2016 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 185
BY SENATOR GATTI
A RESOLUTION
To commend Benton Middle School for earning the first-ever national championship
representing Louisiana in the 2016 National Archery in Schools Program national
tournament.
WHEREAS, the students of Benton Middle School in Benton, Louisiana, participated
in the 2016 National Archery in Schools Program national tournament in Louisville,
Kentucky, on May 12 through 14, where two hundred six middle school teams from all over
the country competed for the first time in this national event; and
WHEREAS, Benton Middle School's team was led by eighth graders Aidan Haire,
who finished tenth in the boys middle school division, and Abbie Rutledge, who finished
fifteenth in the girls middle school division; and
WHEREAS, the middle school team scored a total of thirty-four hundred four points
winning the championship by a slim margin of only eight points over Pulaski Northern
Middle School of Kentucky; and
WHEREAS, the 2015-2016 Benton Middle School archery team members are: Trip
Armer, Lauren Bayne, Lake Bradford, Emma Bunch, Logan Cook, Emily Croall, Landon
Crouch, Riley Daniels, Dalton Diel, Brady Duncan, Josh Farris, Kelton Fowler, Kendall
Fowler, Tucker Gibbs, Aden Gilcrease, Aidan Haire, Averie Halverston, Nathan Hardin,
Alisha Huffman, Haley Huffman, Conrad Johnson, Emory Kiser, Colby Leeper, Amber
Long, Kaitlyn Masters, Kaitlyn Misenheimer, Anna Robins, Abbie Rutledge, Tahlor Walker,
and Trey Winkler, all under the direction of coaches Terrie Streetman and Jessica Benoit;
and
WHEREAS, the Benton Middle School team claimed a world title at last year's world
tournament, a year before the national tournament was instituted, and the team is eligible to
take part in the National Archery in Schools Program World Tournament in Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina, on June 24 through 26, 2016; and
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WHEREAS, the archery team has been training, practicing, and participating in
meets throughout the school year with the goal of competing and winning the first-ever
national archery title; and
WHEREAS, nearly two hundred Louisiana student archers from fourteen schools
participated in the state tournament in March, and nearly thirteen thousand students from
across the nation competed for a chance to represent their states at the national tournament;
and
WHEREAS, the Benton Middle School archery team participates in Archery in
Louisiana Schools, a program of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources that offers
grants to purchase a portion of the equipment necessary for schools to participate in the
National Archery in Schools Program curriculum; and
WHEREAS, the National Archery in Schools Program is a target archery program
designed to achieve specific education and conservation purposes, it is designed to be taught
during the school day in the school gymnasium, and is highly standardized to maintain
archery's record of exceptional safety; and
WHEREAS, the National Archery in Schools Program for students in grades four
through twelve has two specific goals, first to improve student motivation, behavior,
attendance, and focus in relation to education while seeking to encourage students to spend
more time in the outdoors and to learn outdoor skills that will inspire them to spend more
time with wild things in wild places.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend Benton Middle School for earning the first-ever national
championship representing Louisiana in the 2016 National Archery in Schools Program
national tournament.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Benton Middle School principal, Dr. Kyle Machen.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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