Blogging Assignment

Thank you all for your patience!! Your long awaited and anticipated blog assignment is just about upon us.

Dr. Johnson will be giving us some excellent questions for a reflection about the prison industrial complex as inspired by the "And Still We Rise" event and the web sites below.

For those who did not attend this event, we will ask you to respond to the information provided. For those who did, you will be drawing from the event itself as well to give feedback and insights to the rest of the group. The Congress Representatives will be doing a report out from Bonner Congress.

The questions will be posted during the meeting or directly after.

Thanks for your patience!!

Gretchen

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DIRECTIONS:

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/hardtime/index.html

http://www.correctionsproject.com/prisonmaps/intropart_frame.htm

Log on to the web site above. Spend at least 30 minutes exploring EACH of the sites . Answer the following in your blog post:

1. How would you explain the disproportionate incarceration rate for minority groups generally, and black males specifically, in America today?

2. What are the effects, on communities, families, and individuals, of incarceration?

3. What should be done to address the challenges of incarceration faced by communities, families, and individuals?

4. As a member of the Siena Franciscan Community, and a Siena Bonner Service Leader, how can you be an ally to, and imagine working to address the challenges faced by, formerly incarcerated people at some point in your Siena career?

Explore Fully!

Think Deeply!

Write Freely!

Drj.

Just Saying Hi!

Hey guys!

I feel like I haven't seen you all in a long time even though it was just last week. I wanted to let you guys know that Bernadette and I had our interviews at the Boys and Girls Club yesterday and it went great. We're both so excited to start our volunteering! I hope you guys are hanging in there after all these midterms and I will see you all tomorrow:)

B-love,

Meg

"the representatives of the student movement"

hey guys!

this past weekend at the university of richmond for bonner congress was amazing! we all had so much fun talking with people from different schools and learning about different ways to get the word out about bonner on our own campus. then of course there were the fun things, like the bonner talent show and the dance party and of course the ten hour car ride on the way home (we kinda sorta might have driven through jersey twice...) overall it was an awesome experience and the five of us can't wait to show you guys what we learned from the weekend on thursday.

ps. how was the play on sunday? i want to know how amazing it was!

lots of b-love,

michelle

<3

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Ananda!!!!!!! =)

Midterm week!

Hey guys!

So i just wanted to say hi, and wish everyone luck on their midterms. I hope all your weeks aren't too crazy and stressful. Hang in there! We're halfway through the semester, can you believe it? See you all on Thursday!

B-LOVE
Mel

Quote of the Week

Hey people!!

I thought I would send out a little Bonner love tonight via Facebook, etc. with quotes of the week. Some are thought provoking; others are random. Some are funny, some are serious. All are meant for you to enjoy!

I LOVE QUOTES!!

If you didn't get "quoted" tonight, please reach out for your very own quote of the week!!

Blogging assignment to be posted...soon...

Terrific Bonnerific People!

I Can Post!

Hey Everybody! So I finally figured out how to post on the Bonner Blog (which looks pretty cool, by the way). The following is copied and pasted out of the e-mail that I sent to Gretchen to substitute for a blog.

I still do not know how to comment- any suggestions?

Regarding accountability-

I saw the quote, "The team is only as strong as its weakest member," used in some of the responses, and I could not agree more. I this quote applies especially to Bonner, reflecting several responsibilities: our responsibility to upmost represent the Bonner program in community leadership, our responsibility to support one another and help each other learn and develop and finally the responsibilities shared between Gretchen (you) and us as Bonners.
In any organization, the members rely on the "do'ers," or the "movers and shakers," to drive progress. That is what accountability really means. The more movers and shakers, and the more those movers and shakers fulfill their responsibilities and communicate, the more the organization will achieve.
This element becomes more complex in a full group of such aspiring M's& S's. The group is swamped with responsibilities from inside and outside of the organization, feeling a duty to each one equally. It is the responsibility of the entire team to keep them on the right track, or "hold them accountable," within the responsibility of the organization at hand. That is where Gretchen and Amanda come in with helpful reminders in e-mails and notes throughout the week, and efficiency in their own positions such as in holding workshops. These are my feelings on accountability in a nutshell, as the backbone of any group. On a personal level, I am finally solidifying my schedule and time management, largely after bonding with my agenda (finally), and am looking forward to being a Bonner 100%.

Although I used Driving awareness in my question response, I am now most interested in the ideas for higher education that Tai has expressed and will elaborate on higher education.
A project that would develop the awareness and ability of youth in the Albany area could be considered service learning in a number of ways. First of all, Siena has a reputable education department in which classes could incorporate tutoring students, whether academically or in learning techniques to apply to college. From a social work or political science perspective, any number of classes that focus on social development and youth could incorporate such a program into a class. These classes would study why their is such a sociodemographic disparity in the pursuit of higher education while helping solve the problem. Even a communications class could teach the interpersonal skills necessary to gain acceptance into college.

