention efforts benefit from a close working relationship with the departments of Multicultural Life, Admissions, and Financial Aid. The partnership enables us to recruit first generation college students, students with a minimum EFC, and students from Minnesota. Given Macalester's global reach and its growing visibility as a highly selective undergraduate institution, the percentage of students from Minnesota has declined. Next year, we will explore ways for current Bonners from the local area to return to their high schools and promote the Bonner program. Currently, Bonners are contacting local admitted students, particularly those incoming students who have participated in a college access program. Representatives from these three offices serve on the Bonner selection committee together with Bonner staff and students.

Serve 2.0:

This year marks the completion of the third of the Serve 2.0 initiative. Please provide the names and links for your program's use of any of the following platforms.

Facebook: CEC Facebook Page, Mac Bonner Facebook Group - closed group only for Macalester Bonners, Mac Bonner Facebook Page
Wiki pages:
YouTube: CEC YouTube channel
Podcasts:
Twitter:
Other: Bonner Program website, Constant Contact, Google Suite (email, calendar, sites, groups), Blog, Moodle

In addition, in a few paragraphs, describe what web-based tools your program has found most useful. We are particularly interested in knowing which you continue to use and manage regularly and why.

Facebook, YouTube, Constant Contact, and Google Suite are the web-based tools that we have found to be most useful. The college's email provider is Google. Bonners are connected through the use of a shared calendar. Bonners are using our Facebook page as a way to share information for events, videos, and general Bonner news. Facebook is student sustained and is a platform that they are all experienced in using and check regularly. The CEC uses Constant Contact to create professional looking newsletters. Student leaders create newsletters for their issue areas about opportunities for involvement, events, and activities both on and off campus. The staff use Constant Contact to communicate information to student employees and Bonners about upcoming events, meeting dates, recognition and resources.

Macalester Year at a Glance