THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280476
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BARCO LENGTH: 88 lines
James Guard is ``real particular'' when it comes to the way he runs his classroom.
The Currituck County High School agricultural education teacher demands discipline and dedication from his students, nothing less of himself.
``I have my way about things, and that's it,'' Guard said Tuesday, when asked if his regimental style was the secret to his most recent successes.
While he spoke, a photographer was posing the school's Future Farmers of America Hunter Safety Team, which this month brought home a huge trophy representing a second-place finish at a national competition.
The photographer has the students sitting on desktops. Guard doesn't allow that.
So everyone stood, a little reminder that rules are not bent here, even if you're a top hunter safety team and the only thing being shot are pictures.
Guard, 48, has taken an FFA hunting team to the national finals for the past three years, and never finished lower than fourth. This year it was narrowly beaten by an all-state honor corps representing Pennsylvania. ``We'd like to have first, but we'll take second,'' he said.
Two other Carolina high schools - Camden and North Davidson - also competed this year.
Currituck's strong finish at the national competition, held July 24 through Aug. 3 in Raton, N.M., helped Guard garner the nation's Youth Hunter Education Instructor of the Year.
That distinction was no doubt aided by Guard's own first-place ranking in his age group (45 and over) at the same competition for coaches.
But Guard, quick to praise his students for their extraordinary effort and dedication, hesitated to elaborate on his achievements.
``If it weren't for the team, I wouldn't have gotten first in my age group. And I wouldn't have gotten coach of the year - 'cause I wouldn't have gone to the competition,'' he said.
``So you've got to give part of the award to the kids,'' said the man who has been teaching in Currituck County for 26 years.
Those kids include sophomore Jeremy Evans, 15, of Grandy, who took third place overall in his division in New Mexico. He also earned third-place on the hunter's responsibility test and orienteering sections of the eight-part series.
Another student, senior Jessie Langley, 17, of Moyock, had the highest score in the animal identification section.
The two were joined in the nationals by junior Michael Jordan, 16, of Grandy; junior Joey Wiles, 16, of Moyock; Charlie Farr, a 17-year-old senior from Moyock, and JoAnn Bricker, a senior from Gibbs Woods.
Bricker is the only female on the team, but not in Currituck County High's hunter safety program, which this semester attracted about 65 of the high school's 800 students.
The students said Tuesday that the hunter safety program and the school's strong showing nationally has helped bring new respect for a sport with a long history in Currituck County.
Long ago dubbed a ``sportsman's paradise'' because of the abundant waterfowl, Currituck County in recent years has become home to many urban-oriented dwellers with no background in hunting.
Clashes with animal rights activists and even hunting groups within the county have brought attention to the centuries-old sport.
But the high school program, which stresses safety and ethics over shooting skills, helps leave a good impression of the sport, students said.
To earn its second-place finish this month, the Currituck team had to compete in eight events.
Sporting clays, archery, small bore .22-caliber and muzzle-loading rifle contests demonstrated marksmanship.
There was a 60-question hunter's responsibility test and another quiz on wildlife identification, done through skins, fur, antlers and tracks. A safety trail placed students in situations where they had to determine whether to shoot.
Finally, orienteering required participants to answer 15 questions on map reading and successfully follow three courses of varying lengths.
If hunting is a Currituck County tradition, hunter safety is a part of Guard's.
He and his wife, Elaine, a postmistress in Aydlett, have reared two children, both of whom competed on the hunter safety team at Currituck County High.
Jim Jr. now teaches agriculture in Beaufort County's city of Washington schools, and daughter Amy is a senior majoring in agricultural education at North Carolina State University. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
James Guard led Currituck's Future Farmers of America Hunter Safety
Team to a second-place finish in New Mexico, while he was named the
nation's Youth Hunter Education Instructor of the Year. The team is,
from left, Michael Jordan, Jeremy Evans, JoAnn Bricker, Charlie
Farr, Joey Wiles and Jessie Langley. by CNB