Outdoor News Daily

PIERRE, S.D.—A new archery program in South Dakota schools has hit the bull’s-eye with students and teachers.

The South Dakota version of the National Archery in the Schools Program started with 12 schools in its inaugural year. That number of schools is set to double in the 2007-2008 school year according to Curt Robertson, hunting safety coordinator for the S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Department. The program is led by GFP in cooperation with the S.D. Department of Education.

“The fact that we’re going to double our number of participating schools is really encouraging,” Robertson said, “and the growth of the program isn’t going to stop there.”

Plans have also been made for training the specifics of the archery program to teachers in the Sioux Falls School District. “By 2008, there should be 7,000 students in the program,” Robertson said.

The new schools added to the archery program include Pierre, Howard, Britton-Hecla, Edmunds Central, Rapid City Stevens, Ethan, Faith, Madison, South Middle School in Rapid City, Flandreau, Black Hills Career Academy and East Dakota Education Co-op in Sioux Falls.

While the growth in the archery program shows that school administrators are willing to invest in the course, it has also proven to be popular with students. After the initial year of the program, students were surveyed about how they felt about the archery class. Of 1,050 survey responses, 86 percent said they liked the archery program and 63 percent said they liked school better because of the archery program.

“I think the most telling statistic is that 76 percent of the students said they were more likely to attend school on the day that archery was offered,” Robertson said. “Programs that help students stay in school have a value that can’t be measured.”

The National Archery in the Schools Program is a cooperative effort between conservation agencies, education departments, school systems, archery organizations and private archery enthusiasts. The Archery Trade Association provided critical funding for much of the equipment to be used during the pilot school project. The South Dakota Archery Association has provided funding to purchase five archery kits for schools across the state.

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