Hillsdale, Mich. – The Hillsdale College Shooting Sports Center has received a $5,000 grant through the Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative of the Newton, Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation-the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry.
Proceeds from the estate of Roland L. Ebersole were used to purchase and develop the 77-acre Hillsdale College Shooting Sports Center three miles from the Hillsdale campus. The facility currently has four American Trap fields, five-stand sporting clays, and a small arms range. There are plans to open a sight-in rifle and pistol range, skeet range, an international bunker trap, a small-bore rifle and pistol competition range, an archery range, and clubhouse.
The facility is in regular use by the Hillsdale College Shotgun Team and the Hillsdale College Firearms Club, whose membership consists of students, faculty and staff. Also available to students are one-credit courses on Basic Shotgun, Intermediate Shotgun, and Basic Pistol and Rifle.
“Throughout the country, we are seeing a surge in college students interested in the shooting sports,” said Zach Snow, NSSF’s manager of shooting promotions. “These clubs are filling a need on campus by providing opportunities to target shoot, and their members are building positive reputations for the shooting sports both on campus and in surrounding communities.”
American Trap Association competitions have been held at the range and Hillsdale College also hosts an annual Hillsdale College Constitution Day Seminar and Shoot on or around September 17.
In addition to the facility, the Roland L. Ebersole Scholarship was established to provide up to full tuition for qualified students who belong to the NRA or other shooting advocacy clubs or organizations.
Hillsdale College, founded in 1844, has built a national reputation through its maintenance of a classical core curriculum and its principled refusal to accept federal or state taxpayer subsidies. It also conducts an outreach effort promoting civil and religious liberty, including a free monthly speech digest, Imprimis, with a current circulation of over two million.
