One big, trappy family

Three years ago John Shorts agreed to serve as advisor for the brand-new Trapshooting Club at EOU.

“We discussed it and he said yes because we figured it was just one night a week,” his wife Kathryn Shorts said. “We laugh about that now.”

Kathryn and John are both staff members on campus. He works as a General Maintenance Mechanic in facilities, and she is the Director of Student Success and Transition. Combined, they spend more than 20 hours a week on Trap Club, which is now one of the largest and fastest growing student organizations on campus.

John has taken gunsmithing classes, coordinated Hunter’s Safety, and supervised a Boy Scout camp shooting range. He fell in love with trapshooting at 11 years old and hasn’t looked back.

“Anyone who talks to John for more than two minutes will hear about Trap Club and the students involved,” Kathryn said. “He is a hard worker that goes above and beyond taking care of students.”

Her role in the Learning Center and as Week of Welcome coordinator puts Kathryn in contact with students on a daily basis. John said those relationships are one of the strengths she brings to the club.

“Any time that a student needs anything they know that Kathryn will always make the time to help,” he said

Weekly or even twice weekly practices, tournament travel, fundraisers, grant writing, recruiting and volunteering for trap-related events keeps the whole Shorts family engaged.

“John and I never dreamed this club would go so far so fast,” Kathryn said. “It can be overwhelming at times, but fortunately our daughters also like the sport.”

In fact, they hooked up the trailer and took a two-week trip to Michigan last summer, where their oldest daughters competed in the high school trapshooting national championships. John said Trap Club has given his family “a whole new area of adventures to take.”

“We have always done things as a family, and when we started Trap Club, our kids were with us that first night,” he said.

EOU Trap Club made its first appearance at the ACUI Collegiate National Championships last spring, becoming the first Oregon team to compete and placing sixth in its division for sporting clays. The eight-day trip to San Antonio was John’s first time leaving the Pacific Northwest. He said they never would have made the trip if not for Trap Club, and Kathryn added that the 13 students who traveled to Texas with them have become like family.

“It is as if John and I adopted a bunch of 20-year-olds at once,” she said. “He laughs with them and helps them with anything they need. I encourage them to go to class and play the team mom role.”

That family is growing, as Kathryn helps welcome the first cohort of students this fall who chose EOU specifically for its trapshooting program. John eagerly invites students to try the sport, and last year more than 100 of them did.

“Kathryn likes to tell people about the friendships that develop and how students in the club make everyone feel welcome and wanted,” John said. “She spends a lot of her free time to make sure this program will truly benefit the students.”

Relationships play a key role, but the team members and advisors are serious about the sport. Their first goal was competing at nationals, but now John has his sights set on the trophy.

“He has a dream of not just competing but winning titles at that level,” Kathryn said. “With all that has been accomplished so far, I have no doubt that he can make that happen.”