2025: Letter 2

Dear Five Star Life Supporters, 

I want to start with a heartfelt thank you to everyone who responded to the first letter in our year end letter series by sending donations, supportive texts, and emails. This is the most significant time of the year for the funding of our mission. I want you to know that you and your response matters. I also want to thank those of you who followed through on my challenge to share the letter with three friends, family members, or colleagues. That simple act is already multiplying our impact.
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From day one, our goal was to do everything we could, for as many kids as we could reach, especially those at risk. We wanted to help them see a bright future no matter their circumstances or how deep the hole they felt they were in, while creating a model that could be duplicated beyond our city, county, and state. I am happy to report to all of you that NOTHING has changed from our original goal! What has changed is our knowledge of the problems that kids face and the methods to solve those problems based on the knowledge gained. I will always be grateful to the University of Notre Dame and Memorial Health Care for the way they helped us in our first few years by showing us how to use data to create our proprietary character and civics curriculum that infuses those values into kids’ day to day lives.

The growth and impact were amazing to witness. What began with a couple of schools in Elkhart quickly expanded into more schools than I could personally visit in a week. To keep up with the demand, we began hiring additional coaches. It was “amazing” in every way except one: we still lacked a scalable model that could be duplicated with excellence. This question kept driving us: how can we reach more kids without compromising quality? One day, our Board Chairman asked me to consider moving beyond creating our proprietary curriculum for in-person programs and instead turning our content into video. Over the next several weeks, we met with experts and began designing something that could work for us and, more importantly, for the kids we serve. Once we launched the video model, it quickly became clear that we were on to something significant and something that solved the duplication problem. To be fully transparent, none of us knew just how transformative this shift would be. I will never forget the day one of our coaches returned from a school and told me the principal had walked into the after-school program, watched our video curriculum for the first time, and asked if he could show it to the entire student body during the school day.

That one question catapulted our reach from impacting 75 to 100 kids per school to influencing entire schools, including students, teachers, principals, and administrators. In just a matter of weeks, the answer to how we could duplicate our work was born. We began sharing our video model with schools across our region, and before we knew it, we were serving students all over Michiana. That same model is still at the heart of what we do today and has even allowed us to expand into multiple states.

The answer to the problem of duplication was born! This model suddenly allowed us to work not only in schools all over Michiana, but it eventually became the very product that propelled us into other areas, including the juvenile justice program we call LIFT, sports, and Innovative Learning. It opened doors to conversations with legislators, superintendents, the Secretary of Education, and even the Governor of Indiana. I went from visiting a few local schools each week to traveling to schools across the country. One thing I noticed as I met with kids and teachers from Michiana to Florida, Texas, and California was that many students looked almost robotic, walking through an automated process. I saw little to no curiosity or love of learning.

‍I want to pause and acknowledge the outstanding superintendents, teachers, and principals I have had the honor and privilege of partnering with. The issue is much bigger than any one classroom or school. The system itself often works against the passionate people in it.

Over and over, I heard the frustration from educators. I saw kids checking out. Yet when students came to our 400-acre Summit campus, I saw something different. With hands-on teaching, using unconventional tools, animals, agriculture, archery, and nature education, they were leaning in, asking questions, and thinking critically. The word “educate” means to draw out from within. At Summit, that is exactly what was happening. Research and experience both tell us that students learn best by seeing and doing.

It was at Summit that we began developing what would ultimately become Innovative Learning, all connected to the video curriculum we had created years earlier.

‍Are you beginning to see the thread that started with a dream of helping as many kids as we could with a program that could be done with excellence and be duplicated? It began after school, where we really learned what the root issues were that were causing kids to fail. That understanding led us to take the same programming and transition it to video, which is now used in schools, in juvenile detention centers, in the world of youth athletics, and at our own Summit campus through Innovative Learning.

Things were taking off and then the pandemic hit. Suddenly, we could not see the kids we cared so deeply about.Everything changed in a moment. Yet one powerful thing emerged from that season. I was forced to slow down, and during that time, I felt a deep conviction that Five Star Life needed a seat at the educational table at the state level. We needed to help redesign how we do school.

