The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County program director gave a presentation during Wednesday’s ASI Senate meeting to encourage senators to participate in its community outreach program.
Elsa Fitzgerald, director of recruitment and community outreach of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, said that “130,000 children in Orange County live in single-parent homes.”
She said that they “first and foremost reach out to college campuses in hopes of attracting volunteers” because little brothers and sisters want a role model who are college-aged.
A big brother or sister “is simply a friend who spends time helping a child,” who is also referred to as the “little.” A little “is a child between the ages of six and 16 who desires someone to help increase their self-confidence, provide motivation and better their lives,” as stated in a document provided by the program.
Fitzgerald also said that 46 percent of children in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program are less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 98 percent are less likely to be teen moms, 27 percent are less likely to begin using alcohol and 52 percent are less likely to skip school.
Additionally, she talked about the rewards that come from participating in the program. She said those who participate in the program could put it on their résumé.
Also during the Senate meeting, Erin M. Adams, a junior political science major with an emphasis in public law, was appointed to the associate justice position for ASI. Her main motivation for joining was “to gain more experience of the judicial branch of the government.” Now, the ASI Judiciary is only two spots closer to having all of its positions filled.
The primary function of the ASI Judiciary is to interpret the provisions of the A.S. Bylaws or other A.S. documents in order to review and resolve formal complaints against A.S. or any of its agencies, organizations or office holders, according to ASI’s Web site.
During the meeting, Sen. George Del Hierro said he has been working with the Student Success Committee, which he described as a “grass-roots committee that does research on student success at different universities across the country.”
Del Hierro and his team have put together a compilation of surveys “that we want to hand out to students on our campus addressing one of the major issues that our students have voiced.”
One of those major issues is student/faculty communication and involvement with each other.
Del Hierro emphasized his need for as many students as possible to take the survey.
