Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

The St. Bonaventure University community will welcome social entrepreneur and author Adam Braun to campus Monday, Sept. 29. Braun’s memoir, “The Promise of a Pencil” is this year’s All Bonaventure Reads selection for new students. Released in March, “The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change,” chronicles Braun’s journey to find his calling. Each chapter describes “one clear step that every person can take to turn your biggest ambitions into reality.” For Braun, that meant taking a leap of faith to give up a job in high finance to found PencilsofPromise.org in 2008. Braun’s approach that blends nonprofit idealism with for-profit business principles has led Pencils of Promise to successfully break ground on more than 200 schools in some of the poorest regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The organization has also expanded to offer scholarships for students to attend school, teacher training, and water and health programs to keep studen...

The All Bonaventure Reads selection for St. Bonaventure University’s Class of 2015 addresses global issues, human rights and the power of volunteer service. In his memoir, “Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal,” author Conor Grennan shares how he went from a reluctant volunteer to an advocate. In search of adventure, the 29-year-old Grennan traded his day job for a yearlong trip around the globe, a journey that began in 2004 with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. All first-year students are asked to read the annual All Bonaventure Reads text, which is the cornerstone of the University 101 course. Many other courses will adopt the text, and the entire campus community is invited to read the book and participate in the numerous events planned over the course of the fall semester. Highlighting the fall programming will be a Monday, Sept. 26, campus visit by the author, during which...