2. To choose a specific example, I will refer to the social science service learning I discussed above. Students would learn how to increase the pursuit and acceptance into higher education, while studying its causes on a qualitative level, while working with youth. Reflection would occur in the study of why the students do not graduate high school or go to college at higher rates. Diversity, unfortunately, would probably be emphasized without trying, due to the racial and sociodemographic disparity in inner cities. The partnership would be with the school as well as possibly an outside tutoring service such as Kaplan, which would give the students a chance to pursue professional tutoring under the sponsorship of the grant. Progress could be monitored over a five year period or as soon as two years, as students in the program began would hopefully be found to pursue higher education at a greater rate. The duration and intensity would need to be looked at from a long-term perspective, as the Bonner goal, and that which is in the best interest in development, is to institutionalize any service programs that are created. Youth Voice would drive the project, and would provide aggregate level supervision and feedback on the progress of the students.

Thanks! Ben

hours

Hey everybody! I am officially a blogger creeper (who knew) and I'm posting yet again. Just wanted to say that I logged my hours that we are supposed to have done on BWBRS by tomorrow, and if you did yours, just comment on this so Gretchen and Amanda know! Thanksss

BLOVIZZLE
Chels

EVERYBODYYY

Since April is going pretty far away this weekend (Florida!), I think we should all wish her safe travels! Have a really great trip April and we'll miss you! And I'll even miss everyone that's just going home for the weekend :) Enjoy the long weekend everybody!

BLOVEEE,
Chels

Grant Idea: Education

My idea is to implement a program in Albany that would be similar to Job Corp. Job Corp is a program for young adults ages 16-23 where they learn a trade and earn a high school diploma or GED.

My program would take 15 to 20 students from Albany High School that have the following:

• financial issue
• learning disability
• Will be kicked out of school because of age the next year
• Left back more than once

The students will go through various job trainings (leadership, communication, team building, etc.) and to a GED/Regents prep 3 times a week. The other two days of the week students will be placed at various internships (non-for-profit organizations) and with a portion of the grant money receive a monthly stipend.

Transportation will be provided for the students to go their to job sites and come to the program.

hmmmmmmm

Ok well I dont know why but I am having a really difficult time coming up with some sort of program for this. I have been thinking about this since last night but nothing has come to me yet Im just blanking haha. I know want to do something with education, I think thats really important, but when I try to come up with a specific program idea I just kinda blank. I keep thinking about the Music mobile because I think that is a really great educational program, it really educates on many levels and educates on a very deep level that might not be so apparent on the surface. No matter what kind of program we do I think its really important to include character education because I think thats something that is overlooked sometimes, when we here education we automatically think academics, but there is allot more to education than just school. So those are my thoughts and Im sorry I wasnt able to come up with a good specific idea but hopefully we ca incorporate these into someone Else's program.

T.J.

Grant Brainstorm

I'm so impressed with every one's ideas. I was reading over all the service -learning and I love seeing my fellow Bonner's have such big ideas. At first I was really worried about coming up with an idea. When it comes to creativity I have such a hard time putting things together, but after reading everyone Else's I'm going to do the best I can.

First I decided for the grant, I would want to address the idea of access to higher education. You hear a lot of older people who say "a college degree is the new high school degree." College degrees are common now and expected by most employers. Kids need to be taught from a young age that a college degree is attainable for everyone. I think our target should be the albany community. Also, middle schoolers and high schoolers should both recieve the benefits of our grant ideas.

Siena students would have after school programs at albany schools that can change for different ages. Middle schoolers would recieve help with classes and also have mini training sessions, kind of like our current bonner meetings. Where we pick a topic, like time managment, and make it fun to help engage the students. With the highschoolers I think it would be really important to help with SAT prep and also even college choices. Every highschooler needs help when it comes to deciding on what colleges to apply to, and every student needs to know that their dreams are attainable. Our mission with the highschoolers would be to teach them about financial oppertunities to help pay for college.

As college students we have all gone threw these processes so who else would be better fit than us to help the students?

Grant Writing

The issue I chose to address is Access to Higher Education because I believe that especially in the Albany area, the odds of teenagers graduating from high school and going on to college are not likely. The problem is that these teens don't have role models showing them how important education is. They need to learn that in today's world it is very difficult to survive without a college degree.

