A reel special day

May 02, 2008 05:16 pm

— Patty Wallace squealed as she tossed her fishing pole toward her instructional aid and ran to find her teacher Thursday at Trudy Romine’s pond.
“Mrs. Harrell, Mrs. Harrell! I caught one. I caught a fish,” she screamed, dragging her teacher by the hand to the shore of the pond.
Amanda Blankenship, Patty’s instructional aid, laughed as she gained control of the pole and helped to pull the fish in.
Patty, 15, a student in the special needs program at Tanner High School, displayed her catch proudly to pose for a picture. This was the first fish she had ever caught.
Patty and her classmates from Tanner and those in the city’s special needs program at Athens Middle School spent the day outside enjoying the sun, cooking out and fishing.
Special needs teachers Romine, Bill Swindell and Buddy South, started the Fishing Day outing 15 years ago at Romine’s estate in western Limestone County as a way to treat their students to an experience they might not get otherwise.
“It’s such a nice thing to do to get out of the classroom,” Swindell said.
This year’s Fishing Day was a first-time experience for many of the students.
“A lot of the kids don’t get a chance to go fishing. They look forward to this,” said Susan Harrell, special needs teacher at Tanner.
Eighth grader Briella Danielle Reno, 13, enjoyed her first time fishing at Romine’s pond.
“A little fish, I caught a little fish. I don’t like a big fish,” Briella said.
Briella’s instructional aid Letichia Long was moved as she watched the students.
“This is overwhelming to me because there is so much for them to do and see and learn about… and the freedom they have to enjoy themselves,” Long said.
Others worked on perfecting their fishing skills.
Tanner student Patrick Kelley, 14, was trying to find just the right spot to fish.
He used shrimp instead of worms to bait his hook, he said.
“I haven’t caught one yet because of the stupid wind,” Patrick said as he watched his line drift quickly back to the shore.
“Let’s see if I catch one right here,” he said, moving a couple of feet over. “It’s the perfect spot. Right here.”
Still others discovered their new talent.
AMS student Denise Ross had never been fishing before Thursday.
“I kept saying I wasn’t going to fish because I didn’t know how, but my teacher showed me how. Now I want to go again,” she said.
Denise turned out to be a big-mouth-bass-catching machine.
“But I didn’t want to touch it,” she said. “It had big eyes and it was hard to get the fish off the hook. I got lucky. I felt lucky after the first time. I want to do it again.”
This may be the last year that all three of the original teachers join the students at the pond. South has been retired for 10 years after 25 years with the program, Swindell recently after 37-and-a-half years with the program, and Romine will retire at the end of this school year with 15 years in the program. However, Romine said the students are always welcome at her place. Harrell and the next generation of special needs teachers will bring their classes there to cast lines for years to come.

Photos

Tanner special needs student Patty Wallace poses with the first fish she has ever caught. News Courier/ Kim Rynders