Bonner Leaders

“We are not put on this earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are there always for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you.”

 

What is the Bonner Leaders Program?

The mission of the Bonner Program is to transform the lives of students and members, their campuses, their local communities, and the world through service and leadership.

The Bonner Program is designed to heighten the overall education students and members receive by asking them to engage in ongoing service work and helping them develop the experience, skills, knowledge, and values necessary to make that work meaningful and lasting.

For more information and to apply

The deadline to apply as an incoming first-year student is Sunday, January 3, 2024. 

For students already attending Ursinus, the current first-year student application is due March 2024. Students must attend an information session in February 2024 to receive the application. Contact Christian Rice crice1@ursinus.edu or Ang Upright aupright@ursinus.edu for more information.

Key Features

Intensive Community Service Commitment

  • 10 hours of community service per week (300 hours total during the school year)
  • 80% direct service, 20% training and enrichment
  • Students select where they want to serve
  • Students also serve as service project leaders
  • Attend Bonner Orientation at the beginning of each semester
  • Submit hour logs at the end of each month
  • Participate in first-year service trip (Spring Break)
  • Attend Saturday Service Days once per month
Multi-Year Program
  • Multi-year program with 35 Bonner Leaders
  • Coordinated by an on-campus Director and Coordinator
  • Partnered with site supervisors at each community partner
Student Development
  • Increased expectations each year in the program
  • Supported through regular training and enrichment activities, as well as curricular connections

2020 Service Trip

The first-year Bonner Leaders, Bonner Interns, Director Christian Rice and Coordinator Katie Turek, embarked on the 11th annual spring break service trip to Beeston Spring, Jamaica, where they assisted with community projects, building homes, painting a church and a home, constructing a wooden fishing boat, and completing projects at two elementary schools. Bonner Leaders engage in 10 hours of community service each week of the semester and their experience in Jamaica helped them gain an international perspective on many of the same social issues they encounter domestically in their community service throughout the year.

Ursinus Bonner Leaders in Jamaica, March 2020 Ursinus Bonner Leaders in Jamaica, March 2020

“Although I have always had an interest in public service and volunteerism, the Ursinus College Bonner Program cultivated this interest in ways in which I will forever be grateful. The Bonner Program gave me the resources to transform my hobbies and convictions into realistic, sustainable service opportunities, while the Ursinus faculty and staff gave me the guidance and support to fully develop my beliefs and to carry out my ambitions.”

-Kristin Daly-Barnes ’11

“We have a thing called Bonner love, where, while the Bonners may all come from different backgrounds, we share our common commitment to service and community which fosters the love that we share for our Bonner family. People say that they come to college and find a whole new family of like-minded friends, and I found mine in Bonner. There is not a place on the campus where I was able to be myself as much as I was in Bonner, and this allowed me to explore who I was.”

— Lindsay Budnick ’11