News

Sacred Heart student works with "littles"

May 10, 2010

STITTSVILLE - She calls them her “littles.” And they’re eight of the luckiest youngsters in Stittsville. That’s because Sacred Heart High School grade 11 student Tracy Willis is spending one-on-one time with them in her co-op placement at two Stittsville schools.

It’s all being done through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization who interviewed Tracy before involving her in the program. Now, she spends her co-op placement time working with her assigned youngsters, one on one for an hour each. She does this on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Guardian Angels Catholic School and then on Thursdays and Fridays at Stittsville Public School. On Mondays, she helps out in a class setting at Guardian Angels.

In her one on one sessions with her “littles” who range from grade two students to grade five students, Tracy is helping them with life skills and friendship activities.

“I’m doing a broad range of activities,” she said at the co-op fair which was held at Sacred Heart on Thursday, April 22. At this co-op fair, students involved in the co-op program set up science-fair type displays which highlighted their co-op placement.

Tracy’s display involved her “littles” without them actually being there. The display featured the hand prints of each of her “littles”, along with one positive comment made by each “little” about Tracy or the program.

Tracy admits that she is loving her co-op placement which started in February and runs until June. She is even thinking that she may do it again next year.

She is amazed at how she has gotten to know her “littles” and has bonded with them Indeed, she has even seen the impact that her involvement with them has produced.

“I never expected that it could make such a huge impact,” she said while relating how one of her “littles” had been missing quite a bit of school but that since Tracy came on the scene, the student has not missed a day and is now looking forward to their time together.

Tracy had been directed to this co-op placement because she had indicated an interest in working with children, perhaps as a child and youth psychologist. Her co-op placement has just reinforced her interest in perhaps someday working with children and she is now considering teaching as well.

She finds that the girls that she is working with like to do virtually anything together but that it is a little more difficult working with the boys, although she says that it becomes easy to pick up what their interests are and to gear their sessions toward these interests.

All in all, she has found it immensely rewarding.

“It’s by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” she says.

Tracy’s co-op placement at these two local schools through the Big Brother/Big Sister program is just one of numerous co-op placements at Sacred Heart, all of which were on display at the April 22 co-op fair.

Some of the other co-op placements included placements with plumbing and electrical firms, at Stittsville Trailers, at Holy Spirit Parish, at Broadway Bar & Grill, at Auto Trendz Auto Care, at L-D Tool and Die, at Brown Bear Child Care, at Fil’s Diner, at Future Shop, at East Side Marios, at the Stittsville Child Care Centre and at Midnight Holsteins.