For the past seven years, thousands of students across the country have been keeping their eyes on the target, through the archery in the schools program.

Four years ago, the program made its way to the Capital City.

Since then, one school has made it their goal to make their mark into the final history books of the school.

Straight as an arrow shots have Dawes Middle School students aiming their way into the history books.

"It's really fun, and to learn archery, and hang out with friends, and I think it's a great experience," said Mackenzie Hyde, 7th grade student.

"You get to hang around with your friends, and yet, you have to focus," said Gina Kassebaum, 7th grade student.

Forget basketball, football, volleyball and track, these students have more important targets to focus on, like state championship gold medals in archery.

Nearly two dozen Dawes Middle School students compete each year, shooting their way to state.

"A lot of these kids are not involved in any other sports," said Head Coach Gary Waters. "We have some that are A+ students. We have some that are average students. We've had some in the past that have been perfect behavior. We've had some that haven't had perfect behavior. Yet, when they get together for this archery program, they learn the discipline. They learn what they need to do to become successful at it."

Success is right on target when it comes to this team.

For the past five years, Dawes has participated in the National Archery in the Schools Program.

For the past four years, they have competed at the state level, winning the gold medal each and every time.

"We've all worked really hard, and I think it's something to be proud about," said Hyde.

Although the sport may look easy, students warn, "It's a lot of mental. You have to find your spot. You have to get it every time, and it's more consistency. When you get that down, you still have to keep up with it. You can't move the bow a little bit, otherwise it will mess the spot up," said Hyde.

"You have to concentrate. If you don't concentrate, it just doesn't work out very well, and you get blacks, and blacks aren't very good," said Annie Keeshan, 7th grade student.

Once you have figured out the basics, it's time to set the range, and head to the line.

"Remember to pull back perfect, and to put my finger at the same place every single time, and aim at the same place," said Keeshan.

The end result isn't just a sport for these students.

"It helps me concentrate in school. If I can get the arrow on the target and in the middle, then I can work on my schoolwork harder," said Keeshan.

"It helps them entirely in their whole school career. It straightens them out, and gives them something to look forward to every day, and stuff to apply themselves to, and they're good at it," said Coach Waters.

In just four years, many students have already made their way through the program, helping leave behind their own piece of history for years to come.

Years archery clubs like this will no longer walk the halls of Dawes.

But the closing of the school, isn't stopping students' determination.

"We've won the first one, and we've the last three since then, and I don't think that's a record that will ever be broken," said Coach Waters.

"We have more reason to actually want to win, since it's our last year," said Keeshan.

"It's a wonderful experience, because if you win a trophy, you just feel so happy," said Kassebaum.

"They may be shutting our school down, but we want to go out with a bang," said Coach Waters.

A bang, and hopefully a bullseye in the history books.

The team participated in Nationals in Kentucky on May 9.

Nearly two dozen Dawes students took their aim at trophies, out of more than 1,400 student archers.

The team had 11 students individually place within the top 500.

One student placed within the top 75.

Overall, the team placed within the top 50.

For more information on the archery in the schools program, or to see the complete list of results, click the link below.