by Eddie Calderon|News Editor
A national organization has hit the Johnson hallways as students join the new Ducks Unlimited Club.
“We’re the first public school in Texas to have our own Ducks Unlimited Club even though it’s a national organization,” junior Zachary Winterrowd said.
The new club deals with a lot more than an endless supply of ducks.
“We work for the conservation of wetlands and water fouls,” Winterrowd said, “We are trying to organize conservation projects in different areas.”
Ducks Unlimited Club has no prerequisites along with a flexible schedule.
“We usually meet once a month, the next one is this coming Tuesday, April 30th,” Winterrowd said, “Anybody can join anytime.”
The idea to have a Ducks Unlimited Club started with two Johnson students.
“Hunter Grona and Nick Tilson realized that there was no Ducks Unlimited Club at Johnson so they decided to start their own,” Winterrowd said, “Our sponsor is Ms. Salazar, the physics teacher.”
Both Grona and Tilson organized Ducks Unlimited at Johnson to provide new experiences for students.
“We started the organization to get students outdoors, like hunting, providing an outlet for them,” junior Hunter Grona said, “We also want to do service projects throughout Texas.”
Starting the Ducks Unlimited Club at Johnson took several steps for Grona and Tilson.
“We had to go through the formality of the school, getting approved by Mr. Mehlbrech and Mr. Magadance,” Grona said, “They we had to speak to the South Texas regional director of Ducks Unlimited, Mike Wilson.”
There was some paperwork that had to be filled out with the regional director.
“We had to apply for a tax exempt form, and a national charter through Mike Wilson,” junior Nicolas Tilson said.
Ducks Unlimited Club can offer a student a great deal of experience even outside the wetlands of Texas.
“It’s a great organization to join because it helps to get your name out there, because we are involved on the national level,” Winterrowd, “Plus we get involved outdoors.”
Johnson High School set the standard by becoming the first public school in Texas to have their own Ducks Unlimited Club, something that both Grona and Tilson hope that many other schools will follow.
“It feels pretty awesome being the first public school with this club,” Tilson said, “I think that many schools will join as well, Houston is probably the next city since they hold a lot of events for [conservation].”
