Gander Mountain Store in South Charleston to Host Archery in the Schools Program Training April 20 and 21; Sign-up Deadline April 9

            SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Section (DNR) will hold its next Archery in the Schools (AIS) Program instructor training April 20-21 at the Gander Mountain Store in South Charleston, according to Jerry Westfall, DNR’s AIS Program Coordinator. 

            “Gander Mountain is happy to host another AIS Program training,” said Greg Walls, store manager for Gander Mountain.  “The DNR informed us of how successful their January AIS training was at our store and of the interest they received in another local training in the Kanawha Valley, so we extended an invitation to use Gander Mountain Store for the next AIS training as well.  We’ve seen the success and growth of the DNR’s AIS Program with the number of kids coming into our archery department.  We are happy to be assisting schools in the Kanawha Valley, and elsewhere by hosting this training.”

            The AIS Program is the DNR’s largest and fastest growing educational program. Since its inception in 2004, approximately 40,000 students have been introduced to archery as part of their physical education (PE) classes in 219 West Virginia schools. The program teaches Olympic-style target archery in both public and private schools’ Grade 4-12 PE classes. “But in order for schools to have the AIS Program, they must first have a certified instructor – preferably a PE instructor or coach who will introduce as many kids as possible to the joys of target archery,” said Westfall.  “The DNR has about four trainings a year; and, because class size is limited to 25, training slots are highly sought after. To ensure a training slot, we encourage PE teachers and coaches to apply as soon as possible, even before the April 9 deadline.”  As an added incentive, teachers taking this training may be eligible to receive Continuing Education Hours (CEH’s).

            This training will cost $25 for all school employees and $50 for non-school employees.  This fee will be paid to “WV DNR – Archery in the Schools Program” (via check, money order, or exact currency only) during the first morning of the training.