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RELEASED: Nov. 18, 2004
DANVILLE, KY—Centre's Bonner Leaders Program was awarded a $25,000 enrichment grant by the Bonner Foundation—the largest grant received by the student leadership program.
The Bonner Leaders Program helps students develop leadership skills in a community-service context. Bonner Leaders play an active role in community agencies and meet regularly for discussion and reflection exercises.
Bertram and Corella Bonner established the umbrella organization, the Bonner Foundation, with the hope that the impact of their support would be far-reaching in the areas of education and the alleviation of hunger. Centre was one of the charter campuses in 1999.
Each campus in the program has a core group of five to 30 student members who commit to completing the required hours of community service during their term. The Bonner Leaders work on issues such as improving educational opportunities and fighting hunger through community programs. The students also participate in training sponsored by their campuses, their community partners and the Bonner Foundation.
Trina McFarland, director of community service, wrote the application that won the grant for Centre's program.
"This is an amazing opportunity," she says. "I had a vision of what I wanted this program to be, and this grant will make many of those plans possible."
Some of the benefits of the grant will include funding for additional training for Bonner students; the creation of paid service internships; and greater support for community agencies that already work with the Bonner Program, such as the Danville/Boyle County Recycling Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Housing Authority, the Adult Literacy Center, and the Humane Society.
For more information about volunteer opportunities at Centre, contact McFarland at (859) 238-5479 or e-mail mcfarlnd@centre.edu.
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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/
For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.
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