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About a Program Called Headwaters
It happens a lot, a phone call or email exchange with a TU volunteer or staffer that usually goes something like “What? TU has a youth program? I had no idea.” Their surprise evolves into interest as they learn more about a program called Headwaters, which uses an effective blend of fly fishing and watershed…
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Why are public lands and green spaces an important part of your life?
TU and Orvis asked teens to write about their special connection with nature - read the winning entries A decade ago I traveled to a size XXL outdoor show in Chicagoland where I spent the better part of a weekend working the TU booth and handing out swag to the young anglers in the crowd.…
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Support TU’s youth programs through GRTU 100 for 100 Challenge
TU's youth outreach has never been more crucial as kids are stuck inside, suffering from Zoom fatigue and screen-bound for hours on end
To sustain Trout Unlimited's conservation legacy it is vital we pass the baton to people like Andrew Dang. Andrew is a former Youth Leadership Council member and TU teen leader. He received the Youth Leadership Award at the 2019 TU Annual Meeting. We asked Andrew about his origins with conservation and TU. "My love for conservation grew from my…
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TU’s Headwaters program fights screen fatigue
By now we are all familiar with coronavirus symptoms: fever, cough, fatigue, headache, loss of smell. We have all gone to school on pandemics and contagious diseases. Alas, what trying times the last seven months have been for our communities. There are other side effects of the pandemic as well, ones that don’t come with infection and are not as easy to detect. Known as “Zoom fatigue” or “screen…
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Remembering Oak Brook’s fly-fishing Pied Piper, Fred Hodge
I first met Fred Hodge over a decade ago, when I was still new at TU and was on the road all the time, meeting chapter and council leaders and listening to their stories of teaching and mentoring kids. Fred and other Oak Brook TU members had a booth at a huge outdoor show in…
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How TU chapters and 5 Rivers clubs can work together
Online training for chapters and councils planned Oct. 7 When I started TU’s 5 Rivers college program in 2011, I wasn’t exactly sure of the best way to move forward with involving college students in TU. I’d heard of the Rutgers TU Chapter that kept emerging and then disappearing, unable to make it more than…
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High school fishing tournament opens new doors in central Massachusetts
As a staff member in the TU Headwaters Youth program, I have an insider’s perspective on just how hard our chapters work to get young people involved in TU. This involvement may take the shape of a fly- tying workshop or a visit to a TIC classroom, possibly even a full day of Fly Fishing…
Author
Franklin Tate
Franklin Tate directs TU's Headwaters Youth Program and lives in Asheville, North Carolina.