Research Paper

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[Name]

[Professor’s Name]

ENGL 1113 Project 2 Sample 1

[Date]

Seeing potential in others is hard, but seeing it in ourselves is even more difficult. That’s

what makes organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, BBBS, here in Norman so special. They

see potential for success where others don’t. Their program matches mentors with six to

eighteen-year-old children whose parents have been in prison, are drug abusers, or are struggling

financially. In doing so, they break the cycles of incarceration and poverty. Big Brothers Big

Sisters of Norman’s common value of potential is enacted in their pairing of disadvantaged

children with adult mentors to give them the confidence they need to succeed.

It’s a long road to success for many of these kids. Forty percent of children in Norman’s

BBBS program have or have had an incarcerated parent. (Crews “interview”) The journal

“Children of Incarcerated Parents” shed light on the effects of living in a home with an

incarcerated parent.

Children respond in various ways, including sadness, withdrawal, low self-esteem,

excessive crying, depression, diminished school performance, truancy, disciplinary

problems, alcohol and other drug use, running away, and aggressive behavior. (Reed 159)

It’s not hard to imagine that sadness, depression, and withdrawal can lead to poor school

performance and inhibit development of meaningful relationships. Disciplinary problems are

also perhaps a foreshadowing of criminal behavior to come from aggressiveness and substance

abuse. From there it’s only a matter of time before the child of an imprisoned parent becomes

imprisoned themselves. Reed discusses further a study showing that of, “56 children identified

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by their teachers as having the most severe behavioral and disciplinary problems at school, 80 to

90% had experienced parental crime, arrest, and incarceration, and 25% had a parent who was

incarcerated at the time of the study.” (159) It’s a generationally self-defeating cycle. Seeing the

big picture this cycle paints helps us map out a few red flags. Substance abuse, poor school

performance, and bullying are social cues that a child needs guidance they aren’t getting at

home.

BBBS knows this map like the back of their metaphorical hand. Blossom Crews, area

director for BBBS of Norman, explains in our interview that many of the kids enrolled in their

program are bullied and having trouble with school work. (Crews) A clear indicator that BBBS

strategically targets children heading down the same path as their parents. In this way, they wage

a cultural war on debilitating relationships at home. Atypical of its definition, BBBS’s definition

for potential first manifests with a negative connotation, the potential to fail. After all, it’s

understandable that these children would be at a disadvantage, in comparison to other kids.

Sadly, if a child’s parent, their first role model, wasted their potential, likely these kids will waste

theirs too. Luckily, many of these kids are noticed by educators and referred to the BBBS

program before it gets that far.

That’s when BBBS gets to work. The child, referred to as a Little by BBBS, and a

guardian are first interviewed separately. During the interview the child is asked about their

interests to create a profile that will match them with a mentor, rather than just pair the child with

a random adult. That shows they value maximizing the potential for a winning mentor-child

combo. Crews emphasizes that the success of these connections depends heavily on the child’s

willingness to be a part of the program, so, potential Littles have to volunteer. (Crews

“interview”) Mentors, referred to as Bigs, are also interviewed. However, during the interview

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prospective Bigs are asked not only about their interests, but also tougher questions about

perspective. Crews points out that they ask questions like: Would you be okay with a shyer child

that you have to pry conversation out of? Are you okay with children that have different

religions? Can you mentor a child with different colored skin? (Crews “interview”) These strong

questions exemplify the seriousness they take in their mission. In the battle against bad role

models, they represent a no-man’s land between potential for success and potential for failure

where one wrong match can be disastrous for the Little. Once a match is made it is supported for

a year by a match support specialist to foster a successful relationship. With resources being so

limited in a nonprofit organization like BBBS having paid specialists really goes to show how

much they value the connection process and the potential they see these connections have. It’s

that eye for potential that drives BBBS to make successful connections.

BBBS is no stranger to success. Through community and school based mentorship

programs the study “Mentoring in Schools: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters School-

Based Mentoring” has shown that kids with mentors do better in school, have improved

relationships with other adults, and are less likely to use drugs or alcohol. (346) Those same red

flags that marked the potential for failure, through mentorship, become markers of the program’s

success. Success doesn’t end there, though. Crews described some of the unusual ways children

in the program have achieved success. “By all of those measures the match was a failure,” she

started solemnly. “It took everything we had to get him to graduated high school, and keeping a

job was next to impossible,” she went on. Years would pass, though, and the Little had a child of

his own, and the former Big was invited to meet the baby. That’s where the Little told his Big, “I

learned how to be a father from you.” (Crews “interview”) Potential for BBBS isn’t limited to

just doing well in school or avoiding drugs. Potential is more about being capable of being better

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than before. In helping this Little and Littles all over Norman to end cyclical criminality they

help kids for generations to come be better than they would have been. That drive to make

successful connections during the pairing process comes from the potential they see in all

children, here now and yet to come. I think their website says it best with, “Inherent in every

child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life.” (Thrive and Succeed) That belief is what pushed

the little to graduate high school, and most of all, that belief will be passed on to his child. In a

way, BBBS sees potential in Littles like a doctor sees patients. They have been given a sickness,

but with the right medications, mentorship, they can be healthy again.