To address this issue, I would like to implement a program starting in middle school(I originally thought it should start in high school, but when I looked at the blogs of others I agreed that it should start earlier) where we would begin to introduce the idea of college to them. It's crucial to make a college education seem attainable to them because many don't see it as a realistic goal. At the middle school level the program would focus on educating students on the importance of a college education. At the high school level as Hannah mentioned students should be getting SAT prep. I also think that we should introduce them to different scholarships that can be offered especially because many may not be able to afford higher education, but their are so many scholarships out there that people do not know about. After reading Steph's idea about having students play Dr. Johnson's game from Sociology last year, I feel like that could work in this case also because students would realize how challenging it is to survive without higher education.

This is a service learning project because it would engage the Siena community with the Albany community. It would require a variety of students with different majors to help out. Each aspect of the program that I listed above would need the help of students from various majors. For example a finance major would help students figure out how they are going to pay for college.

FINALLY

heyy.
i just wanted to share my excitement with everyone.
i got placed at my site today and i start on tuesday sooo im sooooooo excited!
and ive been busy so far this week with hw and im just heading to bed now.
see you all tomorrow...or later today i suppose.
bonnerlove.

Grant idea

The idea I chose for the grant concerned financial education. Financial education is a very important aspect that is greatly under taught. Time and time again we see underprivileged kids fall into the same pattern as their parents. They are unable to break the poverty cycle that they were unfortunately born into. Financial education plays a big role in this cycle. If we are able to teach students positive financial tendencies, we will bring them one step closer to breaking away from poverty.

Financial education will prove to be a quality service-learning project because, like Hannah mention in her blog, Siena students will be teaching it. We will need majors from finance and accounting and even business. No matter what major a student has financial education will benefit them, and those who they are teaching.
An idea to improve this would to possibly start a workshop for parents. It could educate parents about the importance of teaching their kids financial education and show them how to effectively teach their kids so they will understand. If we find that this is not a sufficient method to approach financial education we can start an after school program for high school students. We would be able to partner with locals high schools and get speakers who already have had experience teaching financial education. We can make it interesting for the students by playing a game that we once played in sociology last year with Dr. Johnson. Instead of having the game show how difficult the poverty cycle is, we can modify it to act out real life situations that each student will be faced with in the future. We will be able to record their improvements by their rankings and the decisions they make during this game. It is a hands on method that would get everyone excited and involved.

Financial education will always be an important issue. It affects every single person’s life no matter what their job may be. Duration will be easy to maintain since this affects so many people of all diversity.

Grantt

The topic I chose for the grant is Higher Education. I think that as students we take advantage of the fact that we are lucky enough to go to college.

In Foundations class we have been discussing the fact that there is no inequality because of the idea of each person has a different beginning. The situation that we are born into shapes our childhood, teenage life which effects the probability of higher education. I think that this grant is important because it allows grateful students like us, support students who need the most help. Not only do they need money to improve their educational systems but also they need guidance to see how important higher education actually is.

I agree with Bernadette on the idea of introducing the seriousness of a college education earlier in the education curriculum. In the pre-teen years, that is when students are most influenced. If the general idea is that college is the 'cool' thing to do, hopefully that idea will inspire harder work throughout highschool and into the college years.
Basically i think this grant could help us educated and provide for students in need, these students are our future.

Grant Proposal Brainstorm

I would like the grant to focus on Access to Higher Education. It is imperative to support the children who may have not be born into the best situations an opportunity to academically succeed. Specifically, these students mostly come from low income families. Introducing the importance of a High School diploma and a College degree at younger ages, such as, at the middle school level still leaves them time to build a firm foundation for academic success. The program will help the children view Higher Education as attainable, and give them the building blocks to reach their goals.
With Siena students running the program one will be incorporating service learning. Using Siena College students from English, Mathematics, and Science Majors to help tutor the students get on track to good grades.
Providing students who are in dire need of academic attention help build a education pathway to success, the Siena College students will gain experience in their desired field.

Grant Proposal

For the grant I would like to work on Access to Higher Education. I would like to work with low income students to develop a program to expose them from middle school on to college preparation. This program would look at the financial aspects of college as well as the academics. It would be a progressive program that would focus on developing skills from middle school on to make low income students desire a higher education and help them build the skills they need to get a higher education.
This program would incorporate service learning by using Siena students to run the program. Students from many majors would be necessary. SAT preparation would involve students from Math, English, and Writing majors. Education majors would also be very useful. Other classes could also help the students to plan. The students in the class need to learn something and this grant will provide them with the funding to help the community of Albany fill a much needed niche: planning for college.

This project qualifies as service-learning by incorporating community needs into what is being taught in Siena courses. The Siena students will be providing a service to the community that otherwise would go unfulfilled.
The duration of this program would hopefully be continual. As a Franciscan school I feel that our mission statement alligns with the concept of providing assistance to those in need and in this case that means helping middle and high school students realize the importance of a college education and how to help get them there.

