At Elizabethtown College, students have the opportunity to join various extracurriculars, most centering around academics or athletics. These opportunities are advertised through club fairs, high school visits and college tours. What some may not know, however, is that a select few students from each graduating class are members of the Bonner Leadership Program.
Being a small program, the Bonner Program teaches its students leadership qualities through group activities. First-year Bonner student Ava Gates values being a member of this program. “We’re a small, close-knit group of people,” Gates said. “We do a lot of activities together.”
In addition to participating in group activities, every Bonner student has their own respective internship. Working at the Lancaster LGBTQ+ Coalition, Gates is faced with new experiences every shift. “It challenges me to have initiative,” Gates explained. “Because it’s a laid-back environment, I sometimes don’t have the motivation that I should. In order to help out at work, I need to make sure I’m getting things done.”
Time management is important for all students, but it’s not always easy to stay on top of work. Working in Lancaster, Gates faces the additional challenge of allotting enough time to drive there and back. “Because it’s 30 minutes away, I need to make sure I’m getting to my car on time,” Gates said.
A good, welcoming work environment is crucial in order for everyone to succeed. Because her internship is centered around helping members of the LGBTQ+ community, the company values having an inclusive environment in the workplace. “I like it because I am a part of the LGBTQ+ community, so I figured it would be a good place to work,” Gates said. “I knew I would feel welcome there.”
All Bonner-affiliated internships strive to promote keen community engagement. Rather than being a graduation requirement for all students as it is in high school, Bonner students choose to engage in the community service that comes with their program. While it is a requirement for the program, Bonner students are actively interested in helping their community. “It’s different from high school where community service is required because people don’t always want to do it,” Gates stated. “I’m surrounded by people who want to do community service. While the scholarship is a factor, people are happier about helping.”
Although each Bonner internship provides its own path of learning, they all value serving one’s community. “It taught me that more people are willing to help than you think,” Gates said. “We all want to do good for the sake of it.”
In order to promote these values, Gates, among other Bonner students, is actively learning how to become a better leader through her internship. “I learned how to question things I don’t understand,” Gates said. “They’re a nonprofit organization, so what they do is all over the place. We just got introduced to a new project and there was a lot of confusion surrounding that, so we had a meeting about it.”
By challenging students to lead and serve their community, the Bonner-affiliated internships create an opportunity for willing engagement, which will ultimately strengthen the greater community.
