CORVALLIS — A new school program in Corvallis aims to train the next generation of Montana fishing guides.
In the fall, they are casting a fishing guide school to prepare students for careers in outdoor recreation.
"They'll actually go do bug ecology. They'll tie flies. We'll get them learning the basics of rowing and fly fishing," said Corvallis School District Superintendent Pete Joseph.
The program is offered through Corvallis School District's RISE Charter School, which provides distance and career-focused learning opportunities.
For the past two years, the charter has been offering experiential and project-based learning to students from kindergarten all the way through high school.
"We are super excited for the opportunity for a lot of these kids that want to choose a specific pathway and a specific career. Our goal is to get them started earlier," Joseph said. "Kids can experiment and jump in and jump out, and that's what I think is great, because they're really benefiting themselves for the future."
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The fishing guide school is part of the STREAM to STEAM pathway, which focuses on community and environmental stewardship and aims to help students enter Montana’s growing outdoor recreation economy.
It is one of six career-based learning pathways offered at the charter school.
"We've created the only fishing guide school in the state of Montana, and we're super excited to get kids into the school, getting into the curriculum and generating some, hopefully, great fishing guides, which is a powerful industry in need in the state of Montana," Joseph said.
Beginning this fall, younger students will learn about water systems and aquatic insects.
Middle school students will complete hands-on projects, such as fly-tying and fishing, and high school students will participate in apprenticeships and gain on-the-job experience.
"We're working with local outfitters and local guides for some of that training," Joseph said. "But a lot of our teachers, which is really neat here in the Bitterroot Valley, a lot of our teachers are guides in the summertime, so we're able to institute that as part of the curriculum and part of the classes that they will be teaching."
Joseph said partnerships with local organizations and the state, including the Montana Board of Labor and Industry, are helping launch the program.
Other pathways include medicine with Bitterroot Health, construction and a Salute to Service track with local first responders.
"That's been the beauty of what we created within our charter school, and our pathway Learning Academy, is we chose specific things that were unique, really to the Bitterroot Valley, but really tie into what the state needs and what the state needs as far as workers are concerned," Joseph said.
Whether they are casting into outdoor recreation or a career in medicine or construction, Joseph said the goal is to get students floating on to their futures.
"They're going to graduate with a Rise Charter diploma and a specific certificate that I think employers can go, 'Yeah, that's a kid that we want,'" Joseph said.
