Activities

Started by rebowman, January 06, 2006, 02:36:29 PM

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rebowman

I am looking for ideas for activities to keep my cadets interested.

I have read the CAPR 52-16 and know about the required things that we need to do but how can I make these more interesting? 

Also, looking for activities that other squadrons do that are 'beyond the required". For example field trips, what do you do on bivouacs or FTXs, etc......

2Lt Robin Law

Pylon

Quote from: rebowman on January 06, 2006, 02:36:29 PM
I am looking for ideas for activities to keep my cadets interested.

I have read the CAPR 52-16 and know about the required things that we need to do but how can I make these more interesting? 

Also, looking for activities that other squadrons do that are 'beyond the required". For example field trips, what do you do on bivouacs or FTXs, etc......

2Lt Robin Law

Hello Robin and welcome!  :)

A good place to start for activity ideas is the CadetStuff Wiki's Activity section:  http://wiki.cadetstuff.org/index.php?title=Category:Activities

I've used some of those leadership exercises to work with my cadets and also contributed an article or two in there.  You might also want to share ideas you've done on the Wiki for the benefit of others.

As far as picking a variety of squadron activities with which to stock your quarterly schedule, there is truly an almost infinite amount of things to pick from.  The CAP Cadet Program can delve into so many areas that it's almost impossible to run out of ideas sometimes, it would seem. 

Some general areas to pick from include, but are certainly not limited to:  Model Rocketry, Aviation History, Aerospace Dynamics and Mechanics, Flying Operations, Military History, Military Familiarization, Emergency Services/SAR, Leadership, Moral Leadership/Ethics/Character Development, Debate/Forensics, Public Speaking/Communications, On-the-job (OJT) Training, Electronics & Radios, International Relations, Current Events, CAP history, CAP information (uniforms, customs/courtesies, etc), Physical Fitness, and so much more.

One way to approach this is to figure out which areas your cadets are most interested in.  Once you've narrowed your focus down to perhaps two or three areas, it will be easier to determine what activities you want to plan.

One idea is to simply list all of these areas above and any other areas you can think of on a simple sheet of paper.  Make copies for all the cadets.  Have them circle or check-off areas that really interest them.  Collect the papers and tally up the scores and rank them from those with the most votes to the least votes.  The Top 3 areas of interest should be something you can focus on immediately, and as ideas for those areas run out or get overdone, you can work your way down the list towards other areas of interest.

Once you've narrowed down your focus in activities to certain areas, then you can start getting ideas from the cadets, yourself, and outside agencies for what to do with education and activities in that area.  For example, let's say your top 3 choices are:  Leadership, Emergency Services, and Military History.

For military history, you contact the local community college or university and see if any history department professors could come and give a speech or two to the cadets at some point, perhaps during one of the seasonal academic breaks.  You could find if any significant military battles have happened in your area (likely if you're in NER), explore information on the conflicts, have a few classes, and then take a field trip to local monuments, battlefields, historic buildings, or museums to complete the lesson.  You could even end the military history stint with a "movie night" wherein you watch some carefully selected war movies (the more accurate type) and have some popcorn and soda.

For the Emergency Services interest, perhaps you can arrange the local American Red Cross or Ambulance Corps to come and give your cadets a CPR certification class, or Basic First Aid certification class.  These are always useful skills to have, both in and out of CAP, and can provide some good couple weeks of materials.  A local ambulance corps member has taught our CAP cadets CPR, First Aid, and Bloodborne Pathogen training and they loved it.  After that, you might bring in some ES officers to teach some basic ratings, like Flight Line Marshaller.  Once the cadets learn the basics, they can practice using the lighten batons to marshaller each other around the tarmac using the official hand signals.  Then, they can fulfill the requirements on their SQTRs and become rated as FLM trainees.

As you can see, I have just taken two areas here and expounded on them quickly.  Already I've got a handful of activity ideas.

The best course of action is to be planning some activities that your cadets want to help keep up interest, morale, and retention.  What cadets want varies from unit to unit, so see what your cadets want, and occassionly throw in some of your own ideas to spark their interest in other areas.

Good luck and let us know if we can help you with any more specific activity ideas!   ;)
Michael F. Kieloch, Maj, CAP