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| Bonner Scholars Program Celebrates
10 Years and 112 Graduations |
| A decade to crow about! |
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by Anne C. Paine
March 14, 2003 |
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Bonner Scholars from the Class
of 2006 pose in the storeroom at the Lighthouse
PATH in Pontiac, Michigan. The first-year Bonners
undertake a group service project every year; this
year, they spent a week in January working for Lighthouse
PATH (Pontiac-Area Transitional Housing), which
provides transitional housing and a comprehensive
array of support services to homeless families.
Some students spent the week organizing the glut
of holiday donations for the store at Lighthouse,
from which clients can purchase bedding supplies,
kitchen supplies, toys, and clothing. Others worked
painting PATH apartments.
Bonner Scholars shown here are: (front row, left
to right) Charmaine Crabaugh, Rachel White; (back
row, left to right) Miriam Elfstrom, Curtis Ferguson,
Pegah Rahmanian, Emily Guirl, Alicia Greene, Jason
Williams, Dia Vergados, and Baraka Noel. |
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This year is a special one for the Bonner Scholars Program
at Oberlin College: it's celebrating 10 years of
success. In the decade since the program was established
here, 112 of the 125 students who enrolled as "Bonners"
have graduated. That's nearly 90 percent, a remarkable
achievement.
Oberlin administrators are pleased with these statistics,
but they're not surprised in the least.
"When we studied black student retention in 1996,
we found that the one factor that predicted persistence
to graduation best was involvement in the community. We
thought then—and I would say now—that this probably
holds true for all students, not just black students,"
said Diana Roose, special consultant to the president.
The Bonner Scholars Program (BSP) promotes community involvement
by replacing the work-study component of eligible students'
financial aid awards with scholarships, allowing them
to devote time to community work. The program is funded
by the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation.
The black student retention study to which Roose referred,
and which she oversaw, was published in September 1997.
The results showed that involvement in the community was
a strong common factor among students who graduated, while
no single issue was a determining factor for nongraduating
students.
The study—the most ambitious survey on the topic
ever undertaken at the College—was instigated at
the request of President Nancy S. Dye, who was shocked
by the small number of African American students who crossed
the stage during the first Commencement of her tenure.
Oberlin's study remains a vital piece of research,
according to Beth Blissman, director of the Center for
Service and Learning (CSL), who said it was cited as one
of just two studies linking service and retention at the
first International Conference on Service-Learning Research,
which she attended in October 2001. The Bonner program
is housed within the CSL.
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| Bonner Scholars Program Director
Angela Logan volunteered too. She is shown here
sorting and folding donated clothing in the Lighthouse
PATH storeroom. |
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Through the BSP, the Bonner Foundation annually provides
more than 1,500 scholarships to students at 25 colleges
and universities, most of which are located in Appalachia.
To be eligible to participate, students must be first-generation
college students, from low-income backgrounds, or from
groups that are underrepresented in academia.
Oberlin doesn't fit the profile of a typical Bonner
institution, said Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith. But
the program fits perfectly into the ethos of the College,
and that's why the foundation originally asked Oberlin
to participate.
"We believe the Bonner Scholars Program helps prepare
students to become the kind of world citizens that Oberlin
wants people to become," Goldsmith said. "We
want to graduate not just economically productive citizens,
but engaged citizens who make their communities the best
possible place for people who live in them."
Oberlin's Bonner program has been highly successful
in the last decade, but there have been bumps in the road,
said Blissman, the CSL director. In its 10 years of existence,
the program has had five different directors.
"Since I came to Oberlin in August of 2000, it has
been one of my primary goals to increase stability, structure,
and student responsibility and involvement in the BSP,"
she said. "Stability in the program should help with
retention even more."
With the hiring of Angela Logan as BSP director in July
2001, staffing issues have stabilized, Blissman said.
And Logan has taken a number of steps to ensure consistency
throughout the program. She's gotten Oberlin Bonners
involved at the organization's national level, and
she's instituted a mentoring program in which upperclass
Bonners are matched to incoming students. Beginning next
fall, she plans to have senior Bonner interns assist with
program planning, selecting the incoming class, and running
the Bonner orientation and first-year seminar.
In addition, she's ensuring that the program retains
a strong, personal mentoring aspect.
"I encourage the students to let me know what's
going on in their lives. I help them make sure they meet
their commitments to school, to themselves, and to their
sites. I want them to treat their placements as a job—if
you can't make it in, you call and let them know.
I encourage them to relax, to pace things, to get plenty
of sleep, to take their vitamins, to be kind to one another.
I try to help them keep a balance in their lives, and
I try to model that for them myself."
Logan's efforts, combined with the strong past record
of the BSP, could make the program's next 10 years
even more successful than the first. Check back in 2013!
Related Links:
What
Keeps Black Students at Oberlin? Survey Reveals Some Surprises
(July 1997 Around the Square)
Bonner
Scholars Program
The Corella and Bertram
F. Bonner Foundation |
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