Not only do the Siena students gain experience and also provide service as part of their course but the students of Albany badly need this service. This would begin in middle school because I feel that the students must understand the importance of their education if there's any hope of them investing themselves into it.

Grant proposal

The issue I would like to focus on is Access to Higher Education/Closing the Achievement Gap. My mom is an educator and she always talks about how public schools are only geared toward one type of learning style when in reality there are several different styles of learning. The students who do not learn the way schools teach struggle, get frustrated, fall behind, and too often, eventually drop out of the school system altogether. I believe one of the main reasons that students’ learning style needs aren’t met is because most teachers don’t know how to go about catering to several different learning styles. The way to address this problem would be to educate the teachers and talk to students to find out how they best learn. If students are more invested in their learning, they are more likely to stay with it. My proposal would include creating seminars and modules for teachers to be more open to teaching in such a way that would benefit more learning styles.
Thie would qualify as service learning because Bonner leaders would be the ones giving the courses to the teachers and so they in turn would also be learning more about the education system.This would be meaningful service because it addresses a real problem that needs attention. It would be linked to the curriculum in that it would set up programs in schools and involve students in determining how they learn best. It would incorporate reflection by a series of group discussions that not only monitor progress, but how everyone feels about the way things are going. This proposal aligns itself with diversity in that most inner city schools in albany attract minorites and so they would be the ones benefitting from this program. The youth would have a voice in what teaching methods work best for them. We would partnership with local schools and try and get other aspects of the community involved. Progress would be monitored by evaluating tests and see if the change in learning has an effect, we could also talk to both faculty and students and get their feedback. Although I originally invisioned this idea as a one time thing, there could be several programs throughout the school year that address alternative learning styles and each time it could build and other schools could become more and more involved.

don't take it for GRANTed..lol.

The topic I chose to write about was education. I think it is important that children in the city of Albany realize that they are capable of graduating highschool and going on to college. Someone mentioned to me how excited the kids were when they found out that they would have the oppurtunity to visit Siena campus and that influenced my decision for this grant. My program would be for middle school kids. The program would be designed to offer information to kids about the importance of graduating high school and going on to college. People, possibly Bonners, would provide services to the kids to help them keep their grades up as well as information about colleges. It is best to start early. This program would count as service learning because it would offering education to children through the constant time and effort of others. My program aligns with the eight elements:
Meaningful Service: we are purposely trying to inform students about education and its benefits in a way that will enhance their interest in school.
LInk to Curriculum: it will be linked to curriculum in that we will set up a program in schools and depending on the year of the student (7th, 8th, 9th etc.) there will be a different set of learning possibilities.
Reflection: as Bonners we always have a reflecting session after everything will do so my program will have volunteer meetings to discuss the work that they are doing, why they are doing it and if they think it is helping.
Diversity: because this program will be offered for a variety of ages and for kids in different school districts there is guarenteed to be a sense of diversity.
Youth Voice: kids will be able to voice their opinions and share their feelings about school and how it plays a role in their life.
Partnerships: we would have to partner either with a school or with a program such as the Albany Boys and Girls club because it would have to be an afterschool program and we need to be acessible to the children.
Progress Monitoring: we can take surveys throught the school and through the parents of the students so that we can see if it is working or not.
Duration and Intensity: this program would be an all school year thing but I think it is only necessary to have one official lecture per week with possibly a tutoring program throughout the week.

Grant Brainstorming

I chose to address the driver safety among the youth and teenagers because I feel that it is not addressed enough and that young adults should be aware of as they get closer to the age where they can receive there permits/driver licenses. With this, I would like to teach and have others lecture and demonstrate on driver safety issues such as aggressive driving, little things on how important wearing a seatbelt is, and showing the kids a mock accident of what could happen. This project would qualify as service learning project because I would incorporate the use of a classroom and/or fellow Bonner leaders to come up with a plan as to allow the youth of Albany aware of driver safety issues. To link this idea to the curriculum, schools should create a class that specializes in driver safety issues that would be a mandatory class to take. It could count as a Physical Education credit that the students must take just like health is in most schools. By incorporating a driver safety education class in schools, students would be allowed to understand how serious this issue is. I think it would be best to have this class in high schools because those are the years where teenagers are beginning to take driver's ed and/or begin driving. I am not sure how diversity applies to this project because it would be given in high schools and it also depends on the school. This idea would benefit the youth and allow them to receive and give feedback to prospective drivers. Allowing high school students with this opportunity would allow them to voice there opinions on the issue. In order to have this class become mandatory in high schools, we could find organizations who would be willing to support the prospective program. The duration of this class would last one semester and the students would be required to take midterm and final exams and write a final paper regarding a particular driver safety issue.

