EMORY AND HENRY COLLEGE

Congress Reps for 2012-2013

• Courtney Cruey 
• Olivia Bailey 

What's Your Big Idea Category? (please bold which one)

- Student Leadership & Development

- Community Partnerships & Impact

- Campus Culture & Coordination

- Policy & Elections 

VISION

In 400 words or less, please describe your Big Idea. What is it and why have you decided to work on it this year? How may it strengthen your program, campus, and/or community?

We will focus our Bonner Big Idea on encouraging and educating local high school students who feel they may not have an opportunity to pursue further education at colleges, technical schools and other areas of the work force.  We are hoping to use local and regional research to pinpoint the major barriers to higher education for high school students in our local area and region.  Last year, our region developed this focus on access to higher education as a regional goal.  When Bonner Scholars returned from Bonner Congress, a few students pursued this service venture by assisting local students with their FAFSA and visiting local high schools to promote the Bonner Scholarship program and college attendance in general.  This year, we have a Bonner Scholar who is placed at the United Way of Washington County, Virginia as the Post High School Aspirations Project Intern.  This Bonner Scholar is using local research to determine the high school in the area that has the lowest percentage of students pursing any form of education post-high school and trying to pinpoint the cause.  In the Spring the Bonner Scholar hopes to have projects that will assist students at the selected high school in their college pursuits.  We hope in developing our Big Idea we can work to involve more than one Bonner Scholar on this project.

STRATEGY

In 400 words or less, please describe your strategy. The following questions should draw out the tools, resources, and support you are using to promote and achieve your Big Idea. You'll have a chance to flesh out your plan, but here is a chance to get the basics down: 

• Which Bonner staff on your campus has committed to helping you achieve this Big Idea?
• Shannon Hoffman, Bonner Scholars Coordinator 
• Who's on your team? Please share how you may be involving:
• Joanna Golde, Bonner Scholar intern at United Way 
• Education majors, Public Policy and Community Service majors 
• United Way, Washington County Schools, Virginia Highlands Community College 
• Tal Stanley 
• What resources will you leverage to help you achieve your Big Idea? 
• Our main resources will come from our relationships with the community partners listed above.   
• What three things will you accomplish by the end of this academic year (think SLI 2012)? 
• At the end of Spring Semester have one major event that connects local high school students to commuity colleges and technical schools.
• Hosting tours and visits of the Emory & Henry campus to de-mystify misconceptions about private colleges.
• Working to incorporate this big idea with the Appalachian Center's student development model.  We will work to have one upper class student who leads this project and several first-year and sophomore students who work with this upper class leader to continue to develop programs that reach out to local high school students seeking higher education. 

RESULTS 

A good Big Idea proposal is one that connects with broader goals you may have for your program, campus, or community. Please answer the question below, which should help you think through those larger themes.

• What will be different in 2015 as a result of your Big Idea (thinking in a 3-year strategic plan)? 

Increase local student's knowledge about post-high school options.  Local students will also know more about how to seek assistance for applications and financial aid.  Hopefully, the targeted high school has increased the number of students that pursue post-high school education. 

TIMELINE

Please draft some of your benchmark goals into the framework below:

• Bonner Congress October 19-21, 2012:
• Have Post High School Aspirations Intern in place at United Way 
• MLK Day January 21, 2013:
• IMPACT Conference February 21-24, 2013:
• SLI June 5-8, 2013: 

<—Back to Bonner Congress Proposals 2012-2013 INDEX