A Big Brother, Little Brother from Hartselle have been nominated to represent Morgan, Lawrence, Winston and Cullman counties in the 2012 Alabama Big Brother, Little Brother competition.

The nominees – Big Brother Dustin Bowman and Little Brother Sawyer McCormick—were chosen for the honor by Decatur-based Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Morgan County. Bowman is pursuing a degree in elementary education at Athens State University and Sawyer is a fourth grader at Sparkman School.

The state contest involves eight district nominees and will be judged by an independent panel of judges. The winner will go out to compete at the national level.

“After preparing the nomination for Dustin and Sawyer, I feel strongly about their chances of winning,” said Leah Brown, CEO of Big Brothers, Big Sisters. They are such a good match.“

“Sawyer has autism and was on our waiting list for a big brother for a long time,” she pointed out. “When Dustin came along, their relationship took off. Seeing them together makes me know I’m where I need to be.”

“They do ‘dude things’ like bowling, fishing and spending time together in the park,” said Staci McCormick Segler, Sawyer’s mom. “They’ve even been to an Atlanta Braves baseball game.”

“Sawyer thinks Dustin is the most important person in the world,” she added.”

A lot of change has taken place in Bowman’s life, too, since the two of them got together two years ago. He has gotten married and is currently doing student teaching at Julian Harris Elementary School in Decatur.

“Sawyer was the ring bearer in my wedding,” Bowman said. “Now the three of us do things together. Sawyer loves my wife as much as me and we love him as we would our own child.”

Bowman said he’d never been around an autistic child when he signed up to participate in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program.

“When they told me they had an autistic child who needed a big brother, I told them that was no big deal with me,” Bowman said. “I just wanted to make a difference in a child’s life.”