Em Clemenz

When I started a year ago at Big Brother’s Big Sisters, I had no idea how much it would change my life. I’ve always been a big believer in the fact that individuals change and shape our community and that our communities are worth fighting for. But I was always overwhelmed at what I, an individual, could do. Something that I’m sure a lot of people feel these days.

I had no idea that in just my one year how much positive change I would see in not only my community but also in myself. And not to disgrace any of my previous jobs, but this is the first one I’ve ever felt like I belonged. I truly enjoy my job, I enjoy getting up and doing my work. Even the hard days feel easy with my team.

But there’s another side to taking this job that I wasn’t expecting.

Being a Big was something I decided I wanted after my initial interview with Big Brothers Big Sisters. I told myself that if I didn’t get the job, I’d apply to be a Big in a couple of months because it seemed really cool and I had a lot of free time that I knew I could better use supporting my community. It was something I wanted to do and whenever I thought about that ambiguous kid in my head who would somehow benefit from my weird skill set and possibly even enjoy learning and growing together, I would get really excited at the possibility. Once I got the job, I told myself “okay let’s wait a year to see if I can handle my caseload, work/life balance, and volunteering.”

Of course, in perfect Em like fashion I lasted 6 months into waiting that one year, before I begun inquiring about what I would need to become a Big. Which, honestly, longer than I thought I’d last. (And then on top of that signed up for another youth mentoring program to do during the school year too outside of BBBSCI but that’s beside the point right now.)

And though we haven’t been matched long, I’m very grateful for my match. Me and Zoey were matched back in the beginning of July and so far, we’ve seen a musical (Be More Chill, a dream of mine to see too), gone to bookstores, gone to the cat café, Holiday World, and so much more! I can’t even begin to think what the next couple of years might have in store for us.

And for the record, Zoey is the coolest kid ever. She’s smart, talented, and perfectly sarcastic. I’ve already gotten to witness a handful of her accomplishments and it’s just so crazy to me just how amazing this 8^th grader can be! We have a lot in common like reading, going to conventions, loving theatre, and more.

I’m not going to lie either, I was scared. Going to my own match introduction and being on the other side, meeting a family for the first time who had only heard my demographics and handful of my interests was nerve wracking. I was scared I would sound better on paper and then after that one meeting they would go “yeah, no. Can we get a better Big?”

But of course, that didn’t happen because of the care all the teams at Big Brothers Big Sisters put into each and every match. But I’m not blind into thinking that that’s not a real fear that some Bigs have, I felt it, and as hard as it was I’m glad I did feel it because now I can really see first hand how hard the Enrollment and Matching team works. There are things me and my Little have in common that BBBSCI don’t even know about me – and I’m not the first Big to have that experience either, I hear about it every day.

I’m not just saying this part either, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes it easy. Between ticket opportunities, events, and community partnerships there’s been very little having to come up with ideas on my part (although because my job is talking to matches about what they’re doing I do get a lot of good ideas that way too). To how natural it felt talking to Zoey during our first outing. Big Brothers Big Sisters makes it so easy to just say yes. Every single kid can benefit from a mentor and it’s so easy to step up and be that mentor. You don’t have to have all the answers – your Little doesn’t want you to have all their answers, they just want you.

So, while I urge you to donate this year during this year’s giving campaign (with a much more elegant post than last year since I was only one week in), I do also encourage you to think about maybe signing up, just doing an interview, seeing what we’re about and just maybe (like me) you’ll see that you do have what it takes to help our community shine.

But whatever you can give your time, your money, or even word of mouth means the world to me and other matches. Because of individuals who donate matches get to experience things together that they may have never gotten to before like being on the field during a Colts game, going to Holiday World, or getting invited to cool events all over Indiana.