“Chatham is a big enough program to obtain resources, but it’s small enough to build really close relationships,” Snow says. This allowed Snow to truly understand the world he’d be working and making a difference in.

“I try to help my students get past the presumption that this should be an easy thing.  When you’re a visual artist, you know you’re going to have to do 8,000 sketches.  Somehow in writing that idea isn’t so present; people think they can just jump in and do it.  It’s all about building your facility and taking on the next challenge.”

The Bonner program accepts first-years and sophomores, who go on a “speed date” with participating nonprofits at the beginning of their first year in the program.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of medical and health services managers is projected to grow 17 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations.

“Suturing and setting broken bones and dislocated limbs aren’t typical nursing practices in the US, but in third-world trauma environments, your scope of practice is directly proportional to your knowledge and level of comfort,” Devin says.

“More than anything, I was surprised at how much I knew. We learned a lot from each other. We probably learned as much from each other as we did from everyone else who spoke to us that day.”

The second largest country in the world by size, with a history of relatively peaceful relations between First Nations and Euro-descendants, Canada’s standing in the global arena will only grow as the economic and strategic stakes centered around the Northwest Passage become more urgent.

From a list of 13 local companies and organizations, students chose one where they spent about two hours touring the facility, visiting with employees, and participating in a Q and A session.

Leland plans to grow the project each year, and to offer gardening workshops to teach children that with hard work and determination, even the smallest seed can grow into to something larger than life.

If you think of award-winning filmmakers, Chester Lampman, MFA Film and Digital Technologies ’14, may not be the first to come to mind, but make no mistake—he’s the real deal.

“Overall, the value in the program is the increased confidence we see in students at the end of the week. We know from alums of the program that this experience increases their knowledge of the political system, their overall confidence, and their ability to affect change.”

Jellison arranged a meeting with Dr. Whitney and representatives from Chatham’s dining services, Parkhurst (Chatham’s dining services partner), and Zipcar. “Everyone was like, if you want this, you can have it,” she says.