Student named 'Big Sister of the Year'

Hannah Combs has one brother, but she has always wanted a sister.

Thanks to Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana, she found one in Stefany, a 10-year-old girl living in an at-risk home.

When Combs, a senior, arrived in Bloomington, she didn’t know who Stefany was. She didn’t know what she looked like or how big a part of her life Stefany would become.

Two years after being matched with Stefany, now 12, Combs received the organization’s ultimate honor: IU Big Sister of the Year. January is National Mentoring Month and the time that BBBS celebrates outstanding Bigs like Combs
countrywide. 

“I’m amazed, humbled and honored,” Combs said. “I’m just doing something that I think is right and that I really enjoy.”

Combs was first introduced to the organization through her college roommate sophomore year, and applied to be matched with a Little on a whim. The 10-minute application process turned her life around.

Mark Voland, the program director for BBBSSCI, made the match between Combs and Stefany.

“We make our matches based on similarities, interests, preference — that sort of thing,” Voland said. “We had a girl whose family came to us, they were referred to me from a housing shelter. Stefany needed a role model in her life.”

Combs, with her curly blond locks and bubbly personality, at first seemed to be the complete opposite of Stefany, whom Voland described as extremely bright but very shy. Combs has been integral in her personal and social growth over the past two years, he said.

BBBSSCI is a 40-year-old organization, but the national branch has existed for more than 100 years. Its mission, their website reads, is to provide children facing adversity with “one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact on youth.”

National research about this effect, published on the BBBSSCI website, states Littles are 52 percent less likely to skip school, 46 percent less likely to begin using illegal drugs and 27 percent less likely to begin consuming alcohol.

The children who participate in the program span in age from six to 17, Voland said, with an average age of around 11.

Bigs, on the other hand, consist largely of college-aged students. Sixty percent of Monroe County Bigs are IU students, Voland said.

“A lot of the kids we serve have never been on IU’s campus,” he said. “You guys bring them back to campus, show them where you go to school, and that really helps the kids be inspired to want to go to college and take their own education more seriously.”

Combs said she hasn’t had the “college talk” with Stefany yet, because she’s only in sixth grade, but she underlines Stefany’s potential when interacting with her.

“I always try to show her that there are other things she can do, that she has the potential to go to college and get a degree and move forward with her life outside of the boundaries she’s stuck in now,” Combs said.

Combs meets with Stefany once or twice a week, depending on their schedules, she said. They do crafts, bake or explore Bloomington.

“We just kind of hang out like friends,” Combs said.

Combs is a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority at IU and leads the IU branch of BBBS, but Voland notes her dedication to her Little, despite juggling so many other activities, is laudable.

“Her Little went from this really quiet, shy girl who knew nothing about Bloomington to now much more open, more talkative,” Voland said. “She’s been to places here in town that she would never have seen had it not been for Hannah.”

Combs will graduate this spring, but said she knows she wants to maintain her connection with Stefany after graduation.

“I want to maintain that relationship but I want her to be re-matched, because I think she will benefit from more time with a mentor like me,” Combs said. “I wouldn’t be jealous or anything.”

As their time together runs thin, Voland points out that Stefany wasn’t the only one who gained from this remarkable pairing. 

“Almost all our Bigs get even more from this than our Littles, and that’s what we want,” Voland said. “You learn a lot more about yourself by doing this.”

Follow reporter Anicka Slachta on Twitter @ajslachta.