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Community Corner

Big Brothers Big Sisters Gets Ready for Back to School

A special initiative demonstrates improvements in attendance, behavior and classroom success when children have a mentor.

With temperatures soaring, it is hard to believe that summer is almost winding to an end. But at Big Brothers Big Sisters, we’re gearing up for back-to-school season. In just over three weeks, it will be time for our Littles to set their alarms, pack up their backpacks and head to school. 

Back to school has always been a big focus at Big Brothers Big Sisters. Each year, our annual school supply fair helps make sure our Littles are equipped with the tools they need for success in the classroom. In addition, we encourage our Bigs to make reminder calls the night before school starts to ensure that Littles arrive on time for their first day. But our job doesn’t end there.

These efforts are a great kick start to the school year, but it is also our responsibility at BBBS to ensure that our impact on each Little’s classroom achievement is long-lasting and verifiable. In order to show the profound difference it can make to have someone Be There for you, Big Brothers Big Sisters partnered with Cape Girardeau Public Schools to launch the ABC Education Initiative.  This approach to measuring success uses third party, independent data to prove that our agency’s trusting and enduring relationships make a measurable difference in three key areas—school Attendance, Behavior and Classroom success in reading and math (ABC). 

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Since beginning the program six years ago, Big Brothers Big Sisters has expanded the ABC Education Initiative to St. Louis Public Schools and the Normandy School District. We strongly believe in this initiative, and we continue to see positive results. In the fourth quarter of this 2010-2011 school year, 79.7 percent of our Littles in these districts achieved a grade of C or above in reading and 80.4 percent received a grade of C or above in math! 

John F. Fechter, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo Advisors and Big Brother in St. Louis, saw firsthand the positive impact of the ABC Education Initiative. John and his Little Brother Tyreze are preparing to celebrate their one-year anniversary, but they've already celebrated something even bigger—Little Brother Tyreze had improved one to two full letter grades in every single subject in school this year.

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"It was so much fun to see both Tyreze and his mom so proud of his report card!" John said. “He is really taking responsibility for his school work, and I’ve enjoyed being able to help him along the way.”

Through Big Brothers Big Sisters and its ABC Education Initiative, we aim to surround young people with trusting and enduring relationships AND better meet the needs of students through improving data collection, analysis and collaboration with schools, parents and other community-based organizations.

For more information on how to become a Big Brother or Big Sister, or to get your company or organization involved, call Vivian Gibson or Jeremy Lieb at 314-361-5900 today! Also, be sure to visit Big Brothers Big Sisters on the web at www.BBBSEMO.org.

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