In 2004, an organization calling itself Fishing’s Future began as a way to “return today’s society
back to nature one child/one family at a time.” Their mission statement became “to reconnect
kids and nature, strengthen family relationships, build stewardship of the environment and
provide positive, primary, outdoor experiences for children ages 6 – 16.” Fishing’s Future uses
Kids Fish Camps, to accomplish these goals. Leaders and instructors of Fish Camps are trained
by Fishing’s Future staff, and earn the title of Master Angler, which then allows them to start
their own Fishing’s Future local chapter if they wish.
Heidi Albin grew up trout fishing in Colorado. She remembers her family always went on one
big family fishing trip each year and many other smaller fishing excursions as life allowed. Heidi
is now the science teacher and character education coordinator at Complete High School, an
alternative school in Maize, Ks. Her students have not been successful in traditional learning
environments for one reason or another, and the curriculum stresses character development
and life skills. In 2016 Heidi took the required training and became a Master Angler through the
Fishing’s Future program and started her own Fishing’s Future chapter, which she runs through
her classroom at Complete High School. Like all other schools in the state and like many others
across the country, Complete High School is closed for the rest of the school year, leaving Heidi
and the other teachers there to search for novel ways to somehow keep her students feeling
connected for the rest of the school year.
Greg Schott is another Fishing’s Future Master Angler from Mulvane, KS. Greg has extensive
experience in teaching kids about fishing and works with Kansas Dept of Wildlife, Parks and
Tourism, and also with COMCARE of Sedgwick County, an outreach program that works with
community health programs. Greg feels fishing is a great socialization tool that helps improve
kids demeaners and helps guide them in the right direction in life.
Using Greg’s experience in teachings kids to fish, and Heidi’s classroom and technical expertise,
the two of them have teamed up to begin offering online, live-streamed Kids Fish Camps for
Heidi’s students. Heidi says the initial camp will be filmed from her classroom and will be all
about the basics of fishing. The students will be taught how to use a rod and reel and how to rig
them up with a hook, bobber and sinker, how to tie fishing knots, where to find fish and what
bait to use for what fish. Initially the fish pursued will be panfish like sunfish and bluegills and
catfish. Heidi usually teaches these basic classes to her students in the classroom, then they get
to go outdoors to continue learning about nature, and eventually get to go fishing during school
hours in the spring and in the fall. From there, they progress to inviting other kids to go fishing
with them and to larger activities like community fish camps, where the community and groups
like firemen and first responders are invited and the kids themselves actually provide the
instruction. Heidi and Greg are still working-out how to accomplish the actual fishing time,
whether to have everyone go fish where they can, and link them all together digitally with
Facetime, etc. or whether to wait-out this predicament and hope they can all get together to
fish again later in the spring. Any community involvement is also obviously up-in-the-air at this
time.
Since many of Heidi’s students come from difficult backgrounds and less-than-perfect home
situations, she feels it very important to keep these kids connected with each other and with
outdoors learning during this current strange and stressful situation. Learning how to fish and
going fishing will help accomplish that connection, so Kudos to Heidi and Greg for going the
extra mile to make that happen…Who knows, even I might be good at virtual fishing! Continue
to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].
