Tigers In The Community

Starfish Africa

January 23, 2009

Pictured above are students enrolled in the Starfish Africa program

True to Princeton’s motto of “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations,” five former Princeton student-athletes are seeing their vision come to fruition. Pete Kingston '02 (soccer), spent his spring semester of sophomore year in Kenya on an independent missions trip, through Princeton’s Advanced Standing program. He served as a primary school teacher in a Nairobi slum, and became aware of the effect of the ‘brain-drain’ in sub-Saharan Africa. The brightest students were not able to afford secondary school, and their promising futures were fizzling out of reach.

Pete, along with four other student-athletes, two Princeton students, and two spouses (Carrie Kingston and Jordan Smith), decided to find a way to help. The result was Starfish Africa, which is a non-profit organization committed to transforming the lives of talented but needy African children by sponsoring their continued academic excellence at elite educational institutions. The belief is that by equipping these children with education and skills, they will be able to help transform their communities, country, and continent. The first full class of Starfish (Class of 2008) was comprised of two students, who graduated in December.

Starfish Africa has expanded its class size each year, and now averages about ten students at each grade level, giving a rough total of forty children per year enrolled in the program. Students who are eligible for the program are those who score at the highest levels academically prior to attending secondary schools. However, those who are chosen face extreme pressures to give up their pursuit of education due to poverty, death of both parents which puts them in charge of raising the family, violence and displacement due to civil war, and other tremendous obstacles.

Not only are African students receiving an educational opportunity through Starfish Africa, but they are also being mentored and taught to give back to their communities. During the August break, students served fellow Kenyans by digging trenches for local water pipes. Following each day full of hard labor, Starfish tutored younger students at a local primary school.

Starfish Africa, thus far, has been fiscally supported with the Board of Directors paying for all expenses relating to the organization that are not allocated directly towards the fulfillment of Starfish Africa’s explicit mission. This means 100% of third party donations directly support the mission of the organization. Due to its initial success, Starfish Africa is at a crossroads. Either the non-profit can continue operating within its current budget and number of students, or expansions can be made with the goal of opening a Starfish school in Africa, thus expanding the number of children’s lives who are affected. If you would like more information on this organization, want to read personal stories of the Starfish students, or would like to contribute, please visit http://www.starfishafrica.org/.