Student: Bonner Community Leaders, Academic Year 2026-27

Ideals:

• We work with organizational partners on and off campus who have rich opportunities for students to grow and learn through leadership experience doing public work in community settings.

• We choose diverse organizational partners so that students are engaged around various social issues and strategies for making change, sharing those experiences with each other. 

• We prioritize opportunities for student leaders to do collaborative, co-creative, capacity-building work with the communities in which they participate and seek to expand such opportunities.

• Students gain experience and grow core work competencies through training and field experience.

• Bonner Leaders are “students first”. Although this does require different flexibility than an employee who is not a full-time student, we encourage students to prioritize balance to cultivate capacity for effective future work. 

Bonner Programs across the nation share a set of common commitments, and Bonner Leaders from Augsburg participate in similar activities and leadership development:

• Common Commitments:

• Civic Engagement

• Community Building

• Social Justice

• International Perspective

• Diversity

• Spiritual Exploration

Cornerstone Activities:

• First Year Trip• Bonner Leaders participate in a trip designed to engage them in community learning to help them explore their interest in social change.

• Second Year Exchange• 2nd year Bonner Leaders participate in a day-long immersive learning or community-centered experience with Bonner Leaders from programs at other schools in the region.

• Third Year Leadership• By this year, Bonners are taking on leadership in different ways• Project/site coordinators or initiating changes at the sites

• Issues-based team leaders

• Creating their opportunity to lead and engage others!

• Senior Capstone• The Senior Capstone is a culminating experience in which the senior develops a project with their placement site that will stay past their time with the program/organization.