Students visit Boys Ranch for Wildlife Expo

Methodist Children’s Home charter school students gathered at the MCH Boys Ranch on April 18 to get a lesson on the great outdoors. Ag teachers Steve Kruse and Kevin Gibbs organized the Wildlife Expo with the help of Boys Ranch and charter school staff.  This is the second time they have hosted this event.

“I wanted the students to learn something about outdoor education and nature, and also see how special the Ranch is,” Kruse said.

During the event, students were divided into groups and rotated around stations. There were a total of eight stations including:

• Fishing at Slator Pond with MCH staff member Jason Bartlett
• Horsemanship led by MCH staff member and equine coordinator Tim Price
• The Falls County Game Warden teaching about his work
• Beekeeping by Trig Bees
• The Urban Interface, a wildlife organization that brought in several birds to show students
• A BB-gun marksmanship station sponsored by Cabela’s Waco with Cabela representative Jeffrey Haslam
• Archery sponsored by Texas Parks and Wildlife, led by Travis Glick
• Taste of the Wild allowed students to eat venison that was shot by Ranch boys during their hunting trip and cooked by Kruse and Ranch staff member Tyrone Robinson.

Kruse and Gibbs also worked with the art teacher at the charter school to hold a student art contest with prizes awarded to the top artist. Students and staff voted on the art throughout the afternoon.

“This was a good way for the school staff and all the MCH staff to come together to work for the good of our students,” Kruse said. “Like the old saying goes, ‘it takes an entire community to raise a child’ and we are raising about 135 of them.”