Lives Transformed

MC’s first Bonner director remembers ‘marvelous ride’

I had not even started at MC, was not even on the payroll yet – I had literally just unloaded the U-Haul! – when a strange character named Dave Powell packed me into his miniature pick-up truck and set forth over the mountains to a North Carolina gathering of the first 11 Bonner schools. Several days and many long conversations later, Dave returned to teaching in the English department, the first Maryville College Bonner Scholars arrived on campus, and we were off on an adventure of self-discovery and encounter with people whose stories differed from our own, an exploration of new ways of serving and being served.

As part of that first orientation we rafted the Nantahala, and then explored multiple alternatives on the bus ride home (we were lost!), finally returning to campus several hours late to the immense relief of college administrators who were pacing the parking lot.

Many of the dynamics of these early weeks typified the unfolding genius of the Bonner Scholars program: enthusiastically leaping forth and trusting that whatever preparation would be enough, learning as we were being swept along by powerful institutional, community and personal currents, finding ourselves in unexpected places that demanded that we act without being reactive, and recognizing and celebrating common cause with strangers who invited us into their lives.

As each class graduated, we remembered not only those who had touched our lives and whose lives we had touched, but also those whose lives we would be influencing because of how the program had formed us – which strikes me now as the heart of Maryville College’s purpose: “…to build and strengthen the human community.” It was a marvelous ride!

– The Rev. Stephen Nickle
Chaplain, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas

Greer reaches out in Thailand

I think of Maryville College all the time as I am working in other communities doing volunteer work. While living and working in Kuwait for three years, I helped to initiate a program called “Week Without Walls” at the American School of Kuwait. This is an experiential learning and community service program that students participate in for about a week to nine days. To take students into villages to see life with a new perspective and to help others literally changes them forever, and it enriches my life even more.

For three years I took middle school students to Thailand for our Week Without Walls program. Each year we trekked to a Hmong hill tribe village to distribute school supplies, to a Palong hill tribe village to deliver school supplies and sports equipment and to a Karen hill tribe village to repair the flooring of an all girls’ school. Along the way we would plant coconut and jack fruit trees and clean up the landscape and beaches. On a special occasion, a local group of orphaned girls performed traditional Thai dances to thank our school for giving them much needed equipment for their facility. This was such a genuine reminder that people are people all over the world and if we reach out to each other, as cliché as it sounds, it really does make the world a better place.

— Tiffany Rudicil Greer ’97
HS English Teacher, American Community School of Amman (Jordan)

Placement reinforced vocational choice for McCord

The Bonner program gave me several opportunities that I would not have otherwise had by giving me experience. All of my Bonner placements helped me build my resume with elementary education. Since my placements were mainly with elementary schools, this helped to reinforce my vocational choice of working with young students.

I appreciate the experience the Bonner program gave me to want to continue service work in my community. I am currently in Junior Service League of Maryville, and we have to volunteer 40 hours a year. That’s nothing compared to all the hours I volunteered as a Bonner Scholar!

— Nichole Johnson McCord ‘02
Elementary School Teacher, Blount County

Younger ‘addicted to helping others’

In my first summer as a Bonner Scholar, I found myself in another country, working with a team of volunteers from all across the world. Few of us spoke the same language and, for me, it was a quick course in understanding and embracing other cultures. Despite our differences, we organized a summer camp for the underprivileged children in a rural Welsh town.

I actually didn’t realize how transformative the experience was at the time. Looking back, I realize that I have spent virtually every summer returning to those international volunteer camps because of those early trips. The Bonner Scholars Program made an investment by helping me reach out to people so far away, and I’m grateful for the formative experiences the program provided. I believe the program’s goal was to get me addicted to helping others, and I am certain it worked.

– Jarred Younger ‘98
Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University School of Medicine

Martinez continues with B&G clubs

I am one of those fortunate people who love my job. I find it challenging and fulfilling on an intellectual and emotional level, and I am surrounded by competent people and wonderful club members. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for the Bonner Scholars Program. I started volunteering at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Blount County as part of my Bonner service requirement. My first day was chaotic, scary, messy – and tons of fun. I was immediately hooked. I continued volunteering at the club, working there during the summer throughout my time at Maryville College.

After graduation (and when the budget allowed), I was hired on full-time at the club. Eventually, I decided to move to Denver to get my degree in linguistics. When I moved, I was hired part time at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver (BGCMD). I decided that I loved it at BGCMD and wanted to pursue my master’s degree in nonprofit management instead of linguistics so that I could further my career with the clubs. Today, I have advanced within the organization and truly believe in its mission. None of this would have been possible without my experience in the Bonner Program.

— Erin Martinez ’02
Human Resource Manager, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver

Bonner alumnus seeks work that benefits others

As a Bonner Scholar, I adopted a criterion for my work: I needed a job that made life better for other people. I have the ability, as all people do, to give my time, effort, knowledge and enthusiasm to improving other people’s lives.

Graduating in 2003, I have been the athletic director for the William E. Cope Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. I worked with inner-city, economically deprived youth at that job. I then moved to the Denver Inner-City Parish, where I designed and ran Project ReNew Youth. As the project coordinator, I worked with at-risk and adjudicated youth. Helping the young person return to school, graduate, find employment and learn life skills was the focus there. Today, I am the youth suicide prevention coordinator at Colorado’s Office of Suicide Prevention. I manage a federal grant to train adults who work with at-risk youth, helping those adults see warning signs, intervene and prevent suicide. My jobs have changed since graduating a Bonner Scholar, but my underlying need to help remains.

— Jeremy Martinez ‘03
Prevention Coordinator, Office of Suicide Prevention, state of Colorado

Campus minister grateful for Bonners’ ministry

When I became campus minister of Maryville College in the summer of 2001, I was pleased to learn that “ministry” at the College is defined by a deep connection between faith and service. The Center for Campus Ministry, where we lead the College’s programs of spiritual life and volunteer service, makes that connection visible, and the Bonner program is an incredible catalyst for the energy and focus of the whole campus toward service.

As director of the Bonner Program as well as the campus minister, I am constantly grateful for this integration of the Bonner scholars with the CCM. Many of our students have developed their passion for service out of a deep faith commitment, following Jesus’ teachings to care for the poor and those in need. Others do not use overtly religious language, but for them, serving is a way of expressing their deep compassion for others and sense of connection to the world. For students who are struggling with just what they believe, as many do in college, the steady rhythm of serving others through the Bonner program provides a kind of continuity and grounding, as they slowly find words to express their sense of life’s purpose.

As campus minister, I get to watch it all with a sense of wonder and amazement, knowing that the daily practices of our lives – caring for strangers, reaching beyond the borders of our comfort, developing relationships across lines of difference – are where authentic spirituality takes root and grows. Lives are transformed, both the lives of people whom the Bonners serve, and also the Bonners themselves, as their own hearts are shaped and expanded by the work.

– The Rev. Anne D. McKee
Campus Minister and Maryville College Bonner Scholars Program Director