Guilford’s Bonner program participants are moving into a new home this week – new to today’s Bonners, at least. Older Bonners might view the housewarming at Worth House II as more of a homecoming.

Worth House II, located between Dana Auditorium and the Alumni House (Worth House I), is where Bonner students gathered from 2005-18. Now, the house will again be open for students to gather to discuss service learning projects across the campus and community.

The community is invited to celebrate the re-opening of the space Friday, March 15, from 4-6 pm.

Due to the need for repairs, as determined by the College administration, Bonners moved out of the house in 2018. The move and explanation remain contentious with some former Bonner students, faculty and staff, but Kylee Crook ’19 is focusing on Friday and the future.

President Kyle Farmbry set the move in motion last fall. "Bonner is such an important member of our community," says Kyle. "It's wonderful to see them returning to a space that many older Bonners have fond memories of."  

Kylee is Guilford’s Bonner Program Coordinator and a former Bonner Scholar herself. She was a junior when the Bonner program moved. She says students past and present are happy to be returning to Worth House II, which, unlike previous meeting spaces in King Hall and the Orangerie, seems less a building and more a home.

“It’s really full circle for me and other Bonners,” says Kylee. ”I think the move back speaks to the legacy of the Bonner program and invites a bit of that legacy back in for our current students.”

Jennifer Urdaneta-Cassoma '17 MCJ '24, a Presidential Fellow working in the Office of Community and Engagement, is working with Kylee and the Bonners program this year. She's a Bonner herself and is excited about the move. "A lot of people made this happen and I'm thankful for that. This is where Bonner belongs."

Kylee says the Bonner is “very much in the rebuilding phase” and that the new (old) home will give students “a sense of foundation and connect them back to the ancestral ties that this program has on campus.”

Guilford’s Bonner Program has been connecting students with the wider community for more than 30 years. The program was established by Guilford in collaboration with the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation.

Bonner Leaders are committed to community service and receive scholarship funding to help finance their education. They participate in a mentorship program that helps them develop as leaders and change agents in the Greensboro community.