BONNER CENTER FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE AND LEARNING
GUILFORD COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, NC
Contacts
The Center and Programs
The Bonner Development Model
What is a Community Site?
Faculty involvement
Site and Project Coordinators' Help Page
“WE DON’T FEEL THAT YOU CAN have real social change unless you interact with the community.” —James Shields, Director
GUILFORD COLLEGE HAS one of the first Bonner Scholars Programs in the country. We pride ourselves on sustained commitments to community partners, organizations and neighborhoods.Some of our relationships are decades old. We operate projects and programs throughout the year. We advise and assist faculty members about including service learning in their courses, designing research projects and longterm community engagement.
Contacts
The Center and Programs
The Bonner Development Model
What is a Community Site?
Faculty involvement
Site and Project Coordinators' Help Page
GUILFORD COLLEGE HAS one of the first Bonner Scholars Programs in the country. We pride ourselves on sustained commitments to community partners, organizations and neighborhoods.Some of our relationships are decades old. We operate projects and programs throughout the year. We advise and assist faculty members about including service learning in their courses, designing research projects and longterm community engagement.
The Center and Programs
When people think "Bonner" they often think only of Bonner Scholars, just one of several programs and services run through the Bonner Center.
When people think "Bonner" they often think only of Bonner Scholars, just one of several programs and services run through the Bonner Center.
Bonner Scholars Program is the 4-year developmental program for the 60 Bonner Scholars chosen on the basis of financial need and dedication to service.
Bonner Fellows Program offers awards and deep learning opportunities each semester for 4 students interested in hunger and public health.
Community Scholars Program includes information, training and placement for more than 100 work-study students into off-campus community service sites.
Community Service Institute includes community engagement training and workshops covering social justice, anti-racism, cultural competency, reflection and etiquette.
Project Community Club is advised by Bonner staff and is treated as a "campus-based community site" through which student officers and members promote a culture of community service and learning at Guilford College.
Food Justice Club is advised by Bonner staff and through student officers and members runs Farm Stand, Quaker Cupboard, Community Kitchens Project, Mobile Market and Oasis Farmers Market.
The Bonner Developmental Model
"... on almost all campuses, utilization of active learning practices is unsystematic, to the detriment of student learning." — High Impact Educational Practices, AACU
Some people mistakenly believe Bonner Scholars simply receive financial assistance in return for their "volunteer" work hours in the community. In fact, Bonner Scholars are selected from a pool of applicants based on financial need and dedication to community service. They are enrolled in a 4-year college developmental program that incorporates best practices for student success. AACU High Impact Practices are purposefully integrated into a Bonner Scholar's experience and unlike most college students, Bonner Scholars are guided by staff to engage in most if not all of the ten listed High Impact Practices. This explains the high retention and graduation rates among all Bonners across the national network and at Guilford College. In brief, the Bonner Developmental Model is a proven model for all college students regardless of socio-economic or other status.
Guilford belongs to a network of Bonner schools located across the country. Unusual facts about the Guilford College Bonner Scholars Program:
• Students come from highly diverse identity, racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
• Most represent the first of their families to attend college.
• Increasing numbers from refugee and immigrant populations such as Karen, Karenni, Jarai, Rhade, Sudanese, Guatemalan, etc.
• Most are bi- or multi-lingual.
• The program is old enough to have generated systemic change; past Bonners and Guilford College students have been directly responsible for mentoring youth at community sites who have enrolled at Guilford College. Some have become Bonner Scholars themselves.
What is a Community Site?The Bonner Developmental Model
"... on almost all campuses, utilization of active learning practices is unsystematic, to the detriment of student learning." — High Impact Educational Practices, AACU
Some people mistakenly believe Bonner Scholars simply receive financial assistance in return for their "volunteer" work hours in the community. In fact, Bonner Scholars are selected from a pool of applicants based on financial need and dedication to community service. They are enrolled in a 4-year college developmental program that incorporates best practices for student success. AACU High Impact Practices are purposefully integrated into a Bonner Scholar's experience and unlike most college students, Bonner Scholars are guided by staff to engage in most if not all of the ten listed High Impact Practices. This explains the high retention and graduation rates among all Bonners across the national network and at Guilford College. In brief, the Bonner Developmental Model is a proven model for all college students regardless of socio-economic or other status.
Guilford belongs to a network of Bonner schools located across the country. Unusual facts about the Guilford College Bonner Scholars Program:
• Students come from highly diverse identity, racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
• Most represent the first of their families to attend college.
• Increasing numbers from refugee and immigrant populations such as Karen, Karenni, Jarai, Rhade, Sudanese, Guatemalan, etc.
• Most are bi- or multi-lingual.
• The program is old enough to have generated systemic change; past Bonners and Guilford College students have been directly responsible for mentoring youth at community sites who have enrolled at Guilford College. Some have become Bonner Scholars themselves.
A Bonner Center community site is supported by an agreement between a site host, usually a non-profit, grassroots or community-based organization, who acts as supervisor to a student coordinator. In turn, the coordinator recruits and oversees a team of students, facilitates communications between Bonner staff and the site host, manages and troubleshoots daily operations of the student team while it is on site. The coordinator, host and Bonner staff together develop mutually agreeable goals for the coordinator and the team. The coordinator conducts reflections and with Bonner staff, periodic reviews of progress. The coordinator plays a crucial role ensuring that qualified, trained students arrive on site. The success of the coordinator-site model has been demonstrated by time (many sites have been in continuous operation for decades) and its adoption by other Bonner schools.
Faculty Involvement
Faculty can be involved with the Bonner Center in many ways (link).
Bonner Center supports faculty research (link).
Faculty Involvement
Faculty can be involved with the Bonner Center in many ways (link).
Bonner Center supports faculty research (link).
Site and Project Coordinators' Help Pages
Click here for coordinators' resources (link).
