Archery program targets truancy

By The Associated Press | Wednesday, February 21, 2007

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YANKTON — South Dakota is the 42nd state nationwide to implement the National Archery in the Schools program.

The state Game, Fish & Parks Department is working with the state Education Department to start the effort, which will be a pilot program in 13 school systems, Curt Robertson, who is overseeing the project for the GF&P, said.

The first training session for educators who plan to teach the program was held Monday at Beadle Elementary School in Yankton.

“It’s very exciting. It’s kind of an historic day,” Robertson said. “Hopefully, more schools are going to contact us, and we’ll get them on board.”

The national program was developed by the Kentucky Department of Education and the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources in 2002.

“We are just amazed at the program’s popularity,” Roy Grimes, director of the National Archery in the Schools Program, said.

Kentucky hoped to have the program in 120 of its schools within three years, but that goal was met in 13 months, Grimes said.

Since then, it has been started in schools as far away as Australia.

“Kids are being engaged at school,” Grimes said.

“Attendance is proven to be increased by 8 percent on days when archery is offered. Grades are improving. Fifty-three percent of students in our survey say they feel better about themselves after learning the skill of archery,” he said.

The program provides target archery training in grades 4-12. Departments of education become involved as they create archery-themed lesson plans that can be used in areas such as math, science, reading and social studies.

The Game, Fish & Parks Department had been looking at the program for a couple years, Robertson said, adding that things really started moving when the education department and local school districts got involved.

“We were looking at ways, as an agency, to promote youth shooting sports and target archery,” Robertson said. “We did a lot of research on (the NASP) and discovered it was very successful. The kids love it. It’s extremely safe, and they learn some skills they can use for the rest of their lives. That’s what we were impressed with, and it’s why we’re putting the money behind some of this.”

The GF&P is providing the training at no cost and will supply grants for archery equipment as the course expands statewide.

The agency has high expectations and hopes more schools will contact the department after the pilot program is completed this spring, Robertson said.

“This really helps at-risk kids and has been proven to improve attendance at schools,” he said. “The program tends to sell itself.”