As a freshman attending the annual Activity Fair during new student orientation week, information on the Lawrence Assistance Reaching Youth (LARY) Buddy program caught the eye of Cam Blegen. As a youth soccer coach back home in Whitefish Bay, Wis., Blegen was attracted to the program’s opportunities to work with children in the Appleton area.

The program paired Blegen with Taylor, a high-energy sixth-grader at Edison Elementary School. Twice-a-week visits to his classroom grew into get-togethers on the weekend and school breaks just to hang out.

“I introduced him to my friends at Lawrence, showed him my dorm room, took him to the old Grill for ice cream and even invited him to some of our school events,” said Blegen, who has lettered in both soccer and track and field at Lawrence and serves as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

The two developed a strong bond, but the LARY program only operates at Edison and Taylor would soon be transitioning to Roosevelt Middle School.

“Here was this great program to help a sixth grader who was struggling a bit socially, academically, but then it was kind of like, ‘good luck, you’re on your own now,’ ” said Blegen, whose first volunteer experience was a trip to Gulfport, Miss., following Hurricane Katrina as a high school sophomore. “Taylor was still in a position of great need. I knew his older brother dropped out of high school. I didn’t want to see the same thing happen to him just because he wasn’t given the little bit of extra support that he needed.

“It was important for me to continue working with him because I felt without some continued guidance and support, he would lose the progress he had made in our year together and potentially fall through the cracks as he entered a new school environment.”

Discussions with the Volunteer Center staff, Taylor’s parents and the principal at Roosevelt Middle School led to a gentle bending of the Edison-only rule, allowing Blegen to continue his mentoring duties.

While the visits weren’t quite as regular, Blegen continued to meet Taylor for end of the day study sessions, walks home from school together and lunches out. Another transition for Taylor, from middle school to Appleton West High School last fall, has been bridged with the help of technology.

“He has a cell phone and a Facebook page now,” said Blegen, who plans to attend medical school after graduation. “I have text conversations with him and every month or so we’ll get together and do something. I don’t think of him as my LARY buddy anymore, but simply as a good friend.”

Kristi Hill, Lawrence’s director of volunteer and community service programs, said Blegen’s LARY experience is the “ideal example of a student engaged in responsible and meaningful citizenship.”

“Cam’s strong and consistent dedication to mentoring, his understanding of community issues and his desire to do something about it, even if it’s for just one person, is inspiring,” said Hill.

Blegen said his LARY program experiences helped reaffirm his career goals.

“One of the primary reasons I’d like to get into family medicine is to have these types of progressive relationships. I’ve seen that progression in Taylor, going from a sixth grader to a high schooler. It’s rewarding to be looked up to and know that you’ve had a positive impact on someone.”

Blegen feels his experience as a LARY buddy will serve him well.

“I’d say just like any volunteer experience, you end up learning a lot about yourself as well. I think for me and my career in medicine it was really, definitely, you know going out and shadowing doctors had had some effect on me but I’d like to get into family medicine and one of the primary reasons for that is so you have this type of relationship, where you know a patient from when they were a child and you can see that progression. I’ve seen the progression in Taylor, going from a sixth grader to a high schooler. And it is rewarding to be looked up to and to be a mentor and to know that you have a positive impact on someone.”