10 minute read
’Bonner Love’
BY TAYLOR HIBEL ’20
As the Stetson Bonner Program celebrates 20 years of community engagement and transformative experiences, it’s a great time to celebrate the relationships, guiding principles and experiences that make this program a place where people feel connected to a vibrant community.
Since fall 2005, Stetson has been home to the Bonner Program, a national network of 65-plus schools providing relationship-rich opportunities that transform students, communities and campuses through service. The vision of former President Doug Lee, PhD, and the university’s Board of Trustees members — the visionaries and early funders of the program — has indeed come to fruition, as Stetson Bonners “Let their lives speak!”
I’ve been a part of the Bonner community at Stetson since 2018, first as a student and now in a staff capacity as the assistant director. Bonner has brought all of the best people into my life, so I am excited to reflect on what makes the program so relationship-rich.
A student-run program, Bonner embodies the motto “Access to Education, Opportunity to Serve” by bringing together folks who are committed to leveraging their knowledge and skills to engage in community well-being and social-change efforts. This program truly is a community where values-driven people gather to learn, grow and engage in solving the most complex challenges facing our local and global communities.
At the heart of Bonner, the program shows us the immense power of relationships — with community partners, fellow students, faculty and staff — to clarify values, shape lives and create positive change.
Starting Strong
The close relationships and community — building efforts that Bonner is known for are layered with high-impact practices to maximize student learning and student success. From the moment students are accepted into the program, Bonner staff and student leaders plan experiences to help incoming students connect with other students in their cohort, as well as members of the broader Bonner community. We believe that students thrive with clear expectations about the program and support in making friends. As a result, a thorough orientation has been developed to help them learn both about what to expect and how to build community.
Beyond orientation, Bonners participate in many other shared experiences during their first year on campus. Our students take the same First Year Seminar, live in Conrad Hall together and work in the community as one, all of which are college experiences that include deep learning and high levels of faculty/staff support. Our students love this built-in friend group, and we see that our first-year students develop strong friendships from regular interactions in class along with unplanned, spontaneous interactions in Conrad. These experiences help students feel a sense of belonging during their first semester, and this sense of belonging only deepens as students experience more of the developmental cohort model of Bonner.
Building Relationships
The principles of ethical community engagement that guide Bonner — focusing on mutually beneficial, reciprocal and asset-based work — help us form trusting relationships where we listen to understand, practice empathy and consistently show up. Through intentional training, shared experiences and practices that center connection, members of Bonner develop deep, trusting relationships with other members of our program.
These trusting relationships are full of “Bonner Love,” a term of endearment we use to describe the care, affection and support we give to fellow Bonners.
We care deeply about our students and put time and effort toward making them feel valued, appreciated, seen and loved. We know it’s important to tell folks they matter and acknowledge their efforts are meaningful. So, we write Bonner Fuzzies (short notes) to share our affection with one another.
We create a community where all of our students can feel like they belong. With a significant portion of students being international or students of color (80%), the program brings together individuals from diverse backgrounds with unique perspectives, experiences and expertise. This diversity helps our program build bridges, engage in dialogue across difference and find common ground, which helps us form deeper connections.
Student-Centered Approach
Within the Bonner program, we firmly believe in supporting holistic student development and creating environments where members can thrive as people, students, leaders and professionals. We seek to provide students with the right balance of challenge and support as they work toward finding their people, place and purpose.
All Bonners engage in paid internships with local nonprofit community partners, which often last throughout their entire time at Stetson. These internship of eight to 10 hours per week represent long-term developmental involvement that allows our Bonners to build mentoring relationships with site supervisors and community members at their community partner sites, as well as with other Bonners who work on their team.
As part of their required 1,000-plus hours of work over four years, all Bonners also complete at least one paid, full-time Summer of Service with a nonprofit organization anywhere in the world. Additionally, Bonners participate in paid training sessions that provide opportunities for personal, professional and leadership development. This structured training model helps students build lifelong skills while also providing regular, planned interactions that support building community.
In addition to their weekly work and training, the Certificate of Community Engagement and Junior Capstone Project allow Bonners to integrate their academic interests and career goals with their community engagement efforts. We call this synergy the “Sweet Spot,” and find that it helps our students develop meaningful connections to faculty mentors, community partner co-educators and other students who share similar interests.
Through these experiential learning opportunities, Bonners gain more experience and skills while integrating more of their academic interests and career goals into their internships over time. This environment provides students with the right balance of challenge and support to make their goals and dreams happen. Bonner students must complete 1,000-plus hours of community work over four years.
