Measurement is not surveillance.
We surface aggregate signals so schools can defend the program. We never surface individual rankings or punitive tracking.
Our story
Built for the
school year.
Wendel exists because the spreadsheets-and-group-chats reality of running student clubs is failing students. Officers turn over every year. Institutional memory disappears. The students who would benefit most from clubs are the ones who never find them.
Why we exist
The status quo is a stack of broken tools held together by goodwill.
The average advisor runs a club out of a Google Sheet, a group chat, a shared drive, a paper sign-in, and a tap on the shoulder when something goes wrong. The handoff to next year's officers is a folder no one opens.
Students who already know how to navigate get the most out of clubs. Students who don't never find their way in. Wendel picks up the load that was quietly falling on the most engaged advisors and the most confident students.
What we believe
Six commitments, never quietly walked back.
Students own their participation.
Sensitive memberships are private by default. Visibility is opt-in. Students see what schools see about them.
Officers deserve real tools.
Sixteen-year-olds shouldn't be running a club out of a group chat and a Google Sheet. The same tools as the staff, scoped to the right people.
Privacy is a feature, not a footer link.
FERPA-aligned by default, audit logs on every action, data minimization throughout. Plain-language privacy notices at every collection point.
AI drafts. Humans decide.
Wendel's AI writes agendas, polishes copy, and answers policy questions from your handbook. It never sends anything without a human review.
The school year is the unit of work.
Wendel is built end-to-end for September onboarding through June handoff. Auto-generated handoff books so each cohort starts ahead of the last.
D · O · G · M · M · A
Discover. Operate. Govern. Measure. Mobilize. Assist.
The six tenets behind every product decision. Yes, the initials spell dogma. We noticed.
Read the pillars
Milestones
Where we've been, where we're headed.
- 01Fall 2024First conversations.
Three schools, one shared spreadsheet, a clear shared problem.
- 02Spring 2025Wendel takes shape.
Rosters, events, attendance, and the first version of the digital pass.
- 03Fall 2025Quiet design partners.
Two campuses run the product end to end. The pillars get their acronym.
- 04Winter 2026Mobile-first ships.
Native iOS app with NFC tap, offline check-in, and digital member ID.
- 05Fall 2026Pilot cohort opens.
Free pilot through the 2026-2027 school year. Six seats remain.
The team
Small, on purpose.
Wendel is built by people who've worked inside schools. Every engineer, designer, and trust hire has been on the receiving end of a bad club fair.
Lena Whitfield
Founder
Former independent school administrator. Built Wendel because the spreadsheets were going to kill her.
Arjun Castellanos
Head of Product
Ten years in education software. Believes the best product decisions come from sitting in advisor meetings.
Mara Okonkwo
Head of Trust
FERPA, COPPA, and state privacy laws. The reason your DPO will say yes.
Henrik Sjoberg
Head of Design
Type, system, restraint. The reason this page looks the way it does.
What you can count on.
- School owns the data. Full export, any time.
- No AI training on student data. Ever.
- Public subprocessor list. No surprises.
- FERPA-aligned by default. DPA on request.
- Plain-language privacy at every collection point.
- No surveillance, no individual rankings.
- Same support response targets on every plan.
- Built end-to-end for the school year.
Pilot cohort · Fall 2026
Help us build the rest.
We're looking for schools who want to shape the roadmap, not just sign a contract. First conversation is always free.