Corrine Cline, 16, plays a game of capture the flag with teammates during cross country practice in Andover, N.H. Cline, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years ago, has enrolled in a program with Dartmouth College students with similar illnesses that helps teenagers with chronic illnesses develop the confidence and skills they'll need to become independent adults.

LEBANON, N.H. — Besides juggling school, sports and everything else that goes along with being a teenager, 16-year-old Corinne Cline has to deal with managing her diabetes.

But Cline is benefiting from a program that links teenagers with Dartmouth College students who also have chronic illnesses. The goal of Steps Toward Adulthood Responsibility is to help teens develop confidence and the skills they will need to become independent adults.

"It's so nice to see people just like me who know how it feels," she said. "If I didn't have STAR, I wouldn't have been able to accept it as well. I needed that push."

STAR is based on the idea that the best role model is someone who is one step ahead. Founders envisioned one-on-one mentoring, but quickly realized that teens respond best to group activities, said Mark Detzer, the program's director.

"It turns out a young person with diabetes doesn't necessarily want a mentor with diabetes," said Detzer.

The program's cornerstone is a dinner and discussion session every six weeks, but there also are retreats, social outings, writing workshops and research projects. Teens can attend as many or as few events as they wish.

"We'll get kids who just want to come and hang out," Detzer said. "They don't want to be `Joe-I-have-diabetes.' They just want to hang out with kids who understand."

Cline, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years ago, didn't think her peers would understand her illness when she went to boarding school two years ago.

Type I diabetes, which is not linked to obesity, requires daily insulin injections, but she often skipped her blood tests or waited to test in private.

"I wasn't accustomed to taking care of myself so things went downhill," she said.

Transferring to another private school and moving back home to Andover helped her manage her disease better, she said, as has the STAR program.

At the dinners, parents meet with a social worker while the teens split up into small groups with the college students. Discussion topics range from how much to tell their friends about their illnesses to improving communication with doctors, teachers and parents.

"Part of the richness of this model is that some of the Dartmouth students are still struggling with these issues," Detzer said.

Jessica Glago, 20, arrived at Dartmouth in 2004 just six months after undergoing chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system.

"I know when I was in treatment at home, I would've loved to have been in a program like STAR," said Glago, of Cleveland, Ohio. "I feel like now I get a chance to show them that transitions aren't easy, but they can be managed."