Culture and Connections
Much of our culture and connections within the program are built through our Bonner Lead Team. This group of 10 to 12 student leaders plans events, shapes the direction of the program and invests time into making sure people feel included. They provide peer mentorship and support for personal, academic and Bonner-related challenges. Student leaders and staff practice transparency by telling students why we do community-building work, and we often talk about the importance of relationships. We frequently talk about making friends and sustaining relationships by highlighting the intentionality, thoughtful planning and time it takes to build community.
Trust, relationships and community are built in small moments over time. So, we show up in thoughtful ways, start meetings with connection questions and spend lots of time getting to know people.
One practice our Lead Team uses to encourage sharing, vulnerability and trusting relationships is the establishment of Brave Space Rules. These collective group agreements create a space where members of the program can feel comfortable learning, sharing and examining ideas. We develop these shared norms at the start of each fall semester, include them in every group meeting and frequently reference them. Brave Space Rules such as one mic (no interruptions) and YOGOWYPI (you only get out what you put in) help us develop a meeting culture that is respectful, kind and intentional about “how we show up in spaces.” We want people to be OK with sharing their authentic self and know they won’t be shamed.
The intentionality of Bonner goes beyond Brave Space Rules. It is present in everything from small-group interactions to shared retreats, orientations and regular meetings. Every aspect of the program is designed to build a community with common values and relationships where members feel seen, heard and valued.
Through transparent communication and intentional acts of appreciation, both students and staff contribute to a culture of mutual support, understanding and grace.
As the Stetson Bonner Program celebrates its 20th anniversary, it serves as an example of why relationships matter when you are working to create meaningful change. With more than 300 graduates and a graduation rate of approximately 95%, the program has remained a community where people come seeking to make a difference and leave empowered to lead lives of meaning.
The Bonner Program is for people who know what upsets them to the point of action. These students join the program wanting to form relationships with other students who want to apply what they are learning in the classroom to advance justice-oriented work in the community.
In reflecting on the past two decades, it’s clear that Bonner has led to many lives being touched, countless close relationships and impactful community outcomes. As someone who married a fellow Bonner she met in the program, I can certainly speak to how the close relationships in the program are lifelong. Bonner’s intentional community-building efforts, structured support and training, and student-centered approach are clear ways we build trust, promote our shared values and invest in relationships.
In a world where loneliness and cruelty are the norm (sadly), it’s exciting to know that graduates of the Stetson Bonner Program are departing with an understanding of how to cultivate warmth, joy and meaning.
We’re excited to see what the next chapter of the Bonner story holds, because it’s clear it will be one where we recognize our shared humanity, work to advance justice and continue to build a loving community.
Taylor Hibel ’20 is assistant director of the Bonner Program and Community Partnerships. A Bonner Program student at Stetson, she majored in Biology (with a concentration in community engagement).
BONNER ACTIVITIES IN 2023-2024
Just a few examples of what Bonner students were doing in the nearby campus community during this past school year:
• Maddie Emmons, a Bonner sophomore working at the Chisholm Center, installed a Little Library at her site.
• Gabbey Gomez, a Bonner firstyear student working with United Way, went to Tallahassee to advocate for United Way’s public policy priorities.
• Jackie Maze, a Bonner junior working with Hispanic Health Initiatives, provided health assessments to community members by connecting with local churches and community centers.
• Evans Asuboah, a Bonner senior working with Black Homeschoolers of Central Florida, redesigned a website to improve the usability and fundraising capacity.
• Rodrigo Pereira, a Bonner junior working with The Neighborhood Center, Good Samaritan Clinic and Black Homeschoolers of Central Florida, created videos and social media content for fundraisers.
• Kaci Kruglewicz, a Bonner senior, worked on marine rescues in Portugal and Peru.
BONNER DISTINCTION
The Bonner Foundation selected five interns for the 2024 National Bonner Summer Internship program from among its 75-plus Bonner programs — and two are from Stetson: Ariel Castillo, a junior this fall, and Abria Doe, a third-year senior.
The interns, from various universities and diverse academic backgrounds, focus on key strategic initiatives, including curriculum development, student coalition building, supporting career connections, video creation and researching models for servicebased scholarships.
Castillo, originally from Masaya, Nicaragua, majors in Digital Arts and minors in a Certificate of Community Engagement. Doe is majoring in English with the Certificate of Community Engagement minor.
