Archery in the Schools

This popular program just keeps growing! May 12, 2010 Reporter: Patrick McMurtry Videographer: Brad Rice

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You've seen this time and time again, a youngster draws back his bow and lets the arrow fly right to the bulls eye! This is what the Archery in the Schools program is all about...something that has become wildly successful in only it's fifth year.

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources biologist Scott Warner says he's proud of the success. "When the school year runs out, we're gonna be able to say we have over 250 schools in the program. When we began this program in the fall of 2004, our goal was to be able to reach 200 schools. We've exceeded that goal."

And as impressive as that is, the best way to gauge the success of the program is to look at all the kids that come out, year after year, to take part in the annual state tournament. Things were so big this year they had to move the venue to the Charleston Civic Center.

"In order to measure success, we're using state tournament as a measurement. We've been able to put 2,500 kids in the five years. We've also seen an increase in the number of Center Shot programs, youth groups, kid's groups, Boy Scout groups have picked this thing up." says Warner.

And as hard as it is to believe, the Archery in the Schools program could continue to gain momentum. One way to tell is the level of interest in the various training classes offered by the DNR.

"We try to do a training every 2-3 months. We continue to fill every single training up. We've got one this July at Cabelas. Because of the success of the program, more and more schools want to get involved, it's the success of reaching out to kids who normally aren't the athletic ones, they see the success getting kids motivated." says Warner.

And the motivation doesn't stop on the course-many schools require a 2.0 GPA which means these young archers are hitting the marks in the classroom, too.

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