LINCOLN — Hailey Robinson loves her job.
“I’ve been teaching 10 years in public education,” Robinson said. “My mother is Lincoln Consolidated School District Superintendent Dr. Mary Ann Spears. My great-grandmother was a chemistry teacher. My grandmother was a special education teacher. I’m kind of built for this, I guess.”
Robinson, who teaches biology and outdoor education at Lincoln High School, received the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s 2023 Conservation Educator of the Year award at the agency’s February meeting.
Robinson’s efforts to bring the outdoors to her Lincoln High School students through archery, fishing, rock climbing and other pursuits started with a chance encounter.
“I got into Trout Unlimited five years ago,” Robinson said. “I was going through something in my life, and I ran into this guy, Brian Kick, and he talked me into taking on Trout in the Classroom.”
Kick is a fishing guide and former president of Trout Unlimited chapter 514 based in Fayetteville. Robinson is the current president. Trout in the Classroom is a Trout Unlimited program that places aquariums with teachers.
“So I started just with a trout tank in my classroom,” Robinson continued. “Today I run Trout in the Classroom for Northwest Arkansas. We have seven schools and eight on a waiting list.”
That would be plenty to handle for many teachers, but Robinson, who holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and a master’s in educational leadership from Arkansas State University, was just beginning.
“We teach kids how to fly-fish, they get a free fly rod,” Robinson said. “It’s just been an incredible experience. This is the second year we’re offering trout camp to 14 kids, completely free, five days, overnight, at Riverview Resort near Eureka Springs.”
Robinson’s students also are involved in events with the Beaver Watershed Alliance and Illinois River Watershed Partnership. As an educational partner and board member of Northwest Arkansas Fish Habitat Alliance, Robinson built fish habitats with her students, a process that was recorded for a video. The habitats were placed in Lincoln Lake, a couple of miles north of Lincoln.
Although she has made amazing strides with her students, Robinson pointed out that Lincoln High School Principal Stan Karber has backed her since the beginning.
“He’s highly motivated to get kids outside and to create opportunity,” Robinson said. “He says yes to everything I ever ask him to do, and he’s the reason we have these programs.”