Tuesday, March 9, 2010

My Commitment to Bonner

This week's blog question asks something to the following effect: What are you prepared to do to make Bonner more effective? Unfortunately, as I am graduating in May of this year, I will not be able to be 'directly' involved at the university level. My hope is that, over the four years I've been at Stetson, I've helped play a small role in laying the groundwork for a bigger, better, stronger, and more dynamic program. Bonner has taken over Stetson as the 'sexy' service organization (see, for example, two or three years ago when we cleaned up at the spring service awards). But we've also established Bonner as a credible, reliable, and good community partner--with the agencies we partner with and the communities of DeLand, Spring Hill, and Pierson.

So back to the question at hand: what can I do? Though I will not be here at Stetson and an active part of the Bonner program, I feel that I can participate in the broader alumni network to provide advice, assistance, guidance, and leadership to current members of the Bonner program. Additionally, as I have shared with many of you, I'm officially running for the Iowa House of Representatives. One of my chief priorities in the legislature is to develop a community service incentive program by which high school students complete X hours with a participating community partner and in return the state provides a scholarship, loan reducation, or other tuition assistance of Y dollars. This is just one way that I can take what I've learned at Stetson and export it to the real world and my community.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Bonner Program Reflections

First of all, I totally agree with everything that has been said and find it encouraging that we all recognize similar aspects of Bonner that could be improved. For the Bonner Program nationally, I agree with Jack and Zach. For our Bonner program specifically, I think we could use a lot more communication and organization. Many logging confusions and paperwork errors occur due to a lack of communication. Also, I think each of us could work on respecting each other and our respective service areas. None should be valued more than another. We are all working toward the betterment of our community.

Overall though, I love Bonner. I do believe we build meaningful relationships with community partners that changes the heart of our community. I think I can speak for everyone when I say Stetson would not be the same without Bonner. I'm an integral part of the Stetson and DeLand community and I owe it to Bonner. So thank you. I truly appreciate all this program has done for me.