Have you ever seen...
...a child's eyes grow big with excitement as they enter a skyscraper for the first time?
...or a kid marvel at the view from the top floor of an office building?
...or a student say that she wants to be a CEO?
These are just a few of the ways that our Beyond School WallsSM program creates “little moments” full of “BIG magic.”
Click here to see our current BBBS SEPA Beyond School Walls partners.
 School-Based Mentoring with a Twist!
Beyond School WallsSM is a version of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ (BBBS) blue-ribbon one-to-one youth mentoring program. Through a partnership with BBBS SEPA, companies such as Comcast, Exelon Generation and Urban Outfitters give back to the community by hosting children from a nearby school at their corporate office. The children meet in the workplace with the employee volunteer mentor two to four times per month during the school day for about an hour. A BBBS SEPA Match Support Specialist manages the program on-site while Bigs and Littles play games, do arts and crafts, tour the office or just talk with one another. BBBS SEPA launched the Beyond School WallsSM program in 2005 and currently has 9 corporate partners participating in the program.
What are the benefits for the child? BBBS SEPA's Beyond School WallsSM program introduces children to jobs at an early age, giving them an opportunity to learn about the corporate world first-hand. Through relationships with "Corporate Bigs", Littles experience what it means to work for a corporation and the educational requirements needed to achieve this professional success. At Wawa's headquarters in Delaware County, Littles and Bigs can take a walk to the farm to visit dairy cows. At CIGNA, it's a weekly lunch in a skyscraper that most Littles in the program never imagined visiting. The value is the same: children are exposed to professional environments, new career paths and life goals are introduced, and lives are truly changed.
“For us, it's about doing the right thing for the community.”
- Edward T. Iames, Wawa Inc., Director of People Development, Big Brother with Wawa's Beyond School Walls programSM and a BBBS SEPA Board Member
“I used to want to be a teacher. Now I want to be a president of a company.”
- Beyond School WallsSM Little Sister
“I constantly tell friends, family, neighbors, contacts about the Beyond School Walls program.”
- Beyond School WallsSM Big
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