Success doesn’t just shine through in their matches it also shows in the way they do

business. During the interview Crews time and time again returns to the way they are constantly

trying to improve their processes. Whether it’s employing a new quality assurance position to

keep track of employee training so that the rest of the office can focus on match making, or it’s

as simple as recognizing who to go to when a unique need arises. (Crews “interview”) With a

chuckle Crews says she is always making connections, even if it’s knowing who to go to for

goodies when there is a fundraising bake sale. (Crews “interview”) Driving all this improvement

is this value of potential. BBBS doesn’t just see children with potential, but also the way they

operate. It is a mindset that Crews and her team have developed in their day to day life to

connect disadvantaged kids with mentors, and to make her team more effective and focused.

Really, her job is a life style of seeing potential in connections and making the connections

happen to fulfill that potential. In our interview, Crews gave insight into some of the group

activities they do to raise money. There was an interesting painting hanging all alone on the wall

of the interview room. When I asked why it was there she described a painting activity the

children do with their Bigs in a large group. Each adds their own creative touch and the painting

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is sold to pay for more matches. That painting was awaiting auction. (Crews “interview”) In an

incredible way BBBS in Norman turns the potential these children finally begin to see in

themselves into seeing potential in BBBS to help others. Like the Little who learned to be a dad

from his Big, Littles all over BBBS are learning to believe that all children have untapped

potential. These kids just need a doctor.

Potential is much more than the statistics like being 52% less likely to skip school, 27%

less likely to use alcohol, or 46% less likely to use drugs. (“Thrive and Succeed”) It is about

“giving them something to dream about,” Crews states eloquently. (Crews “interview”) So many

of these kids don’t believe they can achieve anything. Others may have never even considered it.

As disheartening as that is, Bigs do have a significant impact. In one story Crews gives, a child

had no goals, but his Bigs, a husband and wife, frequently brought him to their place of work.

They were chemical engineers and they fascinated their Little. They continually reinforced that

he too could be an engineer when he got older. While his friends at school wanted to be sports

stars he told them he wanted to be a chemical engineer. That Little would go on to attend The

University of Oklahoma and become a chemical engineer. (Crews “interview”) That Little was

given a dream. He was shown that someone cared about his future and believed in his potential

to succeed. In this way, he was made to believe in his own untapped potential. In a way, caring is

the language of potential, translating belief from others into belief in self. It communicates

potential from mentor to mentee. That same caring can also be seen as tough love. In another

story Crews talks about a little who’s grades improved because he was afraid his big would stop

mentoring him if he had bad grades. “It’s just somebody who is going to hold you to a higher

standard,” she points out. (Crews “interview”) The Big cared and that was the language needed

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to communicate tough love to the Little. It showed the Little he could and should be doing more,

because he had the potential to do so.

From broad scale beliefs in the inherent potential of all children, down to the very last

penny spent, BBBS sees potential in everything they do. Potential, to BBBS, also has unexpected

corollaries. It’s a struggle between success and failure. It’s a weapon against a culture of

generational blindness leading the innocently blind. In these ways, it transcends both time and

scale bringing success to Norman’s children for years to come. (Word Count:1763)

Works Cited

“Volunteer to start something.” Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma, 2016,

bbbsok.org/volunteer/.

“Thrive and succeed.” Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma, 2016,

bbbsok.org/about-bbbsok/.

Crews, Blossom. Blossom Crews Linkedin Profile. www.linkedin.com/in/blossom-crews-

64041925.

Crews, Blossom. “interview”. 11 October 2017.

Chaney, Joleen. “Big Brothers Big Sisters Program In Need Of Mentors.” News 9 On the Scene

On the Story - News9.Com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports, 27

Mar. 2016, www.news9.com/story/31576548/big-brothers-big-sisters-program-in-need-

of-mentors.

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Writer, Jessica Allison Staff. “Norman Chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma Plans

Tailgate-Themed Fundraiser.” NewsOK.com, NewsOK, 25 Aug. 2014,

newsok.com/article/5335536.

Merenstein, Beth, et al. “Issues Affecting the Efficacy of Programs for Children with

Incarcerated Parents.” Journal of Correctional Education, vol. 62, no. 3, 2011, pp. 166–

174. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23282710.

Herrera, Carla, et al. “Mentoring in Schools: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters

School-Based Mentoring.” Child Development, vol. 82, no. 1, 2011, pp. 346–361.

JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/29782835.

Reed, Diane F., and Edward L. Reed. “Children of Incarcerated Parents.” Social Justice, vol. 24,

no. 3 (69), 1997, pp. 152–169. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/29767028.