Director of the Elizabethtown College Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) Javita Thompson is piloting a service leadership program for incoming first-year Etown students.

The Bonner Leader Program was started by the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation in 1990. The overarching goal is to improve relations between students and communities by bridging the gap between the basic needs of nutrition and educational opportunity.

The Bonner Leader program will become a multifaceted program that allows Etown students to gain leadership skills while performing service initiatives to improve relationships with community organizations. The program is one of many initiatives to help with the College’s strategic plan, specifically the theme of “inclusive excellence.”

“We don’t have a ton of diversity [at the College],” Thompson said in an interview. She explained the importance of how the program will enable incoming first-year students of historically marginalized identities to see others who resemble them, empowering and validating their mental cognition to become active leaders at an institution that is predominantly white.

The Bonner Leader Program provides students with opportunities to allow individuals to connect themselves deeply with service, engage in leadership qualities and learn about civic engagement and social justice locally, nationally and internationally. During their four years at the College, students will indulge in areas of civic engagement, community building, diversity, international perspectives, social justice, spiritual exploration and wellness. After extensive learning, students will then be able to apply their learning outcomes to create sustainable and equitable societal change.

Students will have the opportunity to work with a community organization of interest and provide research that will benefit both the student and organization. This will allow for career development growth for students.

Recipients of the program will receive up to $3,000 annual stipend for their weekly work with community organizations over the course of their four years with the college. Students are advised and mentored individually by Thompson to ensure that they are adequately transforming their lives on campus and within the community while following the institution’s “Educate for Service” motto.

When speaking with Thompson, she spoke with enthusiasm and excitement about the program. She also referenced many other programs similar to the Bonner in which she was involved. She hopes to use these programs to shape and influence the curriculum for the Bonner program.

During her first job at Millersville University, Thompson managed the community work study program. In this position, she helped place students with community partners to earn funding. This was created by legislation passed during the Bill Clinton presidency.

“Students showed [a need to] buy food and pay the cell phone bill or utilities and this provided an opportunity for both,” Thompson said.

A second program in which Thompson has been involved in was called Next Steps, a partnership with the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development. The purpose of the partnership is to allow students who participated in afterschool programs to continue to be in touch with their younger peers through a mentoring program within the Philadelphia area. In it, sophomore, junior and senior college students mentor incoming first-year college students from Philadelphia.

Thompson also has plans to work with the NAACP Branch in the Greater Harrisburg Area. She was extremely impressed with their program called ACT-SO which is a mentor program similar to Bonner. Etown students are able to become mentors to students in Harrisburg with whom they share similar interests, and then compete in a series of competitions based off those interests both statewide and nationally. Participants are awarded prizes.

Given Thompson’s background and previous successes, she is ecstatic to begin the process of starting a successful Bonner Leader Program at the College. The program is slated to launch in the fall of 2022. More information about the Bonner program can be found on the CCCE’s website. https://www.etown.edu/centers/community-civic/bonner.aspx