New team activities proposed at Jackson Heights High School
More new team activities are being proposed at Jackson Heights High School, and on Monday, members of the USD 335 Board of Education heard a pair of proposals on “E-sports” and “outdoor skills” teams, but took no immediate action to approve either activity for the upcoming 2023-24 school year.
The new activity proposals — Trevor Goertzen of Kansas City, Mo.-based Generation E-Sports outlining a proposed E-sports team and JHHS science teacher Gary Keehn presenting an “outdoor skills” team combining archery, fishing and shooting sports — drew positive responses from board members, who asked for more information about each program before taking any action to approve either one.
Keehn’s “outdoor skills” program would involve “a lot more than just shooting sports” and incorporate 3-D and target archery, trap shooting and bass fishing into an extracurricular program that would “develop kids for a lifetime of skills” and “give kids another opportunity outside of regular sports” such as football, basketball and track.
“There’s all kinds of research backing these programs,” Keehn told the board. “The more you get the youth outdoors, the more they have a stronger opinion about themselves.”
Some of Jackson County’s 4-H youth are involved in a shooting sports program, adding that the “outdoor skills” team would exist to “supplement” the 4-H program, Keehn said. He has also worked with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism over the past 16 years to develop archery programs at the middle and high school level.
Goertzen’s proposal for an “E-sports” team at JHHS would also benefit students who would not go out for “regular sports” for whatever reason, but it would not just involve students sitting in front of a computer and playing video games in the sports and “first-person shooter” categories — it would involve a coach and after-school practice times, as well as a physical exercise regimen, he said.
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