The Bonner Program is built along a four-year developmental model for students. This model translates into a set of expectations and experiences, both in the context of community service and engagement and within students’ academic and co-curricular learning. As a result, they become more involved and qualified to take on additional responsibilities and leadership roles as they advance in the Program. Growth and development occurs in multiple settings such as the individual student's service site, cohort-based Bonner meetings, trainings, and academic courses.

The chart above (the Bonner developmental Model) shows how Bonners' community engagement roles evolve over their four years in the program, starting with engaging in direct client-service, then taking on leadership roles in small projects, to handling more complex capacity-building projects.