Once a week during the school year, local middle and high school students assemble at the Tippecanoe Township Building, 102 S. Morton St., North Webster.

Some of them attend class, study a 44-page handbook and take quizzes.

Others, having passed the obligatory final exam, take their positions in the large meeting room and practice target shooting under the watchful eyes of NRA-certified coaches.

The students practice shooting from three positions — prone, kneeling and standing — firing 30 to 50 rounds a night at paper targets 33 feet away.

The Junior Sharpshooters meet from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays as a training program sponsored by North Webster American Legion Post 253 and have always emphasized safety as its signal imperative.

“We are very adamant about safety,” said Jon Custer, retired from 36 years as a reserve deputy with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department. He and four other coaches volunteer to run the program.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy on safety,” he said. “If the coaches think you are being unsafe you may be asked to leave the program.”

The students study “extensive book work before they shoot,” said Custer. “They can’t handle a rifle until they pass the exam.”

Other ironclad safeguards are built into the program.

Students use a “clear barrel indicator,” a length of plastic Weed eater line fed through the rifle barrel whenever the gun is not in use. The length of bright green line protruding from the barrel means the firearm is not loaded.

Everyone in the room is required to stand behind the firing line and all shooters must disable their guns before any of them can retrieve their downrange targets.

“Also stressed is if anybody in the room sees anything or thinks anything is unsafe, all they have to do is yell, ‘Cease fire,’ and the rifles go down and the kids step away,” said Custer.

The pellet rifles were donated by American Legion Post 49 in Warsaw. The North Webster post buys the ammunition, books and other materials, so there is no cost to the students.

A new class will begin Wednesday, Feb. 8. Class work takes about two months. “We need kids who will be committed,” said Custer, “because we are donating our time to get this done and keep this program going.”

Any youngster aged 10 through 18 may participate; no special skills are required.

“They don’t have to be football or basketball players,” said Mac Campbell, one of the coaches. “It is an opportunity to still compete in something if they can’t compete in those other sports.”

“We will accommodate the best we can” any participants with physical disabilities, said Custer.

“It’s another avenue for youth to be involved in a team atmosphere not associated with the school,” he said. “Parents don’t have to belong to the Legion.”

Current participants wholeheartedly endorse the program.

Joey Sunday, 14, said, “We get out and meet people. It is a good experience to learn a lot, and it is fun.”

“It helps me concentrate and I can carry that into other areas,” said Susan Lauber, 12. “You can do a lot of awesome stuff.”

Her 15-year-old brother, Myles, commented, “This is a great place to hang out rather than in my bedroom playing video games.”

For more information, call Custer at (574) 527-1579 or visit www.legion.org/shooting.