Ron Allen NBC News
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/
Comments
I don’t need to see this piece to know I object. Not just to teaching kidsto handle guns. But to teaching them to kill. To teaching them not to value life of other creatures. Your making a difference stories have been inspirational. Not this one; it’s about making a negative difference as far as I am concerned. And thanks for the warning; I won’t be watching tonight.
(Sent Friday, August 07, 2009 4:55 PM)
This is a great program run by professional educators and fully funded by contributions. The commitment to teaching kids about the outdoors is tremendous, even when not always popular. The kids that get through the program stay in touch and often volunteer as mentors to new kids. The academy is truly a huge family support system. Read Johns book “From the Hoods to the Woods” it sums it up well.
(Sent Saturday, August 08, 2009 3:04 PM)
Congratulations to Mr Annoni for taking out the time to care. I reside in a apt complex in a center city neighborhood, I see first hand how a lot of our youth are bored and just roam the streets. To show a child there is something more to life then streetcorners and just hanging out is a step in the right direction. Imagine a young boy reading about Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn dreaming he is going down the river on a raft well here is a Teacher making that dream come true. I say congratulations and I will make it my priority to go on Camp Compass.
Elsie Washington Las Vegas NV
Great Story! from someone who grew up in the inner city I understand,Kudos to Mr Annoni for all his time to helping bring the kids to the great outdoors, very inspirational, if he can rise above it he is a great role model to his students,Thank You Mr Allen for doing the Story on John Annoni
All was OK with this story until the secret emerged of his troubled, abusive childhood, and his fixation on “chasing critters.” We can read between the lines as to what that really meant, and project his treatment of animals to his obsession with bringing new kids into the killing fields. These are children who regularly hear the sounds of guns and violence in their neighborhoods, so his sick mindset figures it’s a “reward” to kill innocent animals for the sake of killing and mount the trophies.
Do not flatter his methods by calling them “unconventional”; they are cruel, inhumane, and pure indoctrination of young minds, who will grow into the next generation of killers. His arrest for child endangerment or contributing to delinquency would be more appropriate.
I think it’s about time people got a glimpse of the way most firearms owners use their firearms.
I would rather have a kid of mine be properly taught how to use one than to have some street punk introduce them to the experience in a back alley. Being a great champion Skeet and Trap Shooter can be a wonderful sport and you don’t have to “kill” things.. Many great prizes can be won for knowing how to shoot straight Target shooting can be a lot of fun for many ages and as far as them being “Weapons” is concerend. Guns are only “Weapons” if there is a KILLER at the one end of it…Should I say “Outlaw all the golf clubs and make everyone who enjoys a game of golf give them up just because one murderer killed someone with a golf club? I think not…
I will add, Most firearm deaths will not have been caused by the registered users of a Sports Shooting Club. Anyone who wants to kill someone will buy an illegal one.. So… If the government takes all the firearms away, then ONLY the criminals and the police will have them.. So if they can’t get the bad guys to give their guns up now, how are they gonna do it even after the registered ones get taken away???
I think all honest non violent people who want firearms should be able to have them.
This is one amazing story.
