A big sister can be a lot of things to her little sister: a role model, a best friend, someone to turn to when they feel like they can’t trust anyone else.
University of Mississippi student Georgia Zeleskey understands the role a big sister plays in a young girl’s life, and she set out to provide that encouragement to girls in Oxford by forming a nonprofit. Now she is expanding the program to Starkville.
In September, Zeleskey started “Big Sis Oxford” that encourages college-aged women to be a part of a fourth-11th grade girl’s life.
During meetings, the girls get together to discuss faith through Bible study for an hour each month. The big sisters are responsible for checking in with the little sisters about school, homework, sports and other important life events.
When Zeleskey moved to Oxford from Houston, Texas, for college, she began babysitting Angela Manley’s three children, and Mary Rhodes Manley, at 11, is the oldest and only girl. Manley said Zeleskey became part of the family and a big sister to her daughter in the best way.
“(Georgia) just jumped right on in and became like a fourth child to us, but more than anything a big sister to Mary Rhodes,” Manley said.
“Mary Rhodes has always wanted a sister, and I felt the same way. I was the oldest of three girls, but I always wanted an older sister, somebody who could say, ‘Hey, I’ve been there before. This is normal.”
It is Zeleskey’s relationship with Mary Rhodes that spurred her to create Big Sis Oxford.
Since the program started in September in Oxford, 53 college students have joined to be big sisters and 52 young girls in the community have signed up to be little sisters solely through word of mouth.
Big sisters are vetted through interviews and character references by the founder herself, and after they have been selected they must sign a contract stating they will be good role models for the girls including dressing modestly and representing the college and organization in a positive way.
Each big sister is typically paired with one little sister, but in some instances one little sister may have two big sisters.
Mary Rhodes said she loves the program and the outreach the program has — not just with the young girls in the Oxford-area but with the entire community.
“Miss Georgia is very committed and loves her work,” Mary Rhodes said. “I’m so glad she’s doing this because over the years I needed somebody to talk to because I don’t have a sister, and it was getting harder to talk to Momma while I’m growing up. It’s nice to know I have somebody else who’s always by my side and there to talk to me. … We also get to do great things. Next time we go back (for the December meeting), we’re going to make Christmas cards for the seniors.”
Zeleskey wants to expand to Starkville by getting a few Mississippi State University students interested in beginning a student organization. Because she has already done it once, she already knows the ropes, but she needs the dedicated young women from MSU to get it off the ground.
“Expanding into Starkville is obviously a big step when it comes to completely repeating something in a different city and hoping it works out,” Zeleskey said. “… We just opened applications for big sisters, and once it gets closer to time, we’ll open applications for little sisters. My plan is to register through Mississippi State like I did at Ole Miss (as a student organization). It’s so overwhelming but so exciting at the same time.”
Zeleskey plans to launch in Starkville in January.
Manley is a big proponent for expanding operations to Starkville. In fact, she believes every SEC school and town should have a Big Sis program.
“They do a Bible study once a month as a group, but these big sisters are reaching out and engaging with these little sisters on their own time,” Manley said. “They’re going to see them at school and having lunch with them or picking them up on the weekends and taking them to go get ice cream. … I just think it’s so necessary in these SEC college towns where they’re already small communities to kind of bridge that gap (between the university and community). These young girls have such good role models in these big sisters and hopefully will aspire to be like these girls when they go to college because that’s the example set for them.”
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