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| Outdoor Mentoring Works! Every year, Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies nominate matches for the "Big of the Year" award. The BBBS agency in Great Bend, KS sent in the following, nominating Kelly Seifert as the Big Brother of the Year for Kansas. We've had the pleasure of having Kelly and Dylan join us on a number of Pass It On events, including pheasant hunts and fishing trips. Dylan is a neat kid and Kelly is just the kind of mentor we are hoping to find. We just need to find a whole lot more Kelly's...and we know you are out there! Big Brother Kelly Seifert and Little Brother Dylan Frank BB Kelly and LB Dylan have been matched since January 26 of 2007. When asked what he liked best about having a mentor during their one year match evaluation, LB Dylan replied “everything”. Initially Kelly and Dylan’s match activities focused mainly on just having fun together, they like to go bowling, attend movies and go out to eat. Unless its hunting season of some sort that is, then their match activities focus almost exclusively on planning hunting trips, hunting locally, and driving long distances to attend any Pass It On - Outdoor Mentoring activities they hear about throughout the state. Kelly and Dylan are our “fearless hunters” match, our most active Pass It On program participants. If you ask BB Kelly, he will tell you Dylan is always interested in shopping for hunting supplies, talking about hunting and making future plans to hunt with his Big Brother. (Editors note: We all know that the anticipation of the hunt is 90% of the fun...Dylan has found that out too!) Dylan has had his share of ups and downs during the course of their match. Towards the end of the year last year, he was struggling in school, having difficulty meeting his teacher’s expectations and it began affecting his peer relationships. Kelly and Dylan’s match that had primarily been just fun and hunting focused soon took a new turn. BB Kelly began taking an interest in Dylan’s school problems, he would ask Dylan’s Mom consistently at each outing how Dylan was doing in school, he would ask Dylan how school was going. When teachers, other family members in Dylan’s life, and Dylan himself became negative and pessimistic about the problems he was experiencing at school, BB Kelly tried to focus on the positive and provide encouragement. Luckily, Dylan’s Mom arranged for him to see a specialist in Kansas City who was able to identify Dylan’s dilemma as dyslexia. Dylan was fortunate to be able to attend a special month long “school” in Kansas City that helped him learn to adapt with dyslexia. When Dylan came back recently from Kansas City, he asked his Grandma if he could stop by the new Big Brothers Big Sisters office to see his Case Manager. He had a big hug and a big smile and said his time in Kansas City was good. But what he really wanted to know from his Case Manager was – had he missed any hunts? Dylan spent the next half hour describing how cool the big Cabella’s store was in KC. (Editors note: I think we have a life-long hunter in Dylan!) Dylan was on the waiting list for a very long time. Now that Dylan has the BB he had always wanted, it has positively affected almost every aspect in his life. He feels blessed to have BB Kelly and Kelly too feels truly blessed to have Dylan.
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