One Last Hurrah for Eichelberger

Found Brady Eichelberger (Wheeler)

By Emily Wheeler/ March 10, 2016

MAYVILLE, N.D. – Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is an organization that was started more than 100 years ago in New York City. The organization strives to provide children who face adversity with strong, one-on-one support from an adult within their community. With programs in communities all across the United States, and in 12 countries around the world, Big Brothers Big Sisters has impacted many lives.

This organization pairs adult volunteers, called Bigs, with children between the ages of 6 and 18, known as Littles. After an extensive background check and interview process with both the Bigs and Littles, they are matched based on location, personality and preference. From there, Bigs and Littles meet according to their personal schedules and do all sorts of things, from playing catch, to doing homework or even going to museums. The organization stays involved throughout the entire process and provides support to ensure healthy, long-lasting relationships grow between their Bigs and Littles.

At Mayville State University, senior Brady Eichelberger has been working diligently to create a similar program and get it up and running before he graduates in the fall. He calls this program: Big Comet Little Comet (BCLC). Eichelberger has always had a great love for volunteer work and thought this kind of program could really benefit the community. He started working on this project during the 2015-2016 school year. Earlier this semester, BCLC sent out its first set of applications to students interested in volunteering and held their first meeting, finally getting the program off the ground.

According to Eichelberger, Big Comet Little Comet will pair volunteers, mostly consisting of Mayville State students, with area children in the hopes of building strong, healthy relationships. “The Big Comets are then required to spend time with their Little Comet at least twice per month and it could mean a number of things, such as helping them with homework, taking them to an MSU game/event, playing basketball with them, etc.”  

Eichelberger knew from the get-go that it would not be easy to get a program like this started. Luckily, he has not had to work alone. When choosing an advisor, he knew just who to ask. Lonamalia Smith, professor of sociology at MSU, has taken on the role as the advisor for BCLC.

 Eichelberger says, “Asking Lona to be the advisor for the program was nowhere near a mistake. She has unbelievable organization skills and does an excellent job of looking at things in a parent’s perspective, making it easier to understand the worries many parents have. Without her and the other Big Comets, the program would not be getting off the ground so smoothly.”

Even with help, starting an extensive program like BCLC has its difficulties. Eichelberger says, “Seeing as it involves both MSU students and students in the community, there is a lot of extra work we had to do to make sure it would be successful, including packaging and sending out Little Comet applications to each kid at the elementary, middle and high school. Besides sending letters out we had to draft a liability form for both Little Comets and Big Comets, BCLC applications, forms to help with matching, figure out how to go about background checks, make sure the schools were on board, find Big Comets and various other tasks.”

Eichelberger’s only regret was not starting this program sooner. “I’ve been throwing the idea around in my head for about a year now and finally decided to try going through with it.”

Although he didn’t get BCLC started as quickly as he had wished, Eichelberger has high hopes for the program as it continues to grow. “The ultimate hope is that is becomes a thriving program in the community that helps many people along the way.”

Eichelberger plans to graduate in Dec. 2016. While at MSU, he has been involved with a few different programs on campus. Namely, the Cometeers Volunteer Organization, which Eichelberger started alongside his good friend Jacob Allam. Eichelberger has also been very involved with Student Senate, acting as Student President for the last two years.

Eichelberger has loved his time here at Mayville State University. One of his favorite things about MSU is the small school atmosphere. He says, “It’s nice to know a lot of the people you go to school with […]. For the most part we are pretty tight knit and just act as one big, dysfunctional family.”

Programs like Big Brothers Big Sisters have taken the initiative of helping our countries children and helping them to succeed in the ways that they deserve to. Brady Eichelberger sees great things for Big Comet Little Comet, even though he may not be here to see its success for himself. As a senior, this program is almost a last hurrah, but one he should certainly be proud of.