Powell Middle School students have a lot to brag about including impressive pronghorn, deer, elk, birds, a mountain goat and a bighorn sheep, an assortment of fish and other notable achievements.

Anybody who needs proof can check out the bulletin board, dubbed the Braggin’ Board, displayed near the cafeteria in Powell Middle School. The board recognizes the achievements of students who get outside hunting and fishing, whether they’re successful or not.

“It’s important, you know, so many kids are involved, spread vast and wide, and have a lot of personal interests in their families and the livelihoods that they grow up with,” Assistant Principal Chanler Buck said. “You want to recognize a lot of the things that they do in their own lives, outside of the things that we offer here at the middle school — I think that’s pretty important.”

He added that the Braggin’ Board does a lot of things for students including boosting confidence and serving as a conversation starter.

“We’re very proud of this and where we live and what we have the ability to do … I think we do a nice job recognizing 4-H and  church groups and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and all the great things that we offer in this community, outside of school, but this is just one more thing where it takes preparation, takes hard work, it takes, a lot of times, character and overcoming different barriers and things to achieve a goal and that’s pretty darn important for a young man or woman,” Buck said. 

But Powell Middle School doesn’t do this on their own. Eastman’s Hunting Journal partnered with the school to recognize the student’s achievements. Luke Washington, digital media coordinator at Eastman’s and a Powell High School grad, worked with Buck to get the collaboration going, editor Todd Helms said.

Washington is actually a former student of Buck’s and the educator has always been very supportive of him and his hunting, he said.

“So it’s really cool to come full circle and [be] doing a big project with this,” Washington said.

Buck had already been doing the bragging board for about two years, Washington said, and Eastman’s had been publishing a younger generation segment in its magazine.

“What we wanted to do was just reach out and see if we could collaborate a little bit and just highlight those successes of those young kids and just have a little prize for them at the end of the year,” Washington said. “Everybody that puts up a little picture, they have a chance to win a little prize at the end of the year.”

Each student who has a photo on the Braggin’ Board gets an entry for prizes, which the magazine tries to keep exciting — things like backpacks, binoculars, binocular harnesses and more. Last year they drew four prizes, Washington said.

There’s also the chance to get articles published in Eastman’s. The students who want to write are given a “cheat sheet” by Buck on how to write an article. At the end of the year, the Eastman’s staff will go through and choose articles. Taylor Peters and Rhett and Russell Goolsbey were recently chosen to publish articles on their successful hunting seasons. 

“It’s crazy to see some of the animals that have actually [been] harvested by these kids, it’s like, holy cow. You know, it’s not all about the size of the antlers, or the quality of trophy,” Washington said. “It’s just how many kids are actually getting out and hunting or fishing, or that sort of thing. So it’s really cool to see that there’s still a lot of hunting going around inside our local areas.”

The kids who are published receive 10 copies of the magazine to hand out to friends and family, Washington said. They also get a free subscription to Eastman’s Hunting  Journal or Bowhunting Journal. 

Helms does his best to make sure the kids who submit stories are published, he said. The goal is to encourage youth participation and recruit hunters.

“We live in a very hunting rich community, and it’s a big deal for the kids to be able to kind of show off their accomplishments and their adventures, and we like to help celebrate that,” Helms said. 

In middle school, kids are figuring out their interests and passions and Eastman’s like to help encourage that, he added.

And the board is continuing to grow, Washington said. He recently talked to Buck who got a larger 8 foot by 4 foot board to accommodate interest. Eastman’s is looking at increasing the number of prizes it hands out and is even trying to figure out how to bring other area schools in on the fun in the coming years.