National Archery in the Schools Program and its partner, Easton Archery care about academics!
USA –-(Ammoland.com)- Now in its third year, the Academic Archer program hit an all-time high of 25,266 students enrolled from 41 states and several Canadian Provinces. In fact, NASP has learned that the program is now so widespread that over 54% of all archers that were registered for the Western or Eastern NASP National Tournaments were also enrolled as Academic Archers!
In November of 2015, National NASP leadership and a group of NASP educators and students met to discuss ways to further enhance the then 15 year old program. One recommendation was to establish a uniform incentive and recognition format to recognize and promote academic achievement for participating NASP students.
In its first year of implementation, the program finished with 8,517 students enrolled. Educators from 38 US states and two Canadian Provinces implemented the program with their students. Easton Technical Products, a long time supporter and manufacturer of the only approved NASP® arrow, began discussions with NASP leadership about the success of the program. Easton quickly recognized the value of the academic recognition program and gladly jumped on board as its financial and title sponsor.
In its second year, Academic Archer had registration for the Academic Archer program conclude with 19,381 students enrolled into the program. Educators from 40 US states, three Canadian Provinces, and schools from the British Virgin Islands implemented the NASP® Academic Archer Program with their students.
Roy Grimes, president of NASP said, “ We know that a NASP archer does not have to be tall, fast or strong to be successful, but now it looks more and more like academic success is something that many of our archers have in common.” On the heels of our positive student survey results, this kind of reinforcement in what we doing to recognize academics is very encouraging!”
Easton Archery President Mark Pezzoni said, “My opinion on the explosive growth of the Academic Archer program is due to the great people at the NASP® organization, that truly “live” the program. They realized that combining an element of scholastic excellence to a competitive and fun sport of archery would make a great program even greater. Academic Archer has also grown because of the great support of the dedicated people at the schools and the students who have demonstrated that they also believe in this concept. I am pleased and proud to have Easton be a part of helping students grow, learn, and compete.”
Easton National Accounts Manager Carri Garret added, “It is fantastic that there are so many kids being recognized as NASP® Academic Archers. Easton truly wants to expose all kids to archery. When kids are involved in NASP® and Academic Archer – we do just that. These kids are earning this designation for demonstrating academic success and skills they will need to succeed later in life.”
Dr. Tommy Floyd, NASP Vice President and General Manager said. “I think this illustrates that the continued growth and success of NASP® is due to the fact that, along with our partners and sponsors, we are focused on doing the right things for kids. We care about how well NASP® kids do in the classroom. Our recent student survey data shows that over 40% of our students attributed NASP® as a motivating factor for them to work harder in the classroom. Programs like Academic Archer recognize this hard work – but we know we could recognize so many more hard working students if we could just get more of the word about it to more schools! In doing so, we truly believe that NASP® is achieving one of its long-standing goals of helping to motivate students for success in the classroom. “
We hope that every NASP jurisdiction will eventually enroll all eligible students in the program. Students in those states are already eligible due to their good work in the classroom. It is our intention to increasingly send the strongest of messages about how teaching archery as part of the in-school curriculum can be important to the mission of educators.
We believe that the more we emphasize in-school archery as an extension of the classroom, the more that educators can use programs like Academic Archer, and the greater likelihood that NASP will be around to motivate countless generations of young students!”
For more information on beginning the Academic Archer in your school:
Please visit the toolkit at: https://www.naspschools.org/opportunities/academic-archer
For specifics about AA criteria, visit: https://www.naspschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/academicArcherCriteria.pdf