“Was I the only one who put glue on my hands and peeled it off for fun when I was a kid?”
J.D. Juerling, vice president of UNM Bigs, asked this question while making an art project with his little brother from Big Brothers Big Sisters.
UNM Bigs is a branch of the nationally-recognized mentoring program Big Brothers Big Sisters. UNM Bigs hosted a day for littles and bigs — Albuquerque teenagers and their mentors — to make art projects at the Art Building on Saturday. The art will be displayed during an April art show at Chroma Studios art gallery.
Rosalba Rincon, UNM Bigs treasurer, said making art is a rare opportunity for many kids.
“We know that art is not very developed in the community,” she said. “There’s not that many places you can go and do art.”
Rincon said bigs are usually footing the bill when taking their littles to do activities in the community, which is why the group wants to provide more free activities.
“We want to provide some activities for matches to do so they don’t have to go to a place like Art! Attack and pay to do art,” she said. “We want to give them the materials.”
Rincon said several more free art days are in the works. Group members paid for art supplies through bake sales and working as movie extras, and Chroma donated space for the art projects.
The group purchased paint brushes, paint, paper and other art supplies.
Juerling attended the art workshop with his little and built a mini skate park from Popsicle sticks and paper. He said he introduced his little to skateboarding.
“Basically that’s what we do – we go skateboarding,” he said. “Being a big gives me a chance to do something that I wish somebody would have done for me.”
Lisa Sanchez, UNM Bigs president, said UNM Bigs tried to host the art show for the first time last year, but it didn’t have enough participants.
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“Honestly the first one didn’t really come off the ground because we didn’t have anything leading up to it where the matches could make art,” Sanchez said.
She said this spring’s art show will be much better because of the multiple opportunities for bigs and littles to create art.
Making art at the UNM campus is also beneficial for littles, she said.
“We like to bring them to campus, show them off and teach them how to get around UNM so it’s not such a scary thing,” she said. “A lot of these kids, their parents haven’t gone to college.”
She said any students who are thinking about being a big brother or sister should attend a UNM Bigs meeting and find out more about the organization. She said college students can be unique mentors.
“Our philosophy at UNM Bigs is that if you have a positive role model, who is also a college student, it’ll increase the likelihood that you’ll go to college,” she said.
For more information on becoming a big brother or big sister, visit Bbbs-cnm.org or call 505-837-9223
