The first year training is the first experience you will have as a Bonner Fellow at CC followed by a structured exploration with select community partners. The key learning objective here is learning about what community engagment means as a whole and how the work you do as a Bonner connects to changemaking. Orientation is also integrated into the adjunct course and you will learn about the Bonner developmental model, the national Bonner network, why we have the Bonner program at CC, learn about the CCE, and receive an introduction to the community standards we all uphold as part of the Bonner program.

All-Bonner meetings will take place once a block and provide a space for all cohorts to join together. After general check-ins with everyone present, members of the Bonner Fellowship will facilitate a group activity or discussion. The Bonner Leadership Team will take charge in planning these meetings, though anyone is welcome to pitch ideas for consideration.

There are two main cornerstones of the Bonner experience that we incorporate, as promoted by the Bonner Network: the Capstone project and the Senior Presentation of Learning. Each one of these activities has a different purpose.

1. The Capstone process is all about integrating community engagement work and academic work
2. The Senior Presentation of Learning is about crafting the narrative of you, and celebrating the work you have done while showing a path for other students as well 

In addition to the cornerstone experiences at CC, we host all-Bonner retreats during the Fall and Spring semesters. In normal years, we facilitate the Fall retreat over a weekend in Block 3 and the Spring retreat over a weekend in early Block 7. These retreats provide ample time for social bonding, intentional reflection, and learning off-campus to break out of the CC bubble.

The Bonner Leadership Team is a team made up of 5 Bonner students who are dedicated to cultivating a strong, positive, and healthy culture within the Bonner Fellowship. Applications for the BLT open every Spring semester for current Bonners to apply

Every academic year, we will have a Student Director of the Bonner Fellowship, who will be responsible for both overseeing the Bonner Leadership Team (BLT), as well as assisting CCE staff in the running of the Bonner program. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the vision of the program, work more closely with affiliated CCE students and staff, and develop additional leadership experiences. Applications for the academic year internship position will be announced in the spring every year.

We encourage all Bonner students to say active through the GroupMe messaging platform that we have set up. Additionally, the CCE continues to share Bonner stories and announcements through our CCE Facebook Page and Instagram Page.

The Bonner program is “book-ended” by participation in project-based work.  New Bonners in the Spring semester rotate through block long, 15-hour project-based work with 3 community partners. Doing so enables students to meaningfully engage with the work of a community organization on a shorter-term basis, so they can explore multiple types of work and discern their passions.  Senior students lead capacity-building capstone projects for their primary community partner, enabling students to do a “signature work” at the end of their college experience and leave a meaningful legacy on their organization.  Seniors may choose to involve younger students in their capstone projects, as well. In the middle years – sophomore and junior years – students should aim to work directly with a community organization in a more traditional internship.  

Project-based work should be focused locally, to commit to our shared values of place-based learning and support. Students can utilize the PEAK Project database, the Issue Coalition listservs, and CCE staff to connect with engagement opportunities.

Students have many pathways for exploring with communities beyond campus during their time at CC. Along with joining issue-based coalitions and learning about the partner sites within those issue areas, students are encouraged to check out our High Impact Partner initiative to see if there are any sites they are particularly interested in working with, attend BreakOut trips to explore the community through short-term direct service trips, join a CCE student organization that works regularly with a specific partner site, and/or check out our ever-evolving off-campus opportunities  list on our CCE website.  Students are encouraged to meet with the CCE’s Community Partnerships Coordinator to continue their exploration with engagement off-campus.

For Bonner Fellow's sophomore-senior year, Bonners are expected to identify a community partner to work with in a community-based internship, defined as: work that is guided by and in collaboration with an off-campus community partner, and benefits communities beyond the campus. Practically, this means fellows must have an identified community partner, and an identified supervisor and mentor within that organization. Of the 24 hours a block expected of Bonner Fellows, 15-20 of those hours are spent engaging in those community-based internships. For seniors, those 15-20 hours are dedicated to their capstone work with their community partner.

