Thursday, August 4, 2016

Meet Wilbur Whitney, Director of the Bonner Community Service Office.


Dr. Whitney is the Director, Bonner Office of Community Service at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA.  Previously he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Morehouse College.  He earned his Ph.D. degree from Michigan State University. His area of training and expertise is in Ecological Psychology, which is the study of the impact of culture and environment on individuals, groups and organizations.  He has co-authored several books on African- American Issues in Mental Health. He is the former Executive Director for Human Relations for the City of Cincinnati and the former National President of the Association of Black Psychologist.  Dr. Whitney conducts program evaluation research for Non-profit and Profit organizations.  

Question: How will you use this Bonner Scholarship to leave a legacy at Morehouse?

Monday, August 1, 2016

Meet Jacob Bentley, Program Coordinator of BOCS



Mr. Jacob Bentley was born to Jacob and Phyllis Bentley in Riverside California. When
he was 3, his father got a job coaching for the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers, and his family
moved to the great city of Atlanta, where he was raised. After graduating from the illustrious
Benjamin E. Banneker High School in College Park, Georgia he chose to forsake the many
schools that wanted him (Harvard, GA Tech, Princeton, Emory), and take his talents to
Morehouse College. Upon reviving his Bachelor of Science degrees in Math and Engineering,
Mr. Bentley went to the FAMU/FSU school of Engineering to get his Master’s in Industrial
Wanting to do more for his community, Mr. Bentley gave up Engineering and chose to
become an educator. For the last 8+ years, he has worked at Morehouse College, first with the
Federal TRIO programs, and for the last 6, with the Bonner Office of Community Service.

Question- Tell me why you won't be the one out of three students that will not make it?

Monday, July 25, 2016

Meet Isaiah Hudson, Co-Freshman Class Coordinator

Isaiah Hudson is a sophomore, economics major here at Morehouse College. He was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio and graduated from Sprayberry High School in 2015.

As a Bonner, Isaiah has had the opportunity to serve at KIPP Strive Primary School and continues to serve there for his summer site. 

After being informed of the opportunity to be this year’s co-freshman class coordinator, Isaiah  has been working tirelessly to ensure this upcoming class succeeds at Morehouse College.

Question: How do you believe you will approach this upcoming year? Academically? Socially?Financially? 

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Meet Jordan Tafari, Education Policy Coordinator



Jordan Tafari is a junior, sociology major, education studies minor from Cincinnati, Ohio here at Morehouse.

As a Bonner, Jordan has had the opportunity to serve at the Atlanta Community Food Bank and have involvement with some of Bonners most renowned service initiatives, serving as the Education Coordinator for Sandwich Run A.U.C., to say the least.

This past summer of 2015, between his freshman and sophomore year, Jordan had the honor of interning with District of Columbia Public Schools’ Central Office. Here, he assisted in their Urban Education Leadership Internship Program, working on a project to improve the school system’s special education summer program. With the intensive work that he completed over the summer, his project was able to affect thousands of the district’s students who were in need of assistive technology- tools in which are used to help students with special needs communicate in class.

 This summer, he has had the opportunity to intern with our federal government at the United States Department of Education, where he is working on youth engagement support for kids throughout the country who face different socioeconomic disadvantages.


Question: Every man and woman who is born into this world is born with a purpose. How will you use your purpose to give back to your community and be a service to others? If you do not know your purpose yet, how will you continue to serve your community within a specific issue that you strongly are passionate about?

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Meet Lorenzo Moore, Co-Freshman Class Coordinator




Lorenzo Moore is a Junior Drama Major from Atlanta, Georgia. Outside of his school work and services pertaining to the Bonner Program, Lorenzo prioritizes his time in the creative arts. Growing up as an introverted youth, Lorenzo turned to poetry, and visual arts as mediums to break out of his shell. Over the years, Lorenzo began to test the boundaries of his own creative ability by getting involved with everything pertaining to or of the arts. From behind the scenes to on camera, Lorenzo has done it. Nowadays he looks forward to finding multiple ways to blend mediums for a good cause. You can find him rapping about social justice and other deep topics in his songs, or trying to perfect his newest monologue for an upcoming audition. You may find him doodling in a notebook, or filming a friend on his camera. One things for sure, you will always find him trying to the improve things around him, and he's always open to ideas. 

Lorenzo poses this question to his young brothers: What significant moment of service or hard work do you feel defines you the most? What is your most notable act of community service? How do you plan to use your interests and passions to do community service?


Monday, July 4, 2016

Meet Gregory Barber Jr., Senior Bonner Intern




Greg Barber Jr. is a senior, psychology major with a concentration in African-American Studies here at Morehouse College. A native of Atlanta, Greg was raised in College Park, Georgia and graduated from Benjamin Banneker High School in 2013.

During his time at Morehouse College, he has served in many capacities: As a Bonner, he served as Hunger/Homeless Coordinator, Junior Bonner Intern and now Senior Bonner with his close brother, Keith Glass. As a student politician, Greg has been community service chair for freshman, sophomore and junior class council for the last three years and will fill the capacity as Secretary of Civic Engagement for Morehouse Student Government Association (SGA) in the fall. Greg also served as Director of #SandwichRunAUC, the largest community-service initiative for the spring semester.

Besides his foundational interest in community service, Greg is also a rising scholar in the field of psychology. During the summer between his sophomore and junior year, Greg through the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program did research in healthy sexual communication among African-American men as well as the correlation between parental incarceration and deviant peer networks. During the fall semester of his junior year, Greg studied abroad in the African countries of Rwanda/Uganda where he completed research looking at positive coping strategies in genocide orphans. Now as a rising senior, Greg is currently at the University of Wisconsin at Madison doing research on the socialization of death and it's role in coping and bereavement.

Greg remembers a quote by his mother, "If your dreams do not scare you, then obviously your dreams are not big enough!'. Greg plans to make the 2016-2017 academic year, a year of resurgence for the Bonner Office of Community Service.

Greg poses this question to his younger brothers: Think of an issue of community interest (it can be any of your choosing but for exammple hunger/homelessness, achievement gaps in education, inadequate health care for those with lower socio-economic status). If you were given a small loan of $1,000, how would use the money to solve the issue of your choice





Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Meet Keith Glass, Senior Bonner Intern




Keith "Mr.46" Glass was born and raised in Atlanta GA and graduated from South Atlanta High School of Law and Social Justice in 2011. Shortly after graduating from high school, Glass discovered his love for public speaking, but more specifically, he discovered his passion to be the voice of the unheard. The desire to connect with those who seemed to be lost led him to found a mentoring program, “Males on the Move”, at his former middle school, Luther J. Price. 

Desiring to better himself, Keith continued his education at Georgia Perimeter College and is currently a rising senior at Morehouse College School of Business. While pursing his college education, Glass felt that sharing his story could work to strengthen his community, so he established another organization and empowerment tour titled “The Rise from 46”, with the mission to motivate and galvanize at risk youth within metro Atlanta school districts. Glass also serves as an ambassador for Teach for America, and has addressed over 3,000 teachers and students bringing the message that, “Your beginning does not have to determine your end.” One of his most memorable and noteworthy spoken word performances was during the opening act for Grammy award winning musician John Legend’s “The Nigh of Promise” concert in Atlanta.

With the mission to serve others by being an inspiration to those who doubt their own abilities, Glass gets much of his own personal drive from the quote,  “I didn’t wait for an opportunity; I created one.”

My question for the incoming freshman is: Who are you really? Describe yourself without using your name, or any attributes given to you by society and really think. Deep down, who are you?