B.I.G. – Boys Into Gentlemen

School Board gets firm handshake and look in the eyes by members for B.I.G. Photo and Video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

Boys Into Gentlemen (B.I.G.) is a mentoring program available to E. Wilson Morrison fourth and fifth grade male students. The purpose of Boys Into Gentlemen is to introduce young men in the program to opportunities for leadership, mentoring, and community involvement. The central theme of the program is the idea of influence and what it means to be influential. Throughout the program, the boys will develop personal skills as well as social skills from an established curriculum. The curriculum units include the following:

• Learning about myself (Group dynamics and leadership training)
• What’s next for me? (Career exploration)
• Etiquette (Tying a tie, shaking hands, eye contact, opening and holding doors for others)
• Influential people (Characteristics of influential people, identifying influential people in my community)
• Outreach and events (Team building, community service, guest speakers)
• Community project completion (Final projects will be determined by group members)
• Graduation Celebration (End of the year celebration with invited speakers and community members- B.I.G. members will use all of the skills they have learned throughout the year to serve the meal and provide the program.)

The Royal Examiner’s camera was at the Warren County School Board meeting on February 6th and captured the presentation introduction by Lisa Rudacille, principal of E. Wilson Morrison Elementary School. Shane Goodwin, Assistant Principal and Rodney Brown, Special Education teacher introduces several members of the B.I.G. program.

Here’s a snippet from Letise Dennis of Learning Liftoff.  As the old adage goes, “Values are caught not taught.” As parents know, our behavior is mimicked in our children. Let’s model this in our own relationships and patterns of behavior and have our children begin forming these habits now when they are still young.