In a student's first year in the program, community exploration is a part of the paid Bonner Fellowship, however, since students are expected to commit to one community partner in their sophomore-senior year (with a minimum of a semester long commitment, understanding that student and partner interests may evolve), any additional exploration or community engagement commitments are not subject to Fellowship payment, unless specifically coordinated with CCE staff.

Students are responsible for completing a Community Learning Agreement (CLA) each semester of each year and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) each academic year.

The CLA is the student’s primary engagement commitment outlining learning goals and work objectives, which must have a direct site supervisor who can sign off and account for all hours completed at a site. Semesterly CLA's with an identified supervisor must be submitted through Summit. Students are expected to complete around 15 hours of CLA-focused work with their community partner each block. Additional hours may be spent in secondary work or exploration within their identified community organization.

The MOU outlines mutually agreed upon expectations of all parties involved in a partnership. Students are responsible for reviewing and signing an MOU with their direct supervisor and a CCE staff member at the beginning of each academic year starting in year two. NOTE: MOU's will be initiated with CCE's High Impact Partners every year by the Community Partnerships Coordinator.

Knowing how to engage effectively, deliberately, or democratically must be learned. Within the academic division of labor in higher education, students discern what they believe needs to be changed in the world in core disciplines and majors; the field of civic engagement, with a foot in theory and a foot in practice, builds experiential knowledge of how to effect change in the world. Bonner students will have the opportunity to participate in educational classes and co-curricular workshops related to civic education and community work throughout their time at CC, alongside students enrolled in the CCE’s other co-curricular programs.

The Bonner learning community aims to generate spaces for dialogue and reflection; self-inquiry and understanding of the intersection between engagement and “positionality” – meaning how one’s position in the social and political world shapes one's perspective, voice, and influence in community-engaged work; place-based knowledge and deep understanding of the issues in which you engage; theories and models of social change; and strategies to engage with — not for — communities beyond our campus.

Reflections are an important aspect of the Bonner academic journey, for they encourage students to synthesize the information they are learning both through engaged experiences and coursework. There are two main reflections required of every Bonner--the Fall & Spring Written Reflections-- both of which are submitted through Summit . Additional short-answer reflections on Summit are only required if a student is unable to participate in changemaker workshops during the block, due to personal circumstances, and will be due on a date given by the facilitator of the workshop. 

Seniors are expected to complete a year-long Capstone Project with their community partner that is intended to be a “culminating experience -- or a signature work -- in which students synthesize their knowledge and skills across general education, majors, the co-curriculum, and off-campus study, applying what they know and can do to important, unscripted real-world problems” (Hoy and Wolfe 2016). In the Spring of their Junior year, Bonners are expected to complete a Capstone Proposal, submitted through Summit, to report on what their project will be their senior year.

Key elements of a community-engaged capstone include:

• Project-based: has a beginning, end, and outcome
• Integrative: connects identity, engaged commitments, and academic interests. The core characteristic here is that the project not only engages your time, but applies your academic knowledge, lived experiences and identity, know-how (abilities and skills), and passions.
• Capacity-Building: builds the power and ability of your partner organization to fulfill their mission, leaves a positive legacy rather than a deficit when it is completed
• Culminating, signature experience: organically builds on college experience
• Co-created with communities beyond the campus, addresses community-identified needs

Senior Presentation of Learning

Toward the end of your senior year, all senior Bonners will have the opportunity to reflect on and share the ways in which they have grown, learned, and affected change during their Bonner journey.  A big component of this presentation will be sharing more about your capstone project, as this will culminate and synthesize your experience in the program, but you will also engage in storytelling about your entire trajectory, work, and experiences along the way.  The process of storytelling, we hope, is a powerful way to synthesize your experience; this also provides a rich learning opportunity for students in other cohorts to hear and learn from your experiences.  If you are a senior, more information will be shared on these presentations to you during your senior year.