See you guys tomorrow, have a great day!

Meghan=)

Accountability

I'm honestly disappointed in myself for how late I'm getting this in. However I can honestly say that I have been loaded this weekend as I'm sure everyone else has been. I think I can say that I may not have been the good example of accountability thus far, but it's better late than never. Accountability is important. Plain and simple. When you commit to something, you're assuring those on the other end that they can count on you. I can gladly say that despite my tardiness on this blog, I have fulfilled my other commitments in life. My service sight is well and we have plans for this week, I have done well on the major tests from last week, nailed the reading I practiced to read at my cousins wedding, and finally got to the gym. It's been a very hectic week to say the least. But regardless, it's times like these in which we need to knuckle down in the clutch. Things can get rough when a lot gets thrown on you at once. Excuses aren't good enough, which is why I don't expect any leniency on the other end. I want to assure everyone that I understand my commitment to Bonner and what comes with it. I am confident that I have what it takes to make it in Bonner and do understand that this is a team effort and that I need to step up my game in terms of what I do for Bonner. I can only hope that my actions have not personally let anyone down, and would again like to reassure everyone that Bonner is a priority in my life and that I plan on reestablishing the any of the trust I may have weakened in this last week. I wish everyone luck in what seems to me to be the sink or swim moments in college everyone seems to be experiencing these past few weeks.

My Appologies,

Weston Miller

SORRRRRY!

hey guys,
i just wanted to apologize for missing BWBRS yesterday.
i completely forgot and didnt here my phone ringing because i was napping.
i feel awful.
sorry.
BONNER LOVE. =]

Accountability:

How ironic is it that I am writing a section on accountability, that was due yesterday. I apologize. I do understand that life happens, and things come up, and life goes on. But being a part of a team, such as Bonner, we can only be as strong as our weakest "player." Thus, I believe we should hold each other responsible for his/her actions. One should always be there when expected to be. If for some reason one can not attend a Bonner meeting/event, well lets just say one should not make it a pattern! We as a team want to be as successful as we possibly can. I know that we will be! So lets support each other in each endeavor!

Grant Brainstorming Assignment-Due Wednesday

Some of you still should be frantically getting together your grant questions. However, for those of you that have submitted them so far-THANK YOU! I know who you are and I appreciate it. Others-make it happen!

Assignment: Take your thought for question 12 (Please pick an issue area and design an idea to address) and expand it in the following ways:

1. How does this project qualify as service learning?

*2. How does your project align with the eight elements of quality service-learning projects, as discussed in the "characteristics of a quality project" section of the RFP:

-Meaningful Service:

-Link to Curriculum (Be specific)

-Reflection

-Diversity

-Youth Voice

-Partnerships

-Progress Monitoring

-Duration and Intensity

Acountability.

As Bonners, we have a repsonsibilty to uphold the duties we agreed to at the beginning of the semester. We had the session during Bonner orientation in which we decided that we did not really need a set of rules and consequences because we thought we were all capable of following the rules. For the most part I feel like we have done a pretty good job at sticking to these rules, but there have been times when they have been bent or completely forgotten.
I also must say I agree with TJ. There are probably circumstances that we dont recoginize, but it is just frustrating when people are late or unprepared and we have all adjusted our schedules to be on time and came prepared. We must be patient with each other but we also must be held accountable for these things. It is aggrevating when most of us are working so hard to accomplish this sense of proffesionalism and responsibility and others are just meeting the bare minimum. In other words, step it up. As a team we rely on each other and we all need to put in the same amount of effort and uphold the same standards.
There is no point in listing specific instances or naming names. I just feel like as a whole we should all put in a little more effort.
And remember, in the words of April "To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late."


love you guys and im loving our BONNER LOVE.
Lindsey

Accountability

As a Bonner, we are expected to represent Siena College within the community of Albany and create a mutualistic link between our high-end campus and the impoverished regions that rest just beyond the fine surroundings of Loudonville. This responsibility, although enveloped with feelings of reward and duty in serving others as Bonners, is also teeming with stress, time management worries, and ability to retain a steady balance between academic, athletic, and social aspects as well. Since the efforts of the Bonner Service Leaders program at Siena are ultimately working towards benefitting the well-rounded education of Siena students under the values of St. Francis and the proactive approach to universal problems existing in our local communities, if we as Bonners fail to live up to our expectations as leaders, we are disrupting the process of the goals that this program is trying to gradually attain. Although the members of this program are empathetic to the exceeding demands of college courses and understand the other activities that we as students may be interested in participating in, our commitment to Bonner must be a 100% effort and be held as one of the highest priorities in our lives. If it is not, then perhaps we should re-evaluate the activities that we are doing rather than blogging, finishing that paper that was assigned for tomorrow, going to the Bonner dinners at 6 pm on Thursdays (!), studying for the test you have in History, or going to the gym to stay in shape. Facebook, although a primary source of entertainment and a sense of connectivity with our peers, should not be a top priority. The updating of your status or the next "When will Kanye West interrupt your life?" quiz can wait until you've arrived back from your community service site or sat with the Bonner group at one of our fabulous meetings. And remember, if you miss any engagement that you accepted as your responsibility to attend, I WILL write on your wall, for the world to see, about your abscence! Accountability is very important and any "slacking" will not be tolerated! With that being said, I love each and every one of you and expect the most from you not because I hope to yell at you, but because I know the greatness and potential that every one of you possesses. Love you!

