Big Brothers, Big Impact

This summer five local teens gained woodworking skills and confidence through an eight-week summer program by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Virginia, Vector Space, and BWX Technologies. Working together under Vector Space instruction, students and mentors built a sandbox and shade structure for the Jubilee Family Development Center.

This marks the completion of the second year of the Build Your Own program, started last summer with the same partners. Each organization shares the goal of empowering young people, through mentorship (Big Brothers Big Sisters), hands-on skills (Vector Space), and awareness of career opportunities (BWXT). The program focused on safety training and carpentry skills lead by Vector Space Shop Captains Hannah Rathje and Alex Klingen. The program was supported financially by Moore's Electrical, Mustaches 4 Kids Lynchburg, and Jamerson-Lewis Construction, whose support allows the students to participate free of charge and for mentors and students to share a meal together at each meeting. 

While students are learning basic woodworking skills, they are also challenged to think of ways that they can give back to their community. At Vector Space we want youth to understand the impact that hands-on skills can have on your life and those around you. The teens focused their project on the Jubilee Family Development Center, where several of them have participated in free community programming. Teens spoke with leadership at Jubilee, pitching their idea and receiving feedback from the Directors at Jubilee. The project was greeted with thanks and excitement from the youth and leaders at Jubilee at a ribbon cutting and cookout to commemorate the project.