They are mentors, companions, and someone that a little kid can look up to. Several upperclassmen at Lancaster High School have become Big Brothers and Big Sisters to young students in the district’s elementary schools. According to the Fairfield County BBBS website, their goal is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, one-to-one relationships that improve their lives. More than a hundred LHS students have volunteered to be a big to a little this school year.
“The main goal for Big Brothers and Big Sisters is to make sure that we’re building positive relationships, being a positive role model for the eleme

ntary student, and giving them something to look forward to. The big needs to be able to engage with them, make them laugh, and make their day a little bit better if they’re having a tough day or tough times at home,” said LHS guidance counselor and the BBBS sponsor Sadie Kimble.

LHS junior Jack Pompey said that he was eager to be part of the BBBS organization when his own brother was a big to a young child a few years ago.
“I just saw the impact that he had on his little. It kind of just made me want to join. So far, I’ve only known [my little] for about three weeks, but my favorite part’s probably just him destroying me in soccer or Uno,” said Pompey.
LHS junior Madi Shackelford said she is anticipating being paired with a little soon but was excited to join BBBS because she wanted to help someone.
“I got inspired to be a big freshman year when I was told about it by my counselor. Since then, I’ve wanted to be a big to give a child what I’ve never had,” she said.
There is a strong history behind the current Big Brothers Big Sisters program. According to the local website, the program began in 1904 when Ernest Coulter, a court clerk in New York, realized there was a high number of boys going through the court system.
“He recognized that caring adults could help many of these kids stay out of trouble, and he set out to find volunteers. That marked the beginning of the Big Brothers movement. At around the same time, the members of a group called the Ladies of Charity were befriending girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. That group would later become Catholic Big Sisters. Both groups continued to work independently until 1977, when Big Brothers Association and Big Sisters International joined forces and became Big Brothers Big Sisters of America” (“History”).
High school students who want to join the BBBS program must meet a few requirements. They need to attend high school and be an upperclassman with a driver’s license. Interested students may stop in the counseling office and get a paper application.
“There’s also a QR code that you can scan for their online application. There is a Big Brothers Big Sisters book nook at the old Sherman Jr. High School, where students get information. So it can be really easy to get that process started,” said Kimble.