Bonner Loveeeeeee,
Chels

Accountablility

I guess there is a first time for everything, considering this is the first time I've ever blogged before, not just with Bonner but in my life. As a new member of the group I just wanted to thank all of you guys for accepting me into the program with open arms and being so kind. It's awesome to have such a great support system in the stressful/best/fun four years of our college experiences. I also hope the grant writing training went awesome, I apologize I couldn't be there unfortunately I had to go home Saturday morning because my uncle passed away on Friday night and didn't get back to school until Wednesday night. On the topic of accountability I think last week's meeting helped me to the extreme and made me realize how much you actually need to balance your time in order to get what needs to be done and not be stressed. As a team, if one falls we all fall so we have to make sure we keep each other in check but not to the point when where constantly being asked to do something or attend a meeting, etc. We are all accountable for our own decisions and it is our own responsibility to do what needs to be done. Through the training we went through at the last meeting we realized how much detail and time one event can take. I feel like going to school, having a job, and attending our sites weekly can be related to planning that one big event that takes weeks and much effort. We go to class everyday, although we may not want to, we go because we are accountable for learning that material and putting it to use whether its through a paper or on an exam. If I plan ahead and map out when I need to do things and actually do them instead of writing them down in my planner, I will feel much better about myself knowing that's one thing less I have to stress or worry about. Through Bonner, working as a close team we will encounter good times and hard times that won't be easy but we will be able to face them because we will know how to balance everything in a timely and orderly fashion.

Hope to see you guys tonight at dinner, if not have an awesome weekend!

Meghan =)

Accountability

This is definitely a topic that needs to be addressed. I think it is easy for all of us to have good intentions and want to do what is expected of us, but sometimes reality gets in the way and we lose track of all the things we have on our plate. As a team we need to comfortable and also assertive with each other. If I don't show up to a BWBRS session on a Friday one of you guys should be able to come to me and be like "Mel, whats up?" And if I laugh and shrug it off, we need to to be able to say to one another, "hey i'm being serious, why weren't you there?" We need to remember that we all depend on each other and everyone at our sites depends on us. When we miss something or forget to do something we let ourselves down and also let down everyone we work with.

Hannah is right when she says we all are really lucky. We have an awesome support system on campus. We all are here for each other and when things get stressful and crazy we have a huge group of people to share our crappy with.

Accountability

I think this is a very important topic that needs to be talked about. I myself am guilty of being forgetful or making mistakes. It's totally understandable because college is stressful and there are a lot of activities that you can be involved in on campus. I don't think just because we are in the Bonner Program means we can't be involved in any other activities or clubs. It just means that we have to get our priorities straight and realize the commitment we made when we signed on to be a Bonner. There are certain expectations that we all need to meet and it's so important for each one of us to hold each other accountable to those expectations. I think as a team if one person is not doing what they are supposed to be then we need to approach that person. Like what Steph said we cannot attack him/her, but we need to check to see what's going on. I think that if any one of us were to slip up and we had a fellow Bonner come talk to us, we would take it seriously and get our act together. Like Gretchen said, we are the varsity community service team on campus so therefore we need to step it up and have each other's backs!

Accountability

Accountability is a big part of having a successful team. Without everyone fulfilling their responsibilities the team begins to fall apart. We all know what our duties are as a Bonner and what we have to do to uphold them. However college life can throw many obstacles at each of us. As much as we would love to only be involved in Bonner in reality there are other things that demand our attention. I think we must learn to be understanding of one another. We must remember that many times when a person slips up they do not do it willingly and many times they feel just as awful about it as the rest of us do. This does not mean that we should allow it to become a habit however. As TJ mentioned we should work with one another to figure out what can be done to prevent this from occurring. We must not confront someone with guns raised but we should confront them with the mindset that their is a problem and as your teammate we want to help you fix this problem. Many times failure to fulfill ones responsability is because that particular person is already greatly overwhelmed and stressed. If we confront them with the motive to punish them and yell at them this will only worsen the problem and nothing will come of it expect harsh feelings.

