Every student at NDB is connected through a universal sisterhood. However, having one go-to sister allows the new underclassman to have their first outlet for support from day one. At the beginning of every school year, the incoming freshmen are each paired up with one junior for the remainder of their underclassman years. NDB’s BigLil sister program is a unique bonding experience for both the new freshmen starting at their new school and the juniors for having their first leadership role as an upperclassman.
Within the first weeks of school, the incoming freshmen were asked to fill out a Google Form, which covered topics like their favorite music genres, colors, hobbies, sports, subjects, and more. The junior class filled out a similar form at the end of their sophomore year, both being sent out by Freshman Class Coordinator and Junior Class Co-coordinator Jonathan Tomczak.
Junior Class Co-Coordinator Katherine Blanchard worked with Tomczak to use these forms, along with their knowledge of the students in real life from previous freshman events, to match a freshman to a junior.
“It’s a matter of both what the data shows, plus what just seems to make sense, having met the people and getting a sense of what they’re like and who they would seem to match well with,” Tomczak shared.
On August 31, Collaboration began with the juniors discovering who their little sisters were. The junior class was then released into the Moore to join the rest of the freshman class. The juniors introduced themselves to the freshmen, leading the way as new upperclassmen at NDB.
The pairs were then led into the Father Downey Garden to get acquainted with one another while enjoying ice cream provided by Epicurean. There, the duos filled out a Google Form together for the chance to get lucky and win prizes in the Big/Lil Sister raffle while enjoying ice cream provided by Epicurean.
The senior and sophomore duos have continued their sister bonds throughout the last school year. Although the sophomores have been on campus for over a year, it has been proven helpful to have an upperclassman to reach out to if needed. All four student class councils are in charge of organizing their sister events with the sister classes for the upcoming year. The goal is to have multiple BigLil sister events throughout the year.
“My hope for the program overall is always that this is a starting point, especially for the freshmen,” Tomczak explained. “This is a starting point to the greater Notre Dame sisterhood as it isn’t their last sister, but it’s their first one and hopefully one of their best so that’s always the aim. I think we get better at it every year.”
The pairings are made to give every student at NDB an immediate friend to lean on as they embark on their four-year journey as Tiger. With this program in place, each incoming student is welcomed onto the new campus in a personal, unique way, with their first sister to trust and rely on.
