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:
- CSF is continuing to expand our collegiate program to reach students across the nation. We are excited to add the University of Wyoming (UWYO) to our growing network.
- The Collegiate Coalition provides college students with the unique opportunity to engage with other sportsmen and women who hold 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 and advocates.
This month, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation added the University of Wyoming to our growing network of active Collegiate Coalitions. CSF is excited to add our first school in the west to the CSWC network and looks forward to supporting these students as they work to grow their membership and begin hosting meetings and events on campus.
The Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition provides members with educational opportunities at their meetings where they can hear from CSF staff, state legislators, state agency professionals, and in-state conservation partners about various policy issues that impact sportsmen and women in their state. Members of the Collegiate Coalition at UWYO will also be invited to events like Camo at the Capitol in Cheyenne and the Wyoming Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus clay shoot during the upcoming 2025-2026 school year.
Dr. Kelly Dunning was instrumental in bringing our newest Collegiate Coalition to UWYO, with many of her students at the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources signing up to be CSWC members or serving in leadership roles. We look forward to continuing to work with her to provide valuable policy education and engagement opportunities to our CSWC students at the University of Wyoming.
Zachary Bearden, a junior Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management major, will be serving as the inaugural President of the CSWC at UWYO. Zach spoke about what CSWC at UWYO means to him, saying that:
“The goal of bringing CSWC to UWYO is to provide an opportunity for students to participate in an organization that educates us about the importance of hunting, fishing, and shooting on conservation efforts. With these activities being so deeply rooted in the state’s cultural and economic fabric, it is crucial to develop leaders that understand our outdoor sporting heritage to protect it for future generations. In addition to professional development, our Coalition hopes to introduce hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting to individuals without previous exposure. Personally, as a soon-to-be graduate with a young son, I wanted the chance to leverage my skills to protect and develop the opportunities provided within Wyoming so that he may have the same or better opportunities I was afforded growing up.”
CSF is proud to support the University of Wyoming Coalition and looks forward to bringing the Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition to other schools around the country in the coming semesters.
Please reach out to CSF’s Collegiate Sportsmen and Women’s Coalition Coordinator Isabella Mucci (imucci@congressionalsportsmen.org) to explore bringing CSWC to a campus near you.
