West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Archery In The Schools 100th

100 schools in 2 years, The Archery In The Schools program is right on target.

September 6, 2006
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

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That's how things looked at the first annual archery in the schools contest held at capitol high school last spring. Dozens of schools and hundreds of kids competed. This year the tournament will be even bigger.

Scott Warner/DNR Archery in the Schools says:
"When we started the program in 2004, we knew it was going to be a success, we just didn't know it was goinng to be this successful. We didn't know that within 2 years from when we came up to Elkview Middle School, within 2 years we'd have 100 schools participate in this program. In 2 years, we've been able to put a bow in the hands of 12,000 kids. We didn't know it was going to grow that fast. That was our five year goal."

The Archery in the Schools program blossomed for a lot of reasons. A lot of kids are interested in archery, and you don't have to be a world class athlete to be good with a bow.

Terri Craft/Chapmanville Middle School says:
"It"s fantastic, I'm very excited about it. I think this is going to be very beneficial to kids who aren't really athletes because anyone can do this from the smallest child to the clumsiest-anyone can do this."

Most of the time, students will access Archery in the Schools through their physical education classes. The West Virginia School for the Deaf does that, too, but they also figured out a way to get their other students involved.

Bob Haynes/WV School for the Deaf says:
"We started the program last September and introduced a lot of kids to archery and it really took off. For the students who already had physical education, we included it. We also included it in a club so the kids who didn't have physical education due to scheduling would have access to shoot."

By the way, the kids at the West Virginia School for the Deaf did pretty well at the tournament, too. Even though the Archery in the Schools program is busting at the seams, there's still room for more and that's good news for many more students hoping to pick up a bow.