Why It Matters: The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation’s (CSF) Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition (CSWC) seeks to educate young adults from diverse interests and backgrounds about the importance of hunting, angling, trapping, and recreational shooting to fish and wildlife conservation while also providing them with hands-on education in how to effectively engage in the policy process to protect these traditions.
Highlights:
- Following the successful launch of a CSWC chapter at Mississippi State in the Fall of 2020, CSF is expanding this program to other colleges and universities across the country.
- The Collegiate Coalition provides college students with the unique opportunity to engage with other sportsmen and women with a wide variety of outdoor interests while also providing them with the tools to begin effectively engaging with the public policy process.
- Through this, the Collegiate Coalition aims to educate the outdoor sporting community’s next generation of conservation leaders.
On March 29, the Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition at Clemson University was approved and formalized by the University. In the following weeks, the Clemson Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition grew their membership to 32 students and were able to begin hosting regular meetings to round out the spring semester. Since their inception, the Clemson Coalition has had a joint meeting with the new Clemson Angling Program, and to finish the semester, CSF’s Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition Coordinator, Isabella Mucci, came to campus to speak to students.
Isabella spoke to the group about the important role that CSF, the caucus groups it supports, and the Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition play in shaping conservation policy, highlighting the necessity of educating and engaging young sportsmen and women in the policymaking process. The group discussed a wide range of policy issues affecting South Carolina including Sunday hunting, the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule, public land and water access issues, and reimbursements for free and discounted licenses. A couple of students noted that they had heard about some of these issues, particularly the North Atlantic Right Whale issue, in some of their classes on campus and were excited to bring their classroom knowledge to CSWC to learn more about what is being done in the policy arena to improve access and opportunity for sportsmen and women across the state.
Beyond learning about CSF, its caucus groups, and current policy issues in the state, the group also discussed how to get started in a conservation policy career. Connecting students with a variety of guest speakers to inform them about different career paths that exist within the conservation arena is another important aspect of the Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition.
Through discussions with students about various policy issues, policy engagement opportunities, and connecting them with guest speakers to talk about the career opportunities that in conservation, the Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition aims to ensure that the next generation of conservation leaders have the tools they need to make a positive impact on the outdoor sporting community both now and in their future careers. As CSF continues to grow and support the CSWC network, we look forward to continuing to provide these students with valuable educational and networking opportunities and hope that this initiative will bridge the gap that exists in students’ experience with hunting, angling, trapping and recreational shooting and knowledge of policy issues that impact sportsmen and women across the country as they enter the workforce upon graduation.
CSF looks forward to continuing to support the Clemson Coalition and continuing to bring the Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition to other schools around the country as we seek to impact and educate more future conservation leaders. Please reach out to Isabella Mucci, CSF’s Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition Coordinator, to explore bringing CSWC to a campus near you or to look for opportunities to connect with and speak to existing Coalitions at Clemson University, Louisiana State University, the University of Mississippi, and Mississippi State University.
