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Bonner Peer Mentoring

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Overview

Contents

Mentorship in the Bonner Program

Mentorship in the Bonner Program is found to be very helpful for students in navigating life on campus and in communities as well as finding one’s professional path. The Bonner Foundation’s 2018 annual survey (Student Impact Survey), which examined the Program’s role in supporting students’ growth, affirmed that having a mentor played a key role in student’s satisfaction with the program as well as campus-life. It correlated positively with gains students made in areas such as civic engagement, social justice views, and community integration. 

Mentors in the Bonner Program

Bonner program staff, campus staff, faculty, community partners, and peers serve as mentors in the Bonner Program in formal or informal ways, which helps students have a sense of belonging and establish a connection with the campus and community life. Given the limitations with staff capacity at some institutions and multiple responsibilities of faculty and community-partners, mentoring opportunities may not be easily accessible to all the students in the Bonner program. This limitation can be addressed with student leadership. The Bonner Program highly recommends building structures for intentional peer mentoring and support for students within the Bonner Program. Through this structure, students can strengthen their leadership capacity and engage in relationshp-building and networking. Use the “Guides” section of this page to find different ways to establish a structure for mentorship within the program.