Bonner Leader Program
Bonner Leaders are part of a diverse community of passionate students ready to engage in the world through service.
The Bonner Leader Program is a selective four-year civic leadership development program that provides annual scholarships to students in exchange for a weekly commitment to meaningful service with a local community organization. As a Bonner Leader, you’ll delve into community and social justice topics to better understand the world around you - and your role in it. You'll also be part of a national network that transforms students, communities and campuses through service. The College is one of only 51 colleges and universities nationwide to offer this prestigious program.
As civic leaders on campus, our Bonner Leaders share a commitment to serve, and work with campus and local non-profits to strengthen the community.
Become a Changemaker
Our Bonner Leaders combine education, service and reflection to become changemakers. How? By developing meaningful service partnerships with local non-profits throughout the school year, engaging in hands-on experiences that challenge them to look at old problems in new ways, and exploring what it means to be an active member of the community.
This selective hands-on civic leadership and development program is available to incoming and current students who demonstrate a commitment to service and change.
As a Bonner Leader, you will:
- partner with a ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø-area non-profit and volunteer approximately 260 hours per academic year
- meet weekly as a group to discuss social justice issues and how you can make an impact in your community
- gain leadership, project management, communication and other career-ready skills through your service work, Bonner programs and overnight experiences with your cohort
- participate in national conferences and service-based travel in the U.S. and overseas
- earn scholarship funding
- be part of the Bonner family, a “home away from home” and an invaluable CofC network
- tap into the exceptional resources of the national , including possible graduate school support at more than three dozen graduate schools across the country that participate in the program
If you're interested in serving the community and earning scholarship funding as a changemaker, consider applying to the Bonner Leader Program. The application is and is due June 1, 2025.
For more info, email bonner@cofc.edu or follow us on . Current students can visit our for program updates, too.
Our sophomore Bonner Leaders recently met with Bonner peers from Wofford College as part of 'Sophomore Exchange' to network, collaborate and serve the Spartanburg community.
Opportunities to Learn, Serve and Lead
As a Bonner Leader at CofC, you'll partner with a local non-profit and volunteer roughly 260 hours throughout the school year to help the organization fulfill its mission. Recent non-profit partners have included:
- ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Waterkeeper
- ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Habitat for Humanity
- Hope Lodge
- Kids on Point
- Upward Bound
- Children's Museum of the Lowcountry
- Metanoia
- Eastside Community Development Corp.
- ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Area Urban League
- ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Promise Network
- Center for Civic Engagement
- Center for Sustainable Development
- PRIDE Center
Service sites can sharpen your skills in your field of study, help you explore different career paths, or even reflect your personal interests and goals. They're hands-on opportunities to develop your abilities through scholarship, learning, service and reflection.
Bonner Leaders at CofC can choose from an array of non-profit organizations to fulfill their service commitment, from sites whose missions align with their field of study to those that reflect their personal interests and goals.
Bonners in Action!
