Faces at Georgia Tech

This year, Lauren Miller, a first-year Management major, started a big brother-big sister program at the Centennial Place YMCA for kids in kindergarten to fifth grade. It pairs the children with Tech students who act as mentors, tutors and friends.

It ' s called BOPSOP - and before you ask: no, it doesn ' t stand for anything.

" We wanted to try to come up with something that was fun for the kids to say, something that they would remember, " Miller said. " So we kind of brainstormed, asked kids their ideas...and came up with BOPSOP. Kind of, BOP for the big brother and SOP for the big sister - but now the kids just call their mentor ' BOPSOP. ' "

Although she ' s getting a degree in Management at Tech, Miller is also working on an education degree at Georgia State.

" Working with kids is just my passion completely, " she said.

Her involvement with Freshman Council also was a motivating factor in creating the BOPSOP program.

" I wanted to do something that got the freshmen involved, because that ' s the purpose of freshman leadership organizations, in my opinion, " she said.

The collaboration between Miller and the Centennial Place YMCA also worked out well: they needed tutors and mentors, and because Miller wants to have her own child development center in the future, " I was like, this is a great way to kind of get a feel for what it ' s like and at the same time help children and get the freshmen involved, " she said.

However, getting the program started was a lot of work. It required getting permission from the YMCA, finding a sponsor (Delta ended up contributing thousands of dollars), organizing a schedule, recruiting volunteers and advertising. With the help of other Freshman Council members, Miller was able to get the program going at the beginning of the spring semester.

The BOPSOPs go to the YMCA every other week. On a normal day, they are there for about three hours, and they " basically go along with the schedule the Y has, " Miller said. " The tutoring takes up a lot of time on those days. They tutor for about an hour and a half, and then they do their playtime. "

BOPSOPs are assigned children and may have some one-on-one time, but they try to have as much group activity as possible, because the current ratio of approximately 40 to 45 BOPSOPs to 95 to 100 children makes one-on-one time increasingly difficult.

In addition to the biweekly meetings, they also have a large monthly event, which is usually themed, on a Friday. They have had crafts weeks, sports weeks and a thank-you week (to make cards for people they appreciate).

For the kickoff week when the children met their BOPSOPs, they had snacks, as well as stations where they could learn cheerleading, ballet and basketball ( " Most of them know how to play basketball better than us, " Miller said), or play outside on the playground.

The program is good for the kids, Miller said.

" They get a mentor, [and it] is absolutely fabulous to have a positive role model...to see somebody that ' s in college, that wants to be involved with them and is just full of life, is a great thing, " she said.

But it ' s also beneficial for Tech students to be BOPSOPs.

" You don ' t really appreciate how you were brought up until you see how other children are brought up, and especially when you see the things that other children don ' t have and the opportunities that they don ' t have, " Miller said.

In addition, Tech students are in a prime position to volunteer, according to Miller. " A lot of them have problems with reading and simple math and things like that, stuff that we ' re excelling at because we ' re at Georgia Tech. Right now during this age is the time we need to give back, because we actually have some time to do that. "

Other BOPSOPs, like first-year Management major Charlotte Rohling, agree.

" I had never done a program like this, and the very first time I set foot in the YMCA I knew it was going to be awesome, " Rohling said. " My favorite part so far with BOPSOP is getting to hang out with the kids, whether it be playing dodge ball...or just letting them braid my hair. My first real day as a BOPSOP, they taught me how to stomp...enough said! "

For Tiffany Grant, a first-year Chemical Engineering major, the best part of BOPSOP is simply sitting down with kids and talking to them about their day, their families - anything. " Some of the things they say make even your worst day better, " she said.

Like Miller, Rob Abraham, a first-year Psychology major, said he hopes to work with children professionally in the future. " BOPSOP is a great avenue for making a difference in kids ' lives...I can ' t tell you how satisfying it is when the kids run up and latch on to you and refuse to let you leave, " he said.

Although Miller was in charge of organizing the entire program this year, she plans to start a BOPSOP exec board for next year, and eventually move out of the head position.

" I will basically become just a BOPSOP who is kind of there to give them feedback, " she said.

BOPSOP applications should be out sometime after spring break, and the program will be open to all students, rather than just freshmen. There are no requirements except a passion for working with kids and willingness to make a commitment to the program.

Miller anticipates BOPSOP lasting a long time. " Hopefully it ' s a program that continues throughout the rest of Tech, " she said.

" This is just the first year of BOPSOP, but I feel that Lauren, [Freshman Council], the mentors and the Y have created a strong foundation for the program to grow over the next several years, " Abraham said.