Little+Big Bruins: Caring for the Newberg Community
Reported By: Benny Schorie
Photographed By: Yolanda Diaz
George Fox University (GFU) has been partnering with local Newberg elementary and middle schools to connect college students with children in the community through the Little+Big Bruin program. GFU students spend a minimum of one hour per week during October, November, February, and March with their Little Bruin. After a few years on hiatus due to COVID-19, the program returned in full force this fall.
Abbey Nardella, a junior Elementary Education major and Spiritual Life Office (SpiL) intern, is one of the program’s leaders. She coordinates with local school counselors to select struggling students who could benefit from the program.
For Nardella, the heart of Little+Big Bruins is involving GFU students in caring for their Newberg community. “I love the power in relationships,” she said. “When kids are struggling, it can be as simple as having someone to look up to who cares about them.”
While the program does involve specific tasks and work, the focus is “just talking with them, meeting them where they're at, and doing their life with them,” Nardella said. “There’s not a ministry or a goal; it’s just being with them.”
Poppy Gardner, a freshman Interior Design major, began volunteering with the program at Dundee Elementary. Currently, she works with three elementary students for two hours per week. Although her main tasks are helping to tutor and develop the students’ social skills, Gardner found “being [her Little Bruins’] encourager when they don’t necessarily have that at home” to be her personal and spiritual reward.
A moment that stood out to her was when she was a math tutor for one Little Bruin. She took this student into the hall to work through a concept, and after helping him organize his thoughts, “it suddenly clicked.” Gardner recognized that the student needed someone to sit with him alone and help him through his struggles.
Gardner recalled another moment with a student who gets picked on by the other girls in her class. During PE, Gardner went up to the girls huddled in the corner making fun of her Little Bruin, and reminded them to be respectful and kind.
Moments like these remind Gardner of her duty to be a voice for the voiceless. “Children are some of the most vulnerable and underheard people,” she said. “I feel God calling me to serve the lowest, the lost, and the weak. It’s the next generation that needs support and help in these ways.”
Both Gardner and Nardella see the program’s ability to empower the children and provide them with a positive adult figure. “Oftentimes, the little kids will tell their counselors that it’s the highlight of their week,” Nardella said.
Nardella also sees the program as a way for GFU students to love, care, and advocate for others. She wants volunteers to experience how “doing something good helps you by taking the focus off your own problems and the busyness of life.” Through Little+Big Bruins, GFU students can immerse themselves in the broader Newberg community, develop impactful relationships, and bring joy into the lives of others.