By Scott Elliott
Indianapolis Star
January 1, 2012

In the past four years, Nick Werle has studied at Indiana University and lived in Mexico and Spain. He already has a job in Chicago lined up for when he graduates next spring.

Werle was always a bright and motivated student with supportive parents. But money was tight and college was uncommon in his near-Eastside neighborhood. He’s certain things would have turned out differently for him if not for his good fortune to be paired in eighth grade with mentor Mike Feeney.

“When I first met him I thought, ‘What can this guy help me with?’ “ Werle said. “ ‘I have a dad and parents who are behind me.’ But I was always a step behind other kids. I had a feeling there were things my parents couldn’t always lead me to.”

Over the past eight years, Werle learned he could turn to Feeney for all sorts of help and advice. He credits the Starfish Initiative mentoring program and Feeney with playing a key role in his success.

“If not for Starfish, I probably don’t go to Cathedral High School,” he said. “If not for Cathedral, I wouldn’t have had the great teachers who helped me gain an appreciation for Spanish. That led me to the IU honors program in foreign languages, which led to the immersion program in Mexico and then to Spain.”

In Spain, Werle had an epiphany: “I came back from that and said, ‘Man, the world is so big, and it’s mine to conquer.’ “

Werle will graduate with majors in Spanish and communications and a minor in business. He hopes his first job in logistics will lead to working internationally.

So many possibilities
For Feeney, who founded the Starfish Initiative, he’s thought deeply about different courses Werle’s life might have taken -- the sorts of roads promising kids from tough neighborhoods often end up on.

“Instead of Indiana, he probably would have gone to IUPUI to stay close to home,” Feeney imagines. “He might have taken a full load of courses for a semester or two before his family needed him to work or help with his younger siblings. Gradually, he might have gone to school part time and worked full time. Then he might have found a ‘good’ job, paying $15 an hour. I’m not sure he would have finished school.”

Werle nodded at the possibility.

“That’s reasonable,” he said. “As it was, there were many times, in my heart, I felt I should be helping out at home.”

Feeney did not set out to start a nonprofit in 2001, when he brought a group of Cathedral students to the Oaks Academy to tutor low-income students. As vice president of Development at the Catholic high school, his initial goal when the tutoring came to an end was to recruit 25 promising low-income students to Cathedral and provide them with mentors to help them reach graduation.

The program today still aims at high achievers, taking only students who pass ISTEP, qualify for Indiana’s 21st Century scholars program and have at least three recommendations.

Typically, the Starfish scholars have supportive, involved parents. Mentors provide extras -- connections to colleges or the community, a supportive ear, an extra adviser or someone who can help them overcome obstacles.

In many cases, the mentors became informal college counselors, helping the students navigate the maze that is the application, school selection and financial aid processes.

The Star’s Season for Sharing campaign is raising donations to support programs that further the goals of The Star’s “Our Children, Our City” effort to better the lives of local children and boost academic success.

No question, the Starfish Initiative is furthering that goal.

About three years ago, Starfish board members asked a question: “How are the mentored students doing after high school?” The organization hired a college program manager who reviewed all 345 students in the program and sought to track down the 120 who had graduated high school. About 85 percent of Starfish graduates were persisting in college.

Since then, Starfish has aimed more specifically at staying connected with and supporting scholars after high school.

Starfish may expand
Feeney, who served on Starfish’s board while he mentored Werle, became CEO last summer. He’s leading an effort to up the number of students served to 100 per year. The program now has students in 37 Indianapolis-area high schools.

New Starfish scholars are matched to mentors in late July after considerable effort to pair them based on interests, proximity and personality. They meet at least twice a month outside of school.

Mentors often join up thinking of Starfish as a way to give back to the community. But, Feeney said, one of his favorite things about the program is to see that mentors also have their lives changed in ways they didn’t expect. The mentors, he said, get as much out of the experience as the scholars.

It was true for him. Feeney’s children were grown when he was paired with Werle.

“It was kind of like starting over with another of my own children,” he said. “It filled an absence in my life. It’s just a life-affirming experience to connect with someone from a different generation and share with them some experiences from my life that might be helpful to them.”

Werle calls his relationship with Feeney “absolutely essential” in his life. He would like to also be a mentor some day.

“There was a real friendship that grew,” Werle said. “It was mutual. Mike’s my friend, and I’m his friend. We both get something out of this that’s really special. And that continues today.”