HANK SCHAFERMEYER (Jan 1960)
Henry “Hank” Schafermeyer (January 1960) was once named Missouri Outdoor Educator of the Year. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale has dedicated Hank Schafermeyer Hall in his honor.
He was named one of the Most Outstanding People to die in 2017 by the Post Dispatch. Hank was a combination of Daniel Boone and The Pied Piper. Sort of like Uncle Joe Casino of the southside Y on steroids but with a good education and with funding from the Danforth Foundation.
He was recruited from the Outdoor Education Program at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale by the Danforth Foundation to come to St. Louis to start a National Leadership Program somewhat patterned after The Outward Bound program. His program, STREAM (St. Louis Regional Experimental Adventure Movement) was directed at St. Louis City and County school administrators, teachers and students. They combined teaching survival skills with academic classes in wilderness settings.
In 1980 Hank received a grant from the Danforth Foundation to work with the St. Louis Public School Desegregation Program: Student Leadership Environmental Adventure Program. SLEAP, a multi-faceted outdoor environmental adventure program, reached out to students and teachers from a large cross section of schools and school districts. This program consisted of wilderness and urban activities and topics to help students tie together the interaction of outdoor environments to the academics of the classroom.
Hank was also a contributing author in textbooks on Outdoor Education found in university libraries nationwide. This brief outline only begins to describe the scope of his programs and his accomplishments.
He was a man among men and a mentor to thousands.