Lasted week we celebrated our Graduation at Westminster College. This annual event is an evening to wish a fine farewell to our graduating matches and to recognize our Bigs of the Year.

What is a graduating match? This is when a Little Brother or Sister turns 18 or graduates from high school, completing their time in our program. We had ten graduating matches in Utah this year. On average, this group of graduates had been together for 4 1/2 years! After presenting the Littles with certificates and graduation leis, we thanked all of our mentors for their wonderful commitments.

Michael Frahm, who has been matched with his Little Brother Dante for ten years, accepted his award as our Big Brother of the Year. His inspiring speech, where he asked Dante to join him on stage, was greeted with applause when he announced that Dante was maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school. Our Big Sister of the Year Christine Helfling-Ewing was unable to attend, but was kind enough to provide us with a recorded thank you.

The evening was highlighted by a speech from our special guest Lance Allred, the NBA’s first legally deaf player. Lance shared how his high school coach, and mentor, challenged him to “keep the beat”, by not focusing on the highs and lows of life, but to remain steady and balanced in his day to day life. He encouraged our Littles to focus their energy in working hard daily, and how this would be the key to helping them build character and integrity.

A special thanks to Westminster College for hosting the event and to LongHorn Steakhouse for graciously catering the event.

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