“Two Organizations. One Mission.”

By Brittany Jones

January 31, 2020

The National Archery in the School’s Program is the largest archery organization in the world. What began in 2002 in twenty-two Kentucky schools, eventually now encompasses forty-seven states nine Canadian provinces, and eleven countries world-wide. No one person, pair of persons, or handful of well-intentioned individuals hatched and implemented the non-profit NASP®.  Without participation and feedback of dedicated archers, their families, coaches and supporting organizations, NASP® would not have achieved its huge, popular scale. Safari Club International and Safari Club International Foundation (SCI/SCIF) were among the first to support NASP®, right from day one.

SCI/SCIF has been a Partner-level sponsor with NASP® since its pilot launch, nineteen years ago.  SCI also provides direct financial support in the amount of $72,000 plus/year by its corporate office and local chapters, to start new NASP® schools and to aid in replacing consumable equipment, such as arrows and targets, for existing schools. In addition to this funding, SCIF afforded NASP® a rare opportunity to train its staff at its legendary “American Wilderness Leadership School” (AWLS), near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Each summer, these NASP®-certified staff train nearly 150 teachers from around North America to present archery lessons to their students.  Once back home, these trained educators contact their local NASP® Coordinator, to add their school to NASP®’s rolls. AWLS was established in 1977. Since then, more than 6,886 educators and 1,527 youth have experienced and been trained in a variety of outdoor skills and outback survival techniques.

SCI’s mission is to promote wildlife conservation and to protect the freedom of sustainable hunting, worldwide. One of SCI/SCIF’s most important mission- achievement tools is education. SCI/SCIF believes strongly in supporting NASP® as a part of the recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) movement which underpins 100+ year-old, North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. SCI’s mission dovetails nicely with NASP®’s objective of helping students achieve academic and social success, while learning a skill that will most often be pursued in the great outdoors.

Roy Grimes, NASP® President, offered the following, “SCI was one of the early organizations that recognized the potential of NASP® to develop better students and secure the future of wildlife conservation, even before its archery lessons were presented to the first, of what has become nearly twenty million NASP® students, since 2002.  Our students are blessed, and we are thankful.”