Poway High School Mentors, also known as Big Buddies, is a program hosted by Garden Road Elementary School counselor Katherine Macleod.  Titans can volunteer to get a buddy at Garden Road Elementary School and work with them every Wednesday morning for an hour.   

   “Basically, it’s a program where they pair a high school student with an elementary school student at Garden Road who maybe needs more support or a role model, or just someone they can connect with, and we do different activities whatever the kid wants to do,”  senior  Katie Gavigan, an active member in the program, said,

The program is open to everyone, but volunteers must get a reliable recommendation from a teacher. Students must also be willing to make a solid commitment of three months and not abandon a little buddy. “We really don’t want any students to feel like their special friend didn’t want to show up and spend time with them”, said Macleod. 

   Any student involved in Titan Ambassadors, peer counselors, or any other programs like this is very likely to be wanted in this project, considering that they are already vetted and well-trained according to Mrs. Macleod.  

Signing up involves filling out a google form with a teacher’s recommendation. This google form is sent out through PHS counselors at the beginning of every school year.

Both Gavigan and Senior Kiele Smith agree that the best part overall is seeing a positive effect on the child they are being buddies with. 

“You can really see an impact. Like, I’ve only been working with her for a couple of weeks, but she gets super excited every time I come, and her face lights up, and she always talks about how it makes her week,” Smith said.

This program gives volunteers a look into what it’s like to work with kids who need some extra attentiveness. It can help to solidify someone’s decision to work with kids in their future. 

  For Gavigan, who is also  a swim teacher and a Titan Ambassador, she finds that working with kids has always felt extremely gratifying. “So far it’s just really rewarding to be able to see what impact I’ve had on my little buddy, she just needs more loving people in her life and it feels really good to be that for her”, said Gavigan.