On Target
From Alumni Bulletin - February 25, 2014
What would Kenyon be without student clubs? They’ve been part of the campus scene since the College’s earliest days—the literary society Philomathesian dates from 1827, Nu Pi Kappa from 1832. Students have always thrown their energies into music, theater, writing and editing, debate, politics, religion, social activism, volunteer work, and sports (Kenyon’s athletic teams actually started as clubs). The unwritten rule: make your own magic.
Here’s a glimpse of Kenyon’s archery club, which meets twice a week to teach and practice archery using traditional recurve bows.
Membership: 12 to 15
Activities: Learning to shoot on traditional “recurve” bows. The group hopes to enter competitions in the future. For now, it focuses mainly on “providing a fun way to relieve stress.”
Skill building: In a “Sherwood competition,” members shoot at a target from ten paces away, then back up ten paces and shoot again, and back up another ten, and so on, as the least accurate archer in every round drops out. The last remaining archer wins.
Annoying challenge: Finding lost arrows. The group practices in an area where the grass is tall enough that arrows can easily vanish. They bought a metal detector to help, “but we are still having some issues.”
Fans: The practice field neighbors the Gambier Child Care Center, and the children like to watch the archers and shout encouragement—from a safe distance.