Accountability

"Life is not accountable to us. We are accountable to life." Denis Waitley

As the semester kicks in to full swing and everyone begins going to their site it becomes apparent that we all are extremely busy. Our days become packed with classes, volunteering, studying, eating, sleeping (although we never can get enough), and spending time with friends (to keep ourselves sane.) Some weeks are worse than others, all the work that we've been putting aside because we have sooo much time to do that and suddenly it's due. I am extremely guilty of this. I am the first to admit that I have a terrible procrastination problem. When we hit one of these weeks where everything seems to be due it's easiest to start putting things that aren't quite as urgent on the back burner. Things like blogging and logging and weekly meetings seem like an inefficient use of time and it's tempting to not blog or not show up for that two hour meeting. However, we must hold eachother accountable for doing everything we have agreed to. It often feels like the only time I see a lot of you is during our meetings and extra volunteer activities. If any of you didn't show up I would be upset that I did not get to catch up on how everything was going. I would also be concerned about why you were unable to come.

Not everyone on campus is as lucky as we are. Everyone in Bonner is here for eachother. It's definitely a family-like atmosphere where when one of us falls the rest are right there to help them back up. Many people on campus do not have such a fantastic network of really awesome people that are always there for them.

I saw this quote and I think it's pretty applicable to our accountability. It's going to be easy to not show up at your site because you were up really late and it would be awesome to take a nap. The hard part is when you show up for your next scheduled day and have to face everyone you have let down.
"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."
- Sir Josiah Stamp

accountability

Personally, i think that i expect a lot of the people in my life which is why i think that i get let down so easily when people dissapoint me. I think that as bonners- we all have the responsbility to not let each other down. I expect a lot from all of you to be my friends, be there for each other, and uphold your own personal duties. I think that so far we have all been pretty goood at this which is why the bonnerLove is so strong. When one person does not work up to the bar, the rest of us are let down. i dont know about you guys but thats a feeling i would not want to, well, feel. I think that at our thursday meetings you guys are my "people" and i think that all of us being responsible to attend meetings together helps us realize that we have a lot of people counting on us, even though we are now at seperate service sites. This is really important because as we go our seperate ways we take what we have taught each other everywhere and we come back on thursdays and put it all together again.

so i guess you could say accountability within bonner is like a puzzle. each of us is a piece, different in our own ways and each with our own responsbility but when we are allput together we are the bonnnerl0veeeee and i love it<3

seee youu soo0o0o0o0on puzzle,
bOnnerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr l0ve
Jacquie

Accountability

As a team it is very important that we can all rely on each other. We all have big dreams and big goals. If we do not work together to meet these goals and to meet our service accomplishments, we will not be able to meet this idea of DEEP service. We will/do each have our own site-based teams in which we will each be depending on one another. The question that arrises is how can we depend on one another for helping at our sites when some of us may not even be able to blog or make it to our meetings on time? I think it is not only necessary to understand that we are all very busy, but also that time is a virtue. It is important to realize that we all have other commitments and it is hard to work around other people. Rather than working around one another, we really need to work with one another. I hope that without putting any very serious policies in place, we can all come to realization that each and every person needs to do his/her part. As long as we all put in what we can, we will all be able to walk away from this program in the end with a lot.

BLooooove,

April

Jeremy <3

Tonight my brother came to siena, he is fourteen, his name is jeremy and he is one of my best friends in the whole world. I haven't seen him in a month and i was shocked by how much he had grown and matured in that one short month. I was almost in tears when he hugged me hello because he's now practically my height. We went out as a family for dinner, but then the rents left and jere and i had some quality sibling time where we caught up. at one point we went down to the soccer field and ran. as i showed him the campus. he kept asking what we're were going to do next, and i kept saying i didn't know, we should just go with the flow and do whatever. he was amazed by the freedom that college kids have and said "it must be great to do whatever you want whenever you want"
that really got me thinking about things. when you first get to college, one of the big things is independence and freedom. and although that is true to an extent, would it really be an okay thing if we just ran around and did whatever we want whenever we wanted? there are times when i don't want to get up and go to class, or do my laundry, and i'm sure there are going to be days when i'm not going to want to go to my worksite or blog (but i assure you that day won't come for a long time:) but sometimes we're going to have to do things we don't want because people are counting on us to do our share. when we let someone down, by not showing up to a work site, or coming unprepared, it's not only unprofessional and disrespectful to others, but they will no longer think of us the same way or think we are invested in what we are doing.
as a team, as a community, the only way we can grow is by trusting each other, and the only way we can trust each other is by proving ourselves trustworthy, dependable and invested in our mission.

