Archery Scholarship Funds College Shooter

The 2018 Delta McKenzie ASA Classic was held Aug. 2-5 in Cullman, Ala. During the event, the Scholastic 3-D Archery Association presented the Trey Spencer Memorial Scholarships. 

Jake Martin, the Georgia S3DA (Scholastic 3-D Archery) state coordinator, is proud to announce that a large portion of this year’s scholarship was awarded to one of Georgia’s very own archers and will be used at a Georgia college.

On Saturday evening just before the professional archers began their shoot off and in front of a packed stadium, Dahja Wright, of Evans, was presented a check for $2,500 to be used at the college of her choosing.

The Trey Spencer Memorial Scholarship Committee awarded six deserving high school students from across the country with various amounts. The scholarship application was open to high-school juniors and seniors who are avid outdoorsmen and compete in both ASA (Archery Shooters Association) and S3DA tournament archery. The money for the scholarships was graciously provided by ASA. 

Dahja has been competing in tournament archery for six years. She got her start in Columbia County’s 4-H archery program and soon progressed through the Junior Olympic Archery Development ranks. Two years ago, Dahja was introduced to 3-D archery through Scholastic 3D Archery and a local club, Team On-Point S3DA, of Appling. Her enjoyment of 3-D archery makes her an anomaly for most Olympic recurve archers, whom tend to stick to different types of targets. This did not detour Dahja, who soon discovered she had a real knack for shooting at the foam animals. Over the last two years, Dahja racked up five state championships, multiple national podium finishes and was a member of Team On-Point S3DA high school team that finished 3D nationals in second place. 

Dahja was not finished collecting checks during the Delta McKenzie ASA Classic. She went on to win her final ASA national shoot as a high schooler. 

Dahja is a recent graduate of Grovetown High School, and after turning down multiple scholarship offers to attend college elsewhere, she decide to stay in Georgia and reported to Georgia Southern University last month, where she will continue her archery career at the collegiate level. 

The Trey Spencer Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 2016. The mission of the scholarship is to provide financial assistance to deserving individuals enrolling for undergraduate studies in community college, colleges or universities. Trey was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting and fishing, as well as shooting 3-D archery. Trey worked alongside his dad to see that the Scholastic 3-D Archery program finally came to his local school even though he had already moved on to college. Trey loved being able to travel with his dad and was proud to be part of the ASA family. Unfortunately, Trey died tragically in August of 2015 due to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident while traveling home from college just one week after returning home from the Classic.

Started in December 2012 by the Scholastic Archery Association, S3DA has grown exponentially as a next-step program to follow introductory programs offered as part of 4-H or the National Archery in Schools Program. S3DA addresses the need for a program to bridge beginning target archery experience and more advanced activities such as 3-D shooting and bowhunting. The program currently operates across the United States with hundreds of certified coaches serving thousands of young archers, grades 3–12.

Georgia currently has 12 S3DA clubs and more than 250 active archers.

For more information on S3DA, please visit their website at www.s3da.org.