Montour’s “Big Sisters Club” Mentors Middle School Students

I was able to help lead the Big Sisters Club again this year. It was wonderful to see the youth leadership take place in this club. One of the groups took on the challenge to teach middle school girls about using technology responsibly. Here is an article written about the club. ~Ryan

The “Big Sisters Club” at Montour High School was started last year to help girls learn how to become leaders and role models. It was created to provide mentoring for young girls at the middle school.

The co-curricular club is composed of girls from grades 9-12. Juniors Olivia Persinger and Hailey Palas work together to run the club as co-presidents.Through its design, the club divides into four different groups, developing presentations about topics that could assist younger girls in coping with middle school struggles. Each group illustrates the importance of improving the younger generations’ ability to understand and cope with difficult milestones, while supplying outside assistance and resources for reference.

The first group presented to the 8th grade girls. The topic was “Body Positivity.” This group included Mia Magliocco, Ella Brunick, Zoe Brunick, Brooke Carver, Lexie Patrus, Sam Uhler and Sarah Eaton. This presentation discussed healthy ways to think about our bodies, shared advice on how to be confident, and provided suggestions for living healthy lifestyles.

The second group presented to the 7th grade girls. The topic was “Social Media and Cyberbullying.” This group was led by Samantha Boyle, Casey Boyle, Madelynn Ashbaugh, Grace Murray and Keeley Sniadach. The presentation discussed the positives and negatives relating to social media and the responsible ways to use it while being wise and drama-free.

The 6th grade group’s topic was “Time Management.” This group included Raegan Czerniewski, Riley Rippole, Alivia Fisher, Ella Dougherty, Grace Ducoeur, Natalya Pretka, and Victoria Rich. This presentation discussed the importance of responsibly managing your time, especially when having more expectations in middle school, and being involved in other activities. They also shared how managing time responsibly can have a positive effect on healthy emotional well-being.

Lastly, the 5th grade group chose “Avoiding Drama” as their topic. This group included Olivia Caputo, Mia Pravlochak, Grace Bannon, Shelby Gielata, Kayla Molitoris, Mikayla Mycka, and Sophia Weber. They created a slideshow to outline common middle school struggles and created an activity to show how fast “rumors” spread. They encouraged the girls to support each other, be good friends and learn how to make new friends. They ended the presentation with an activity encouraging meeting new girls and making friends with them.

Each of the groups did an amazing job covering all the criteria to prepare the middle school girls for years to come. All four groups answered “big sister” type questions after each presentation. This gave the middle school girls an opportunity to ask questions and provided some clarity about what high school life is like.

The 9th and 10th grade members of the “Big Sisters Club” went to the elementary school, ate lunch with the 4th graders and answered questions about life at the middle school. They encouraged them to get excited about 5th grade and shared inspirational quotes with them about growing up. After they ate lunch they hosted an Easter Egg hunt on the football field.

The 11th and 12th grade members held a “Girls Night Out” at the high school for the 8th grade girls. The attended activities, got a tour of the building, learned about high school life and begin to develop friendships with members of “Big Sisters Club.”

“A big sister acts as a friend, listener and advisor to her little brothers and sisters.” – Liv Persininger

Middle school counselor Danielle Langdon and Educational Mentor Ryan Klingensmith helped with content messaging, resources and logistics.