Blove from the brinkmann siblings! <3

sometimes in our lives...

first, before you read this, check out this song.

i prefer it to the older version.

gotta love the eighties.

: )

in general, although it's cheesy and cliche, we really all need to know that we can depend upon each other. i sometimes struggle with trusting others to help keep up their end of bargains, but we need to have faith in each other in order to keep communication clear and problems solved. each of us is a bonner, but altogether, we make a bonner community- and communities are the foundation of every successful project. two days ago, i was on the phone with my site leader, jen at the uscri, and in regards to having both meghan and i working with her she said, "i remember when i heard about your program and i thought, 'wow! having one would be great! but i want more!'" i smiled when she said this, because not only was it a compliment to our reputation as bonners, but also that it highlighted one important fact: one cannot do it alone. it is inevitable that at some point there will be a conflict amongst the group, either because someone doesn't show up at a meeting, forgot to log their hours, didn't respond to e-mails, didn't report to their site, etc. everyone will mess up, everyone will get caught up in work, friends, and family, everyone will feel that heavy burden and hear that doubt within their head, "i can't do this." but we can guys, as long as we can depend upon each other for support and understanding. already this has happened. bernadette and ananda have gone to amanda for bio help, wes gave rides to the aids walk, hannah helped break down the background of bonner congress for me, and countless other instances have occurred that signals that our accountability has been at use. the perfect way to continue this is to be honest and talk to one another. have a problem with someone? address it. problems or issues that get bottled up inside of us only lead to an explosion of anger and frustration, and we don't need that to mess up our euphoric, peaceful, bonner lovee.

so here are two quotes that i felt fit this topic:

(i love quotes :) )

There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community. 

-M. Scott Peck

Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. 

-Margaret Mead

Accountability

As a student and a Bonner we have to uphold the aims and responsibilities that are given to us. As a student you know that if you miss a class that the professor holds you and only you accountable for obtaining those notes. If you don't have friends in that class, its going to be a little hard getting those notes but with Bonner it is different. You have support in Bonner.

1. Bonner to Bonner: we all have each other phone number and there should be no excuse as to why no knows your whereabouts because you didn't come to a meeting or to a Bonner outing.

2. Bonners to Team Leader: Almost all Bonners will be working at the same placements so their will be a team leader. For me being the Team Leader it is very important that my team meets at least once a week. I feel that if I don't make these meetings, I will be held accountability for the progress at the service site.

3. Bonners to Gretchen: I think that Gretchen should be the last resort of any issues that we have. Bonner is a student run organization. There fore we as students have to take on the responsibility to put one another at fault and also to commend one another on excellence. (TEAMWORK!)

Remember we are a team and if we cannot work together problem we will lose.

Bonner Love,

Tai

NEW BONNER BLOG LOOK

Hi Bonners!

As you can see I am in the process of redesigning the blog. I will be adding slideshows, important web links, upcoming service events, etc. Have any suggestions? Let me know!

Bonner Love,

Tai

Habitat Picnic

hey everyone... I know this is late but I just wanted to bring up the Habitat Day from a few weeks ago that went amazing thanks to Hannah!

I just wanted to post a few exceptional pictures taken by Tai that way we can have a nice reminder of what we accomplished while we were there!

PS Don't overlook Gretchen's post below. Her post is the one that we are to be reflecting on! I just wanted to share these with all of you up here!

OK so first of all I gotta say I love the new background its totally awesome! So on accountability, as a team(especially a varsity team) we should all be able to count on each other. But sometimes as we all know college life can be stressful. We all have allot on our plates and sometimes it can be hard to manage. If someone drops the ball on something we try to be understanding, however if it starts to become a habit we should prolly try to find out whats going on. Don't be mean about it though cuz chances are that person feels just as bad about it as you do. We just have to let them know that its becoming a problem and try to find out why it is a problem for them. That way we can help them work it out. I think time management is a huge part of this and as Gretchen said tonight we should all start scheduling.

till latter Peace Out
T.J.

NEW ASSIGNMENT: ACCOUNTABILITY

Ok. So I've been thinking about accountability a lot this week. Then I realized that I am just one member of this team (Bonner Love!!) Over the next few weeks, we will be laying the framework for how we as a team decide on how to keep each other to our commitments as a strong, united community. So here is your first chance to ponder this ongoing conversation:

"Accountability is responsibility taken to the next level."

As an individual, you have signed on to a set of expectations to serve, attend meetings/training, connect your service and academics, etc., and be a team. Ultimately, you are accountable for its successes and failures.

Consider: How do you foster this feeling of ownership? Or how do you assign accountability for one another that upholds our commitment to the team? Why is this important?