Kristin Farrell, Bonner Program Director

The following was written from an interview senior Bonner Katelyn Danelski conducted with Kristin Farrell, who works as the Bonner Program Director at Augsburg College in the Sabo Center for Citizenship & Learning.

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Kristin came to work at Augsburg after considerable inner dialogue and conversations with coworkers and friends about a desire to work in higher education and a passion for helping students gain real-world exposure to social justice issues. She had worked for eight years as a high school teacher in social studies, but she began to feel a need to learn more about experiential education and working in a post-secondary institution. After going back to school and completing her graduate thesis based in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, Kristin found her way to interviewing for a position at Augsburg College, and she was excited about the college's way of going about work in the community. After accepting the position, she began to work more holistically with the Bonner Program.

In the past few years working as the director of the program, there are particular aspects of her position that stand out as most valuable to her. Hands down, her favorite aspect is being able to work with students and watching them grow. Kristin also values the focus on relationship building with a purpose to support students to be able to take steps towards their aspirations, as well as working in the community itself. She believes that the commitment of the students in Bonner directly relates to the mission of the college itself. Bonner and Augsburg are a natural fit, she says, because of Augsburg's focus on community engagement, student leadership development, and helping students find their calling. All of these core commitments coincide with what Bonner is all about.

Kristin is also inspired by the students she works with. She says they share experiences of adversity and yet take action and engage with others, using those challenges they have experienced as fuel for their journey. Bonner students here at Augsburg are committed to engaging with the community, bringing forth their experiences, and learning from others' experiences; they are also incredible connectors. She envisions the future of Bonner as one that works towards stronger community and identity amongst the students; she believes the future of Bonner in these regards must be student-lead because the future of the program's community life is in their hands. 

She has also learned some things while working as the Bonner Program Director, including trusting in the value of long-term relationships and the importance of working through struggles to reach goals. In addition, Kristin mentioned developing a deeper value of community and realizing that every interaction you have contributes to a larger community. 

In the end, she says that being at Augsburg has helped her understand her personal vocation better, and that she has been able to help students discern theirs. She deeply values the way the Augsburg community engages with others, and is thankful to be both a teacher and learner in this environment.