Though they live in the digital age of instant gratification where quicker is better, students from Sowers and Dwyer middle schools took two hours out of their day last week to slow things down.
Instead of having their eyes fixed on a smartphone, tablet or computer screen, the Huntington Beach pre-teens each had a fishing pole in hand as they participated in the first Fishing Derby competition between the two schools.
"Because we're cross-town rivals, we compete in all kinds of competitions," said Stacy Wood, a physical-education teacher and fishing club advisor at Dwyer. "Now we're competing on how many fish we can catch."
Each of the schools has a fishing club that consists of about 30 members. Dwyer's club goes fishing once a week at the beach while Sowers students meet once a month to fish at the Santa Ana River Jetties. Any fish that the students catch are released back into the water.