LITTLE ROCK — Hailey Robinson loves her job.
“I’ve been teaching 10 years in public education,” Robinson said. “My mother is (Lincoln Consolidated School District Superintendent) Dr. Mary Ann Spears. My great-grandmother was a chemistry teacher. My grandmother was a special education teacher. I’m kind of built for this, I guess.”
Robinson, who teaches biology and outdoor education at Lincoln High School (Washington County), received the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s 2023 Conservation Educator of the Year award at the agency’s February meeting. It was one of three awards presented by the AGFC’s Education Division. The Batesville School District was named Conservation Education District of the Year and the North Little Rock School District received the Education Project of the Year award.
“These (awards) are not just for brick-and-mortar K-12 establishments,” JJ Gladden, an assistant chief in the AGFC Education Division, said. “These are for nongovernment organizations, these are for other state agencies, these are for anybody that stands beside us and extends our reach to the good citizens of Arkansas and our youth.
“The Batesville School District stands out as one of the few districts fully engaged in all AGFC school-based programs. The commitment and dedication from teachers and coaches has been instrumental in implementing Archery in the Schools, Youth Shooting Sports, Project WILD, Outdoor Adventures, Fishing in The Natural State, hunter education and boater education.”
Dr. Michael Hester, Batesville School District superintendent, and a contingent from the district accepted the award.
Dr. Greg Pilewski, North Little Rock School District superintendent, and Mary Beth Hatch, the district’s coordinator of school innovation, received the other award.
“Their vision for creating an engaging learning environment that bridges classroom knowledge with real-world conservation applications district-wide was a monumental project,” Gladden said. “The initial phases of the project involved intensive professional development for teachers, led by AGFC educators, empowering them with the necessary tools and skills to independently teach these concepts.”
The plan to bring outdoor education to North Little Rock students from elementary ages through high school began with professional development for teachers, led by AGFC educators, in 2022. By the 2023 spring semester, students were experiencing everything from fish dissection, to fielding archery teams, to working as part of a stream habitat team with guidance from AGFC experts.
Robinson’s efforts to bring the outdoors to her Lincoln High School students through archery, fishing, rock climbing and other pursuits started with a chance encounter.
“I got into Trout Unlimited five years ago,” Robinson said. “I was going through something in my life and I ran into this guy, Brian Kick, and he talked me into taking on Trout in the Classroom.”
Kick is a fishing guide and former president of TU Chapter 514 based in Fayetteville (Robinson is the current president). Trout in the Classroom is a TU program that places aquariums with teachers.
“So I started just with a trout tank in my classroom,” Robinson continued. “Today I run Trout in the Classroom for northwest Arkansas and we have seven schools and eight on a waiting list.”
That would be plenty to handle for many teachers, but Robinson, who holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas and a master’s in educational leadership from Arkansas State University, was just beginning.
“Last year we started our first trout camp,” she said. “My goal is to make public education and conservation education, specifically, free to kids. Public education is deep in my blood and it’s incredibly important to me to make sure that kids have the opportunity and don’t have to pay for it.”
Looks like she met that goal, again, thanks to a bit of chance. She and her husband, Aaron, who’s also a TU member, went to the group’s national meeting in Maine two years ago and visited a TU trout camp. Robinson was impressed, yet perplexed.
“They charge (for the camp) and that just sort of bothered me,” Robinson said. “So I figured out a way to make it free. JJ assisted me with that.”
Some of the money raised at TU 514’s annual banquet is used to help pay for the trout camp, held in June and open to youngsters ages 13-17. Some people donate directly to the camp or sponsor a camper. Everyone who works on the camp is a volunteer.