Nakia
is an African-American attorney from Trenton
currently working in municipal government. Her
father’s military career ensured that
she attend many different schools both here
and abroad, before graduating from Trenton High.
The first in her family to attend college, she
earned her undergraduate degree at the University
of Maryland and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard
Law School.
Did
you have in your background a non-family member
who was important to your development, like
a Big Brother or Big Sister? No,
not really, but I loved school and had great
teachers who really took an interest in me.
It’s embarrassing to admit, but in elementary
school I used to cry on the last day of school.
Who
introduced you to BBBS? I
first heard about the program while in college,
but I found the Mercer chapter of BBBS while
searching a web-site for local volunteer opportunities
when I moved back last year. While living in
D.C., I served as a mentor in a program that
helped kids prepare for college and really enjoyed
the experience, so I wanted to get involved
with something similar here.
Why
did you think mentoring a young person was something
you’d like to do? I
think it’s so important to cultivate the
potential in children and provide them with
positive reinforcement. If I wasn’t a
lawyer, I’d be a teacher. I wanted to
give back to my community by being a friend
to someone much like my younger self.
Is
the youngster you are currently matched with
your first? Yes,
Diamond is my first match and we’ve been
together for a year. She’s twelve and
in the seventh grade.
What
sort of experiences have you shared with your
Little Sister, from the most routine to the
most unusual? Well,
we both love to eat and to shop. We’ve
made pizzas, hung out at the mall and played
video games. She really enjoyed dining at a
Chinese restaurant and drinking tea out of the
little cups. I think she had only had Chinese
take out before. Whenever she gets gift cards
or money from her family she likes me to take
her shopping. We do things that give us an opportunity
to have fun, but we also talk about anything
that might be going on in her life. I try to
come up with fun things to do that don’t
cost much and while I usually treat her, her
grandmother always gives her some money when
she knows we’ll be doing something that
requires it. Our big summer outing was a trip
to Madam Tussaud’s in NYC, where we took
a ton of pictures with “famous people”.
We had a great time.
What
gives you the greatest satisfaction/pleasure
about your relationship with your young person?
Seeing a
smile on her face and hearing the excitement
in her voice when we do things together, knowing
that I’m having a positive impact on her
life. We have similar senses of humor, so it’s
fun when we get each other laughing and cracking
jokes.
How
do you think your Little would answer that question?
I think
she would say that she enjoys our times together.
On the days we meet up, she calls me early,
excited and ready to go; she really looks forward
to it. She also seems very proud to introduce
me as her Big Sister; she’s even told
me that she loves me.
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