Spotlight on Hannah Evans
In the 7+ years she has been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas, Hannah Evans has experienced a journey of personal and professional discovery. In this time, she has served the organization in a variety of different roles, developed new skills, and used the things she has learned to make a difference for the organization and the children, families, and volunteers we serve.
Hannah first began to realize how much she enjoyed working with kids when she worked at Camp Kesem during the summer of her sophomore year at The University of Texas in Austin.
“I was surprised. I had such a fun time, and I could relate to the kids I worked with since we had a shared experience around having parents with cancer,” Hannah said.
The following semester, she pursued an internship with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas’ Marketing Department where she helped to produce materials for the organization and worked on community relations and digital marketing projects.
“During my internship, I fell in love with BBBS, and I discovered that I wanted to be more involved in working with the children and families the organization serves,” Hannah explained.
This new understanding led her to change her undergraduate major from a focus on Radio, Television and Film to Youth and Community Studies.
After graduating from college, Hannah returned to work for Big Brothers Big Sisters as a Match Support Specialist. In this role she provided on-going support to the children, families, and volunteers enrolled in our one-to-one mentoring program. She then moved to a position as an Enrollment Specialist, where she interviewed children, families and volunteers who wanted to enroll in the program and helped to create Big/Little matches.
Having gained an in-depth understanding of a number of the different functions within the organization, Hannah is now working as a Program Coordinator, a position in which she helps to make agency processes and systems more efficient.
“I love the role because it involves a lot of problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration, and it gives me the opportunity to make sure families, volunteers, and staff have a positive experience,” she said.
“One of my favorite projects so far was revamping our volunteer training process. It needed an update, and it was really cool to contribute to the content that will equip our volunteers to be mentors.”
Other projects have included creating a Youth Outcome Development Plan to track match goals and working on an enhanced safety training program for parents/guardians.
“I am really interested in youth protection, so I gravitate toward projects that focus on increasing child safety,” Hannah said.
While working for BBBS, Hannah has also been pursuing her master’s degree in Social Work at Texas State University.
“My goal is to become a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) by the end of this year so I can continue working in nonprofit leadership,” she said.
Maintaining a solid work-life balance and having strong organizational skills and boundaries has helped Hannah move through all of these different positions, adjust to remote work during the pandemic, pursue her master’s degree, and now, undertake her newest BBBS journey as a Big Sister to a 15-year-old mentee.
“My Little Sister and I have only been matched for a few months, but I really enjoy our friendship. We have a similar taste in music, and we also bond over our love for quirky animals and arts and crafts.”
“For her birthday, I made her a card and included some photos and stickers of her favorite animal – the capybara – which she used to decorate her room.” Hannah said. “We both appreciate the little things in life, which helps us understand each other.”
Becoming a Big is just one more step in her incredible journey.
In her free time, Hannah enjoys camping, slacklining, swimming, creating art, and spending time with friends.
We can’t wait to see what she does next.
