“It Impacted my Future and Outlook on Life more than any other Activity”

We caught up with Jourdyn Mootz ‘16, a native of Merrill, Wis. Mootz graduated in December 2015 Magna Cum Laude, with a degree in Biology. Currently, she’s a graduate student at UW-Madison, in the Physician Assistant program. She reflects on her time with the Bonner Leaders, a national service-learning leadership program for undergraduate students.

“Grad school has been super busy, but it has been a super rewarding experience so far!

The Bonner Leaders program at Edgewood College has been monumental in getting me to where I am today. Not only have I been able to keep the Bonner torch burning by continuing to serve under-privileged individuals, but my work in the past with Bonner helped me get into an extremely competitive graduate program. Bonner’s community service aspect not only looked fantastic on my resume when applying, but also the memories and lessons I learned while working at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry (in Madison) gave me inspiration while writing personal essays and while interviewing at schools.

“I am a member of wisPact cohort, an outreach portion of my program which is working to integrate medical professionals into the northern part of the state which is very underserved medically at the moment.

“Just this past month I applied for, and then interviewed for a scholarship. At the interview, one of the people mentioned how many hours of community service I had put in. Most of that work was through Bonner. It is truly amazing how Bonner continues to influence my life even to this day.

“As soon as I started my grad program, multiple service activities were available for us. It was extremely easy for me to feel comfortable in volunteering situations that my classmates were not, which I can thank Bonner Leaders for. With volunteering, sometimes there are instances where you are helping someone you feel like you have nothing in common with, or even worse you may find that they are not open to your help. These situations can be disheartening, but I believe that Bonner Leaders cultivated confidence in me to know that it’s “ok” to be in these situations and to be open minded to see the other person’s point of view. Many times these individuals will open up if you give them the chance, which can lead to an extremely successful volunteering experience.

“I am looking forward to leading a medical mission trip to Belize in May 2017. I believe that Bonner Leaders not only cultivated in me a desire to help those in need, but also gave me key leadership skills that will help me instill a desire to help others in my fellow classmates have successful volunteering experiences.

“All of my service work with Bonner not only helped me feel fulfilled that I was helping individuals who were in need, it also instilled in me the desire to dedicate my life and career to serving individuals in need. Bonner works to help connect college students with individuals in the community who are in need. I believe that it impacted my future and outlook on life more than any other activity I participated in throughout my college career.”