Activities External to CAP / Cadet Active Participation

[Майор Хаткевич]

Issues typically aren't positive.

[TheSkyHornet]

That whole "I have to do everything" for my resume trips up a lot of cadets, adults, too.

It's a fine line between "well rounded" and "box checker" - recruiters see hundreds of the same resume and know how many hours there
are in a week.  At some point you unlock "jack of all trades, master of none" and get put on the "no" pile.

As someone who has been in a position to review those resumes and interview teenagers I can tell you that I look for quality over quantity.  Being "president of XYZ club, cadet commander of CAP unit with over 20 cadets" looks better to me than the laundry list of "participant or member of XYZ organization." 

This is also what I tell my cadets and their parents regularly:  Being a member of 50 clubs will not get you into a certain college or service academy.  Showing you are a leader in a hand full of activities will go much farther.  Also, don't forget to reserve some time to simply be a teenager.  You are only young once.

It seems be to worse in the Northeast with the gazillion of activities they put the kids in. I don't mean being a  leader but how do they get anything out of them without having time to practice or work on them or develop more interest in the subject.  Not just with activities but even school subjects like events in history.  Even if they don't become Titled Leader, win the Hobby Award, or become The Expert there is something to really learning about something or learning to do something and it takes time to read books, work on a craft, practice music, or be prepared enough as a participant so the leader can present or teach without having to backtrack.

We had a former unit commander who took cadets to the local library to read to the mentally handicapped and provide them lunch.

Volunteer service or not, that was a huge retention issue.

Good retention issue, or bad retention issue

Issues typically aren't positive.

That was right around the time the active participation dropped to an average of about 4 cadets per meeting on a roster of 16. Seniors cited the excuse as "summer---member participation drops" while I asked two cadets specifically for their reasoning which they both said "my parents may me go"--they are brothers.

Way too many 50+ year-old senior members who aren't in the day-to-day operation of the Cadet Program thinking they know what 15-year-olds like to do without asking them. Telling 20 people ages 13 to 17 that they have to spend a Saturday teaching kids ages 7-10 how to make foam gliders does not entice them much nor does it provide confidence in their leadership. Been there. Done it. It's horrific to watch. No wonder they would rather play football.

It's hard to treat a bunch of cadets like adults, because they aren't quite there while, while they plan their own activities and coach from the side. But that's how you teach them and retain them, in my own opinion, that is.