CHD’s Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County (BBBS) has worked with the Civic Engagement and Service-Learning (CESL) Department at UMass Amherst for two decades to offer an annual academic course focused on service-learning through mentoring.

Pictured are Declan Zadow, a CESL student from last fall, who was matched with Jonah at one of Jonah’s youth football games. Zadow and the BBBS case manager cheered for Jonah during his football game before they officially did their meet-and-greet on the sidelines, playing some frisbee and tossing the football around.

They are a great match—both of them are active and athletic, and they both love ice cream and shopping around the Hampshire Mall. They look forward to reuniting in September!

The “Mentoring with Big Brothers Big Sisters” course curriculum details relevant issues of youth development and offers students the opportunity to become a “Big” to a “Little” through BBBS and earn academic credit.

Students gain an effective skill set to become a mentor for youth by being challenged to deepen their understanding of mentoring through readings, writing, class discussion, and sharing of personal stories. Our partnership with UMass is a powerful way to combine opportunities for students to engage in community service with structured learning and is a way to engage more college students as mentors for Amherst children.

“This partnership is a high-impact way to engage students in service-learning, which combines community service with structured learning,” said BBBS Program Director Susan Nicastro. “The academic work of the course builds a context for the mentoring relationships—exploring relevant issues of youth development, impacts of race and class on social identity, and effective mentoring relationships.” She said that it’s extremely valuable for Littles to have Bigs who are college students. “Our matches with them provide Littles with opportunities to build mentoring relationships with students, while also benefitting from exposure to local college campuses, which can inspire Littles to include college in their vision of their future.”

Thinking about volunteering as a BBBS mentor? BBBS has a growing waiting list of kids in Hampshire County hoping to be matched with “Bigs.” To sign up for a Volunteer Information Session, contact Susan Nicastro at [email protected] or 413-478-8547.