Virginia County Adopts Explore Bowhunting for All Schools

The school board for Mecklenburg County in south-central Virginia has adopted the ATA's Explore Bowhunting curriculum as part of its outdoors skill program for all middle- and high-school students.

The Board approved the proposal after hearing from Karen Holson, outdoor education supervisor and state NASP coordinator for Virginia's Department of Game & Inland Fisheries. Holson recently conducted an Explore Bowhunting workshop in the county, and caught the attention of a School Board member, who then pitched it to the entire Board.

"It fits perfectly with the county's efforts to infuse an outdoor skills program into their curriculum throughout the school year," Holson said. "This is their third year in NASP, so their kids were ready for more hands-on outdoor skills and learning. This is a rural county, and they really want to unplug kids from computers. They want to make students more aware of their surroundings, whether it's through archery, kayaking, rock-climbing or whatever gets them outside."

Holson said one factor that made Explore Bowhunting so attractive to the School Board is its diverse, thorough curriculum. "It provides enough materials to offer it as a full-semester program," she said. "What would be really cool is if they can generate enough help from area bowhunters to take every student bowhunting at the end of the program. Explore Bowhunting is a great complementary program to NASP. It helps show students what else is out there after they've covered the basics in NASP."