Josh was matched with his “Little” Kevin in October 2017 in the site based program.
In the beginning, Kevin was not an easy match. He was severely bullied at his previous school, making him depressed and scared. On top of that Kevin has ADD and dyslexia. Kevin’s native language is Spanish. Therefore, Josh had three challenges to overcome as a “Big” because Kevin’s English was limited when he started being his “Big.” Josh is the kind of Big that always has a positive and energetic attitude. He knows how to keep his Little’s attention by always paying 100% attention to him and doing activities that are fun for both of them. During the school year, Josh was always consistent with his visits. He always found activities that captured Kevin’s attention. For example, due to Kevin’s dyslexia, Josh brought an illustrated book about airplanes, that was easy to read and had plenty of illustrations. He also showed Josh how to make paper airplanes. Josh always made sure his Little Kevin had a great time. Some of the activities Josh and Kevin did together during the school year were playing basketball, built Legos, played Monopoly and other board games. This allowed Kevin to improve his social and attention skills. Kevin is now bilingual and they have no problems communicating. Other additional activities they did together, were attending field trips to High Point University. Kevin has always looked forward to attending those field trips as he said it was so much fun to play with his Big Josh in the HPU Arcade, the Halloween and Valentine’s events. Josh is an awesome Big because he always went above and beyond. He told Adriana who is his Match Support Specialist about his idea of doing a music program somewhere. He asked Adriana if she knew any club or school who would be interested. Therefore, Adriana suggested he talked to the principal of Kevin’s school to take the necessary steps to initiate this music program. Josh strongly believed having children learn to play music instruments could be beneficial for children. After a few months of coordinating, Josh started the music program at Kevin’s school. Thanks to Josh’s involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters, he has not only benefited Kevin, but it also benefited some of the children at Kevin’s school, and some of those children are “Littles” in our BBBS program. One of those “Littles” is Kevin’s younger sister.
Josh has always demonstrated accountability, a great attitude, and initiative. Thanks to Josh, Kevin has improved his confidence and his social skills. Kevin said that every time he sees his Big Josh, he feels happy and that he always looks forward to seeing him.
Kevin’s attitude towards school also improved, in the past, he did not want to go to school. Now, he said he enjoys being at school, and he has made a lot of new friends.