MC Bonner Scholar making a difference among special-needs adults

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2009
Contact: Karen B. Eldridge, Director of News and Public Information
865.981.8207; karen.eldridge@maryvillecollege.edu

At first, Elizabeth Dunn wondered how in the world she could fit community service into her college schedule.

Now she wonders how in the world she could have ignored her volunteer spirit.

Dunn, a first-year student at Maryville College, is a Bonner Scholar. In exchange for scholarship dollars, she volunteers at least 40 hours monthly at the Gateway to Independence, a local non-profit agency whose mission is to help young adults with disabilities to achieve independence by providing them with vocational training and social activities.

“At first, I was afraid that my volunteer hours would just seem ‘packed on’ to my regular school schedule, but now, it’s like before I know it, I’ve met my 40 hours,” Dunn said. “I look forward to the days I get to go to the Gate. It’s almost like a stress reliever.”

For at least three days every week, Dunn travels to Maryville Sycamore Tree United Methodist Church, which makes its facilities available for “Gate” participants. At different stations in a multipurpose room of the church, Dunn and a few fellow Bonner Scholars read to the adults, teach vocational skills, help serve meals and snacks, and interact in fun ways. Playing video games like “Wheel of Fortune,” exercising to a Wii, and dancing to music are some of the participants’ requests of the Bonners.

“This is a popular service site for Bonners,” Dunn explained. “We have a lot of fun. It’s easy to get along with the people here.”

And from the smiles on the participants’ faces and the chorus of laughter that rises above the electronics, Dunn and her Bonner peers know being there is making a difference.

“The more time I spend here, the less and less I notice their disabilities,” she said. “You look past that. These people are just my friends now.”

Certainly Trudy White, program director for the Gate, considers the Bonners good friends. According to White, the MC students are an integral part of the program at the church. The Gateway to Independence serves approximately 22 special-needs adults who range in age from 22 to 34. White is just one of four paid staff members.

“There isn’t a single participant in here who doesn’t benefit from one-on-one attention, and the Bonner Scholars can easily converse with them about what’s out there and what’s popular,” she said, explaining that staff members are often limited in making those important connections because of age and/or time.

“One of the ways in which the Bonner Scholars are of a tremendous value is their age,” White continued. “I need this youth viewpoint. I need volunteers who are tuned in to that youthful culture – volunteers who know what’s current as far as movies, music, technology.”

As an example, White pointed out that the Bonners bought a Wii Music game for the Gate. Because music is a common interest for both the participants and the college students, it’s a much-used game in the church’s multipurpose room.

“Of course, I never would have thought of buying it myself for our group,” White said, admitting that she’s a little behind the technological curve. “I always tell our participants, ‘Guys, if it weren’t for these students from Maryville College …’”

To date this year, approximately 15 Maryville College students (mostly Bonner Scholars) have volunteered at the Gate. White said she has found the students to be kind, helpful and even humbled by some of the things they’ve seen at the service site.

“Bonner Scholars affirm our participants’ sense of value,” she added. “They’re patient and non-judgmental, and because of those relationships, our participants are able to practice their social skills.”

Bonner opens doors to college

Prior to signing on at the Gate, Dunn had never worked with a special-needs population, but volunteerism is nothing new to the 18-year-old. A 2008 graduate of Knoxville Catholic High School and the daughter of Bill and Stacy Dunn of Knoxville, Dunn was required to fulfill more than 100 total hours of community service before receiving her high school diploma. She volunteered in nursing homes and a homeless shelter.

“Some of my friends complained about the service requirement, but I really liked it,” she said.

Knowing that she could continue her service to the community – and receive a college scholarship for it – made enrolling at Maryville College a no-brainer.

Every Bonner Scholar receives substantial funding to apply toward tuition and books. Money is also provided for group trips taken during summer breaks to service sites in the United States and abroad.

“My brother, Daniel, was a Bonner Scholar at Maryville, and he would tell me a lot about the College and what the Bonners were doing.

“I liked the sense of community that Maryville College and the Bonner Scholars offered,” she added. “And the Bonner program is all about building community – that appealed to me.”

Dunn is planning to major in child development for teacher licensure at the College and considers her work with the adults at the Gate great vocational experience.

“Everyone here is different, and they all function at different levels,” she said of the Gate’s adult participants. “As a classroom teacher, I’m going to have to adapt to that, too. I think this is good, hands-on experience for me.”

Dunn said she likes the Bonner approach to service, which asks students to commit to a single site for at least one semester.

“Serving here regularly, I’m able to build relationships with the people,” she explained, adding that those interactions are shaping her own perspective.

“These [Gate participants] are some of the sweetest ever,” Dunn said. “They’re always giving hugs. It makes me wonder ‘Why can’t more people do that?’ And I see how much joy the little things can bring them. That’s an attitude that I want to adopt in my own life.”

At monthly meetings with other Bonner Scholars, Dunn said she is impressed by the amount of service and kind of service her peers are involved in outside the college gates.

“I see how passionate these people are about service. And I know that’s not a passion that’s going to die or be forgotten after graduation,” she said. “I’m happy that the Bonner Scholar program requirements are making me make the time for service.”

Funding now sought to endow program

During any given year, approximately 60 Maryville College students are volunteering in the community as Bonner Scholars. Weekly, these students contribute at least 600 volunteer hours to more than 25 agencies in the community. In a school year, the combined impact is nearly 17,000 hours.

Since the Bonner Scholars program was implemented at Maryville College in 1991, it is estimated that more than 250,000 hours of service have been given to local nonprofits and churches as well as programs in Africa and Latin America.

Founded and supported by the Princeton, N.J.-based Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation, the Bonner Scholars Program consists of students at 27 colleges and universities who receive scholarships from the Foundation when students commit to a certain number of community service hours for each year they are in college.

Last year, the Bonner Foundation announced that it would award Maryville College $4.5 million to endow the program. The endowment process includes a requirement that the College match the Bonner Foundation’s grant with $2 million – a $1 million “completion grant” that will be added to the foundation’s $4.5 million to create the Bonner Scholar Endowment, and another $1 million to establish the Bonner Operating Endowment, which will be used to support activities surrounding the Bonner Scholars Program.

The College has until Aug. 1, 2009 to raise the funds necessary for the match.

“Maryville College is a founding institution of the Bonner Scholar Program and a long-standing partner and friend of the Foundation. When it came time to launch the Bonner Scholar Program, Maryville was one of the first campuses we turned to launch this bold and powerful initiative,” said Bonner Foundation President Wayne Meisel in making the announcement. “I could not imagine the Bonner Foundation without Maryville College, and we hope that we have helped strengthen this important institution during our nearly 20-year relationship.

“By endowing the Bonner Scholar Program here, we hope to strengthen the partner without ending the partnership,” the foundation president continued. “The Bonner community of more than 80 institutions and 2,500 students annually nationwide will continue to be challenged and led by the example and the innovation that is born out of Maryville College.”

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2009 semester is 1,103.