Casey Sullivan remembers growing up in the hunting mecca of Meeker and as a middle school student being able to learn hunting education in school there.
With that memory in mind, around 2017, as a social studies at the former Fruita 8/9 School, he started such a class there.
“I knew nobody was really offering it outside of just (Colorado Parks and Wildlife). I thought it would be kind of nice to add it as a class as well,” he said.
It took off in popularity among students, he said. After a year’s hiatus due to the Fruita 8/9 School being shut down, he resumed offering the class again at Fruita Middle School. And recently his efforts earned him kudos from Parks and Wildlife when it issued hunter education awards, as it named him the Northwest Region Instructor of the Year for 2024.
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Fruita Middle School social studies teacher Casey Sullivan talks with students while they take a parts of a rifle test in his Hunter Education Class during school on Oct. 1.
“Casey is dedicated to ensuring that his students are prepared and ready to get out into the field when they go hunting,” the agency’s statewide hunter education coordinator, Jordan Likes, said in a new release. “He realizes the role that hunting plays in wildlife management and works diligently to ensure that his students are aware of that. Casey is a huge asset to us, and I couldn’t think of someone more deserving of this recognition.”
According to Parks and Wildlife, hunting education is vital to ensuring that hunting remains safe, ethical and sustainable.
The agency also named volunteer hunter education instructors Brent Curtice and Rick Oberheu Southwest Region Instructors of the year for their work teaching classes in Delta County last year.
Said Likes, “Brent and Rick are the epitome of what we look for in a volunteer hunter education instructor: welcoming, knowledgeable, passionate, supportive, motivating and engaging. Without their help, the hunter education program would not be able to meet the needs of the Delta community. They are a significant asset for us and I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts. Brent and Rick ensure that they bring the best efforts to their classes by passing along all of their passion, enthusiasm, and knowledge to students through professional, supportive and welcoming classes.”
Larry Robinson/The Daily Sentinel
A test for identifying parts of a rifle and parts of bullets seen in Fruita Middle School’s hunter education class taught by social studies teacher Casey Sullivan.
Sullivan said his award came as something as a shock.
“It was neat, it was nice, and I much appreciated it, but definitely (was) not expecting it,” he said.
Sullivan said he has hunted since he was a little kid and he and his brothers now run an outfitting business in Meeker.
“I kind of do the books a little bit with them and help guide on the weekend and that type of stuff, or as best I can,” he said.
He said hunting is part of the culture around the Meeker community.
Larry Robinson/The Daily Sentinel
Fruita Middle School social studies teacher Casey Sullivan talks with students while they take a parts of a rifle test in his Hunter Education Class on Oct. 1. Sullivan appreciates having had administrative support for teaching hunter education to students in Fruita, and said that with the class being a semester long, he’s probably able to teach about 10 times as much as Parks and Wildlife offers in a typical class.
“It’s like I tell the kids, it’s important for that community and a lot of our small communities on the Western Slope. Hunting is good business for those small communities. I think they rely on the hunting seasons each year to help those communities get through. We just kind of grew up with hunting being an important part of our lives,” he said.
Sullivan appreciates having had administrative support for teaching hunter education to students in Fruita, and said that with the class being a semester long, he’s probably able to teach about 10 times as much as Parks and Wildlife offers in a typical class. He can spend a month on just the topic of the role hunters play in conservation, he said.
“I am kind of proud of being able to make the curriculum much more meaningful for these kids just because it is a semester class,” he said. “I do think they get a much better kind of experience in terms of the depth of stuff that we cover outside of just what Colorado Parks and Wildlife does. I know they do a good job but it’s been fun to really kind of dive into it with these kids,” he said.
“… The kids seem to love it. My classes are full every year and it’s good for kids that already have their hunter safety cards, just kids that it’s part of their family and hunting’s important to them. They take the class too. I think they get a lot out of it.”
Larry Robinson / The Daily Sentinel
Fruita Middle School social studies teacher Casey Sullivan holds a replica rifle while talking with students while they take a parts of a rifle test in his Hunter Education Class during school on Oct. 1, 2025. Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently named Sullivan the Northwest Region Instructor of the Year for his involvement in creating and teaching the school’s hunter education class.
En Paddock and Dylan Coonts said they took the class in order to be able to get hunting licenses and to learn more about hunting.
Said En, “It really surprised me how much our local hunters and other hunters really help out the animals and stuff like that. You don’t really notice it until you really start learning about it, but they help a lot with a lot of the animals with their habitat and they help a lot with keeping them healthy.”
En and Dylan said they were surprised to learn they could take such a class at their school. They praised Sullivan’s effectiveness in teaching hunter education, and particularly the safety component of it, which Sullivan teaches at the school with the help of fake guns.
Said Dylan, “He’ll tell stories of what can happen, so we know if we don’t do it right, something bad can happen to people.”
Sullivan’s educational efforts with Fruita youth go beyond social studies and teaching about hunting. He also has been a longtime local baseball coach whose successful efforts working with Fruita Monument players on the baseball diamond led to him being selected this year as All-Southwestern League co-coach of the year.