Peace and safety for inner city kids
Posted: Friday, August 07, 2009 12:00 PM by Daily Nightly Editor
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Notes from the field
by Ron Allen, NBC News correspondent
Our Making a Difference story tonight is about a guy named John Annoni of Allentown, PA. What you need to know about him is that he's a father, a teacher, and a very avid outdoorsman. What's unusual about him is that he grew up in the inner city not in a rural community where hunting and fishing are more common. Annoni brings all of that together at a place he calls Camp Compass Academy.
We were attracted to the story because of Annoni's basic premise. His goal is to take young people from urban areas and expose them to places and pastimes they most likely would never experience. It struck a cord for me because I grew up in an urban area, Jersey City, NJ. I had parents and relatives who were determined to show my sister and me things and places beyond our neighborhood.
So, starting at a very young age there were frequent trips to museums, Broadway plays, even trips skiing, lots of time traveling in the back seat of the car, and of course just about every summer visits to camps. Day camps first. Then trips away from home for a week or two. Later in life as a college student, I spent several summers working at camps as a counselor, tutor and teacher. Looking back, I know all of that expanded my notion of what was possible in life.
Annoni's idea of "camp" however goes a bit further than what I used to do. He teaches sixth grade at a public school. One summer he decided to take a few of his students with him when he went fishing, rafting, or boating. The kids were so excited and inspired by those trips that Annoni turned it into a camp. But his camp is year-round, and the focus is on academics, hence the name "Camp Compass Academy."
There's something else you should know about Annoni. He's very open about it. He grew up in a troubled home and was at times the victim of child abuse. He tells the story of how he used to run out of the house to the nearby woods to chase squirrels or other "critters." That's how he found peace and safety. And that's how his love affair with the great outdoors came to be.
One of the most unusual aspects of Annoni's camp is what's perhaps its biggest reward for academic achievement and advancing through the program over the course of a number of years. That reward is the hunting trips. Trips across the country in pursuit of deer, pheasant, and other small game. His "camp classroom " is adorned with some of the trophies they've bagged. Before anyone can go hunting, there's extensive training about how to handle guns.
To tell Annoni's story, we spent part of day with him and a group of students at a shooting range. Annoni freely admits a number of people, including potential donors to this non-profit, are turned off or worse by the fact that he's teaching inner city kids how to use guns. There's more about this in the Nightly News piece. The bottom line is that Annoni insists he's teaching kids to have a healthy respect for weapons. And the camp is about much more than hunting. They're "tools," he says, like fishing rods and other outdoor gear that he uses to change kids lives for the better.
He's gotten results. High grades and graduation rates. Students heading off to college who otherwise probably wouldn't. Kids who say the "Camp" has helped them stay out of trouble. At another level, Annoni says he's teaching life skills like discipline, patience and self-esteem. Though admittingly, depending on where you come from, you might find him and some of his methods a bit unconventional.
More information on Camp Compass Academy
http://www.campcompass.org/
