Original story by Van Bowen, edited by LeAnn M. Schmitt
Mr. Van Bowen taught Outdoor Adventures at Mount Pleasant Junior High and was the Outdoor Adventures Educator of the Year in 2019. He has since retired. Watch his Educator of the Year video: 2019 Outdoor Adventures Educator of Year - Van Bowen, Mt. Pleasant Junior High School
Several years ago on the first day of school at Mount Pleasant Jr. High I was calling roll trying to put faces with names, but one student did not answer. After calling the name again a skinny-built 8th grade boy leaned his head into the aisle and said, “I go by Fish”. He leaned back into his seat, then back into the aisle and said, “That’s Fish with an F.” It took about five minutes to realize Fish was the most pessimistic human I had ever met. He was unhappy and downhearted about almost everything in life. But after six weeks in Outdoor Adventures, doing the activities and going to the woods, Fish discovered he was a professional log walker. He could walk across any log, whether it was on the land or over a creek, like greased lighting. He wanted to keep exploring the woods, but his classmates could not keep up and they were slowing him down. So, he started training them how to hold their feet, how to step on the log, and how to hold their hands--in time he made professional log walkers out of them too. Fish ended up having a great 8th grade year. Fast forward to Fish as a junior in high school. Fish is playing varsity football, but he is the backup to the backup to the backup quarterback. He is a 40 for 40 player—meaning he played only if his team was winning by 40 or losing by 40. As fate would have it the starting quarterback on the varsity football team was injured, and the junior varsity (JV) quarterback moved up to varsity. I visited Fish on the Monday after that game. I said, “Fish, you have two choices—you can move down to JV and be the JV quarterback or you can stay on varsity and not get to play, standing on the sidelines watching the game with me.” Fish said, “Coach, I don’t think you know this, but I was BORN to be the JV quarterback.” I had no idea Fish was a child of destiny. Fish practiced with the JV team Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday we traveled a couple of hours on the bus to play the Sherman (TX) Bearcats. We won the toss, and after the kickoff, Fish took the field. In the first play he handed off to the right, then the left. He pitched one, he passed one. About 11 plays later we crossed the goal line--TOUCHDOWN TIGERS! The boys came off the field excited, the crowd was going crazy behind us—all nine of them. Fish came off the field with his helmet off, pumping his fist, and said, “I told you boys, you give me a week and I’ll make winners out of you.”
Fish had learned in Outdoor Adventures that to be great, to be successful, to be a winner, he would have to make those around him successful as well. He carried that lesson onto the football field, and I hope he carried that lesson into the rest of his life.
As a teacher, I love this story because it shows the impact a program like Outdoor Adventures can make. It is a remarkable story about a great kid. I hope we learn from this skinny little kid from Mount Pleasant, Texas that the only way we can be great, be successful, truly be winners in life is if we bring up those around us and make them winners also--and that came from a kid named Fish--Fish with an F.
In his Outdoor Adventures Educator of the Year Video, Coach Bowen commented, “I love OA because it is timeless. We automatically think that because this is the age of cell phones and computers that young people aren’t interest in creativity, imagination, going to the woods, and building things, but they are!” Additionally, Coach Bowen said he encourages his students to get out of their comfort zones and learn something new, telling the kids those are the things that will stick with you your whole life.
Outdoor Adventures, developed by the Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation more than a dozen years ago, is now in more than 1,050 public and private schools across 47 states. Through OA over 100,000 kids annually are getting a comprehensive outdoor education including having the opportunity to earn their hunter education certificate. Outdoor Adventures, the country’s premier in-school outdoor education curriculum, is creating the next generation of outdoor recreationists, hunters, anglers, conservationists, and outdoor industry professionals. Find out how you can help support the Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation at www.gootf.com.
Photos are from the Outdoor Adventures class in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.