NEW HORIZONS

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Brazos Valley has launched the High School Bigs program. This new service matches high school students to elementary/middle school students as Bigs and Littles, respectively. The first 6 matches were made last month in Hearne ISD, located in Robertson County. One of these successful matches is that of Big Brother Cristopher and Little Brother Maurion. 

 

Cristopher said he became a Big Brother to “help the community, help younger kids, and help himself” through being a good mentor and growing to better understand people and their unique situations. 

 

One thing in particular that Cristopher plans to prioritize is access to learning. He described to me the struggles he faced with having to teach himself and become more academically independent due to high turnover rate with faculty. He hopes to remove the obstacles to learning and make it more accessible to everyone because “no one should have to go through all the pain and headaches just to learn.”

 

“Making new friends and socializing are things I would like to do more,” said Cristopher. With this additional goal in mind, Cristopher and Maurion are well on their way. The first time they met and hung out they discussed their shared love of jokes with Cristopher mentioning that he learned how to make “simple, yet effective ones.” They also discussed how the school system has gone through changes, mentioning teachers they have both had and classes they liked. Both look forward to getting to know each other more and building their friendship. 

 

 The High School program is an amazing chance to provide the children in Hearne ISD with opportunities they may not otherwise have. Kirsten told all of the new mentors that “no matter what you do, you are going to make an impact on these kids.” We all look forward to the progress and success of our new matches.