The First-Year Experience Program at \t\t The College of New Jersey recently \t\t restructured its model to enhance the \t\t community engagement requirement for \t\t freshmen students. The Bonner Center for \t\t Civic and Community Engagement has \t\t taken a leading role in this effort, creating \t\t a more eclectic and inspirational experience in an effort to impassion \t\t students to continue their volunteer efforts \t\t beyond their curriculum requirement. \t\t Each incoming freshman must participate \t\t in specific learning seminar classes or in \t\t one of the many issue-based Community \t\t Engaged Learning days that are scheduled \t\t throughout the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to create a day for \t\t freshmen students when they will be involved in a meaningful service and \t\t participate in projects that benefit the \t\t community,\u201d said Pat Donohue, the \t\t Bonner Center\u2019s director of communityengaged \t\t learning. \u201cBy educating and \t\t inspiring the students, we hope to \t\t sustain their interest in communityrelated \t\t issues. We\u2019ve collected data \t\t through surveys, and approximately 50 \t\t percent of the 2006\u201307 freshmen \t\t students would like to continue their \t\t involvement, which is outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the fall semester, freshmen \t\t students are given a list of over 25 \t\t community issues. They are asked to \t\t rank their top three preferences, and the \t\t Bonner Center attempts to match \t\t students with a topic of interest. Small \t\t communities of students are formed by \t\t their residential floor, and the group is \t\t given a date on which its specific \t\t event (and service) will take place. The \t\t spectrum of issues for service includes \t\t the environment, homelessness, \t\t immigration, youth development, \t\t diversity, and senior services, among \t\t others. TCNJ partners with organizations \t\t such as Habitat for Humanity, Clean \t\t Ocean Action, Young Scholars Institute, \t\t and the Special Olympics of New Jersey \t\t to foster both productive efforts and \t\t opportunities to build relationships \t\t between the organizations, the College\u2019s \t\t Bonner Scholars (students in a special \t\t leadership and civic engagement program \t\t at TCNJ), and freshmen students. \t\t Each day\u2019s event is divided into four \t\t phases: learning, serving, reflecting, and \t\t sustained involvement.<\/p>\n
The day begins \t\t with the learning stage, when students \t\t receive a pre-service educational packet \t\t and observe a presentation. Speakers \t\t range from community organization \t\t leaders, to professors, to local residents \t\t directly impacted by the issue. The serving \t\t phase follows and is coordinated by the \t\t community organization and a Bonner \t\t Scholar. An example of the serving phase \t\t from this past November saw students \t\t spend the day cleaning the beach at \t\t Sandy Hook and planting dune grass. \t\t After the hands-on service is performed, \t\t students spend 30\u201345 minutes reflecting \t\t on their experience. Donohue affirms \t\t that the learning has a greater impact \t\t when students hear their own voices and \t\t verbalize their thoughts and observations. Finally, students are given an opportunity \t\t to volunteer on a regular basis and learn \t\t how they might integrate the needs or \t\t interests of the community into their own \t\t course of study.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the freshmen students are \t\t educated and take an active role in \t\t contributing during these service events, \t\t they really develop a personal interest,\u201d \t\t stated Donahue. \u201cI think this new \t\t structure will continue to grow and \t\t provide an even greater service to the \t\t community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The First-Year Experience Program at The College of New Jersey recently restructured its model to enhance the community engagement requirement for freshmen students. The Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement has taken a leading role in this effort, creating a more eclectic and inspirational experience in an effort to impassion students to continue their volunteer efforts beyond their curriculum requirement. Each incoming freshman must participate in specific learning seminar classes or in one of the many issue-based Community Engaged Learning days that are scheduled throughout the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2007","category-on-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}