BSW Student is hard at work repaying a debt that has nothing to do with the cost of school.

Bernard Mickle

March 13, 2009 - Like a lot of undergraduates, Bernard Mickle has only vague ideas about what he may eventually do in life. One thing he knows for sure though is that he has a debt to repay that has nothing to do with the cost of his education.

Mickle is in the Indiana University School of Social Work’s BSW program and dreams about becoming a lawyer one day. But Mickle, whose friends call him BJ, knows he wouldn’t even be in the position to wonder about what direction his life might take without the help others have given him.

“I wanted to do something to help people,” Mickle said of his decision to enter the BSW program. “I just want to give back,” said the former resident of Chicago who moved to Indianapolis when he was 11.

When he was still a baby his father was badly injured in an auto accident. His grandmother stepped in an opened her home to BJ and his sister while his father recovered.

He struggled in elementary school and had problems learning to read. He fell behind and became frustrated with his progress and was placed in a special education class.

When his family moved to Indianapolis, a teacher decided he didn’t have a learning disability, but just needed a firm hand to guide him with his studies. “She took me in almost like a son,” Mickle said of the teacher, Darla Steele.

Steele kept Mickle in her classroom and worked with him as did a school social worker. She even held him back a year, a step that worked out to his advantage. He improved his reading skills and soon found himself on the honor roll.

After entering the BSW first on the Bloomington campus and now at IUPUI, Mickle realized that after studying the types of problems people face, that “you are where you are today because of people,” like his teachers and others that became involved in his life.

During his semester in Bloomington, Mickle became a volunteer as part of an independent study class at the Crestmont Boys and Girls Club situated in a low-income apartment complex. Mickle said those attending the club were mainly young children ages 12 and younger and it had limited equipment compared to larger Boys and Girls clubs that often have gym and other activities for kids.

Then about two weeks before the semester ended last December, Mickle thought the club could benefit from buying a Wii game and fitness system. The problem was the club didn’t have funds in its budget to make the purchase.

With a little more than a week before finals started, Mickle decided to he’d find a way to raise the money to buy the system. He needed to raise between $500 to $600 to get the system and games. His first step was to pass a container around campus, telling people if they only had a penny, he’d take it, and raised about $200 in the process.

Next he decided to visit the Bloomington Fire Department to see if they could help. First he prepared a plan to explain exactly what the club wanted to do, how the funds would be spent and how it would benefit the children.

With that in hand, he stopped by the fire department office and made his pitch. He was told the request would have to go before the fire department’s local union board for consideration and a decision make take several months.

But a few days later, the fire department official called him back. They had been impressed with his proposal and the way he presented it. “We think we will be able to help you,” Mickle was told. And because they money left over from purchasing gifts for children, they could act immediately on Mickle’s funding request and the system was bought in time for Christmas.

This semester BJ has transferred to the IUPUI campus so he will be close to home and be able to help his father care for a younger brother with Down Syndrome. His brother was also born with heart problems and has ongoing appointments at Riley Hospital for Children, which Mickle takes him to.

As he resumed classes on the IUPUI campus, he ran into a friend who asked him about helping to coach the wrestling team at Harshman Middle School in Indianapolis.

 Mickle readily agreed. After all, it’s what you do when you have a debt to repay.