Our boat captain today is Lamar Chisholm, a Florida native who lives in nearby St. Cloud. He’s the founder of the Osceola County High School Anglers Fishing Team. The team got started seven years ago with 14 kids and averages 60 to 70 now, including eight girls. They fish from November through June.
“We have two kids on college scholarships, at SCAD and Bethel,” he said. “And we award $8,000 in scholarships every year. The community support has been phenomenal.”
What motivated him to start the team? “We have one of the best fisheries in the world here, we wanted to get kids out fishing on it.”
The students run the club, make the decisions, and the adults just guide them, Chisholm told me. “Not everyone can play football, basketball or baseball,” he said. “This gives them something to do.”
Community service is an important part of the program. Team members helped park cars this morning, and they’ll be at the weigh-in later today.
“We ask every kid to bring in one sponsor for themself, and then we have them create a video thanking the sponsor,” said Chisholm. “Social media is such an important part of the game now.”
Great job, Lamar!