BERRY COLLEGE

PROPOSAL

The Berry College Bonner Scholars Program’s Big Idea for 2012-2013 is aimed at bringing awareness of the various service opportunities that are available to students to the student community of Berry College at large. Our Big Idea aims to do this by providing an opportunity for the Berry College Bonner Scholars Program to join forces with other various student organizations that have an emphasis on service to provide the student body with an increased awareness of the reasons behind service, how to get involved with service, and how to ensure our campus remains a campus with a “culture of service.” This Big Idea also aims to encourage both Bonner and non-Bonner students to learn more about the reasons why they serve, why service to others is important, and to encourage a continued individual passion for service.

The first component of our Big Idea will be a “mini” Awareness Week, spanning 2-3 days, which will feature a table in our student center promoting the Bonner Scholars Program, our mission/purpose, examples of the work that our campus Bonners complete locally, nationally, and internationally, as well as an overall program description of the national Bonner Program. This table will also feature similar information on other on-campus service organizations, potentially including the Habitat for Humanity club, HHOPE, and more. We also plan to “canvas the campus” with fliers explaining the impact of long-term community service partnerships while in college, and more important info that pertains to our program as well as others, to our campus, and to our community.

The second component of our Big Idea will be a “Service Day” in which Bonner and non-Bonner students will join together to serve at 2-4 community partner sites in the local community. This opportunity is designed to give our Bonners a chance to lead while also giving non-Bonners the opportunity to experience what it is like to be a Bonner and to learn more about the impact of long-term community partnerships in the college setting. Additionally, this component will feature a “reflection” activity, which will encourage all participants to delve into ways in which they can have meaningful, impactful, and continued service endeavors that impact themselves and the community; and which will help them to discover their own “secret of service,” or the reason(s) behind their service activities.

The overall purpose of this Big Idea is to increase awareness of service on campus and bring attention to the need for long-term community partnerships with college students in the local community. This Big Idea also allows our Bonners to demonstrate their leadership abilities while leading a diverse group of volunteers and allows us to strengthen the bonds already present in our program by giving our Bonners an opportunity to work together. Our aim for this project is to encourage non-Bonner students to utilize the Berry College Bonner Center for Community Engagement and other on-campus resources as tools in developing meaningful service opportunities, regardless of whether they are a Bonner Scholar student or not.