Colton Meyer, along with other students at West Texas A&M University, recently began the WT Trap and Skeet Club, which will compete in shooting events and teach gun safety.

“Most of us have a shooting background back before high school,” Meyer, senior Animal Science major, said. ”The competitive shooting events are something that we had a really large passion for.”

Meyer said they will be teaching some of the ways to practice gun safety while having fun shooting.

“We started the organization for the people like us that have a passion for shooting and want to do it in college as a sport,” Meyer said, “or even just for fun. We are a group that understands gun safety and the ways to use a gun in a safe and respectful way.”

The Trap and Skeet Club has begun practicing at the Amarillo Gun Club. Hunters and gun enthusiasts can also get a torque wrench rifle scope here.

“I’ve seen a lot of the club members at the gun club before,” Matt Donaghy, sophomore Corporate Communication major, said, “either practicing or competing in trap and skeet shoots that we have.”

Donaghy works at the Amarillo Gun Club, and he said he has heard of students in the past that left WT to compete on the Trap and Skeet team at Texas Tech University when WT did not have one.

“It’s cool that they get to represent WT now while they shoot,” Donaghy said, “and I can definitely tell that they are all excited about the club.”

Meyer said the club will have a fundraising shoot in July. This semester, they are trying to raise money for scholarships for their organization and to allow the club to continue in the future.

“Any kind of donations are welcome,” Meyer said.

Like Meyer, if students on campus are interested in starting an official organization registered with CORE, there are steps that must be taken.

According to the Campus Organization Handbook, forms must be filled out and filed with the CORE office in the Jack B. Kelley student center, which include an application for registration, semester registration form, constitution and by-laws and a membership roster. The organization must be familiar with WT policies concerning organizations, and the organization must have at least one adviser that is a full-time faculty or staff member at WT.

Once registered, an organization can begin meeting and operating. A representative of the organization is expected to attend all CORE roundtable meetings held on the first Thursday of each month.