Today, busloads of students arrive at Summit every school day. Teachers co-plan with our team to ensure that what happens at Summit connects back to their classrooms. Students rotate through hands-on, standards-aligned courses. They write, measure, observe, design, and reflect. They build confidence and competence at the same time. Negative behaviors go down. Grades go up. School feels like real life.

‍Earlier, I asked if you could see the thread and how a simple dream turned into something so much greater. There is one constant in this story, and it is you. Whether you give ten dollars a month or hundreds of thousands to build a facility, whether you volunteer your time or share a vision that takes kids to new levels, whether you have donated vehicles, buildings, or something completely unique, it all matters. Five Star Life and the thousands of kids we reach would not be where we are without you.

‍You are important and you are valuable. Please know that from the bottom of our hearts.

This mission moves forward because of you. Many of the most meaningful pieces of Innovative Learning, the LIFT program, and Five Star Sports were sparked by the generosity and imagination of supporters like you. Here are some examples:

- A woman honored her late husband, a lifelong bird lover, by building the Aviary that now houses our Birds of Prey program. Students meet North Star, our young, barred owl, and learn anatomy, care, and conservation in meaningful ways.
- A longtime supporter, whose hobby was forging, helped launch our Blacksmithing program. Students heat, shape, and finish steel, strengthening math, measurement, design, and patience with every swing of the hammer.
- I received a call from a judge in our area who was deeply frustrated with the results he was seeing after decades of work in the juvenile system. He had heard about our program and asked if we could help. At that time, the data showed that more than 90% of the kids going through the system were returning within six months. After three years of Five Star partnering with that judge, the results shifted from 90% returning to less than 9% returning over a three-year period.
- A donor honored her late husband by building our archery facility and program. Following USA Archery standards, students learn stance and breath control, then translate calm under pressure into attention and confidence in the classroom.
- A retired donor and faithful volunteer left a legacy gift that elevated our equine facilities. Students now learn responsibility, communication, and courage while caring for and working with horses in a safe, structured environment which now has a heated arena so kids can come year-round.
- A couple in their 80s once looked at an old bumper-boat pool that had been sitting at Summit long before we bought the property. While we saw it as a way to support the geothermal HVAC unit in Goodwin Hall—where we train teachers in our curriculum—they saw something entirely different: a future water garden. Because of their vision, that forgotten space has become a stunning water garden and a 1.5-acre teaching garden complete with an incredible greenhouse. The now-retired doctor and his wife spend countless volunteer hours caring for and expanding this beautiful area, where kids learn about agriculture and horticulture.
- We entered youth sports because so many kids were passionate about athletics. We started with just a few players and no home court to call our own. We rented courts all over the area. We tried partnering with people who had facilities. We even attempted to raise enough funds to build our own indoor court. Nothing seemed to work, and we still had no place to call home. Many of you know Marcus Burton, who earned the title of Mr. Indiana Basketball and received a full scholarship to be the starting point guard for the current Notre Dame Basketball Team. What you may not know is that he played on our very first travel basketball team. We had success on the court, but still no home. Everything changed when we met a businessman from Indianapolis who shared a vision of transforming youth athletics and who learned that we were transforming education. He told us he was planning to build a more than 40-million-dollar facility in Mishawaka that would include 10 world-class basketball courts. We partnered with him, and today, that facility is the home of Five StarBasketball, and he paid for it. What a miracle!

This is what I love most about Five Star and Summit. Both are a place where a vision becomes a course, where a story becomes a skill, where a memorial becomes a living legacy for kids. If what we are doing excites you, I want to ask you to get involved right now in some way. Perhaps you have an idea that could become the next course. Maybe you can give to the scholarship fund so students can participate in our programs at low cost. Maybe you can volunteer by using your professional skills, from trades to technology, to help develop curriculum or train staff.

One donor told me last week that this is a worthy cause to share with a network. He made a list of people who could either give or bring their experience to the table. We need financial support, we need skilled hands and minds, and we need connectors who will open doors. All of us can do something! All of us can do what we can do to the very best of what we have to give. Linking arms together, we CAN effectively and efficiently continue to build a model of learning that changes how kids learn and positively changes the outcomes for students across our region.

Right now is our moment to join the many friends I have mentioned here and change how we educate kids.

Thank you for walking with us from those first after-school program days to now a campus full of possibility. The next chapter is being written, and you are invited to help author it.

President, Five Star Life