The Big-Little Sisters gathered to find their matches on Friday, Sept. 20 with a party and games on the chapel lawn. The festivities included glow in the dark badminton and smores making.

“We’re trying to do some more big events that are a little more entertaining to a wider variety of people. So instead of just doing a smores night, we added glow sticks and sports events so that everyone has something to do,” Big Little Sisters Coordinator Kathryn Chunn said.

Bigs and Littles mingled throughout the party to find their perfect match, and at the end of the night, listed up to three requests for their prospective big or little.

“I feel like its a good way to meet your little. I kinda just went up to people and asked what their names were, so now I know more of the littles and have people to write down. They all seem pretty cool,” senior Gail Garlinghouse said.

The program was created for resident females as a means of building community throughout all three girls houses. Upperclassmen resident girls can opt into being a big and mentor for a first year female student.

“The goal is to connect the underclassmen with the upperclassmen and really start building the bonds that they need when they start moving up into the other dorms,” Chunn said.

In previous years, the program has been very prevalent in the female residential community with widely known events such as Just Dance night and the Girls House retreat.

“Last year I wasn’t involved in the program, but I saw the girls and how much fun they had with their bigs and littles at events. So this year I want to be part of the program and help girls to get connected to Darlington,” senior Nelly Leppanen said.

In addition to more events like the glow party, this year the program will add changes to the Fairy Dar-Mother program, and offer more flexibility when girls are choosing their Fairy Dar-Moms.

“We are letting the girls choose who they want for their Fairy Dar-Mother and who they want to pair with,” Chunn said. “They don’t have to do it with their big or little anymore, which was something that was really constraining last year and the years before.”