A popular program offered by a number of area schools will now be offered by the Stanley-Boyd School District.  Students can now sign up to participate in the National Archery in the Schools Program. 

The program will be coached by Brandy Pecha along with her husband Tyler.  Brandy is a Special Education teacher for the Stanley-Boyd School District.   While in high school, both Brandy and Tyler participated in the Archery in the Schools Program.  “We both originally met years ago while competing in archery school tournaments, he for Cadott and me for Cornell”, she said.  Both will be certified as basic archery instructors which involves taking an 8-hour course required to be a National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) teacher/coach.   

Established in 2002, NASP is an activity all students can participate in no matter their athletic skills, gender, size, or popularity.  The mission of NASP is to get international style target archery in school curriculum, improve educational performance, and improve participation in the sport of archery.  NASP has been proven to reach out to students who do not participate in any other extracurricular activities.  Archery is a lifetime activity by which skills learned through the program can be used forever.   

Since NASP started in 2002, participation in archery outside of the school has grown from 7 million people nationwide to 23 million nationwide.  Sixty-six percent of students who participate in archery are first time archers.  On average, there are 1.3 million students in 8,967 schools competing in NASP each year.  Student participation is 50% male and 50% female.  Ninety-one percent of students pursue other outdoor activities thanks to NASP. 

Both Coach Pecha and Stanley School District Athletic Director Nick Mahr addressed the Stanley Sportsman’s Club last week.  Fourteen years ago, the Stanley Sportsman’s Club purchased and donated all necessary archery equipment needed, with intent to establish a National Archery in the School’s Program within the Stanley-Boyd School District.  The program was never implemented.   Instead, the equipment was redirected and used to teach archery in physical education classes.   

While addressing the Stanley Sportsman’s Club, Pecha was asked if the archery equipment used for physical education could be used with the Archery in the Schools Program?  She indicated previous equipment purchased for the school district will be used by the school for classroom instruction only.  She stated, “The main purpose for this is if equipment gets broken by one or the other, who would be responsibility for fixing or repairing it?”. 

With discussion among Stanley Sportsman’s Club members, a proposal was offered and passed to appropriate all necessary funds to completely purchase equipment needed to establish the Archery in the Schools Program for the Stanley-Boyd School District.  The cost to support this program is approximately $10,404.  Currently NASP is offering $2,600 credit towards start up archery programs which will offset the clubs initial purchase price. 

Pecha said students can sign up for the program by stopping by her classroom at school.  Parents or anyone with questions, pertinent to the program, can call her at 715-644-8163.   Practice for the program will being on December 4, 2023 and tournament action will begin on January 20, 2024.