recruiting at middle school - lessons learned

[brasda91]

This past Tuesday, the chaplain and myself went to one of our local middle schools.  We both wore blues.  We set up in the cafeteria during lunch with a display, pamphlets, fact sheet, volunteer magazines, the whole shooting match.  We got hammered!!  We only talked to the 6th and 7th grades.  I was totally unprepared for the response we got.  We gave away every stitch of material we had!!  We didn't have anything left to talk to the 8th grade with.  I will have to schedule a time to back and talk with the 8th grade.  Our meetings are on Tuesday nights and although we had a good response, a lot of the kids had a basketball game.  We didn't have any of the kids attend the meeting that night.

Lessons learned:
1. Recruit on a day or two before your meeting night.  This gives the students more time to talk with their parents about attending the meeting and gives them time to make arrangements.
2. Have more recruiting material than you think you will need.  And then take more!!!
3.  If you put labels on the handouts in the Unit Information block, put the meeting day, time and address on it.  I had labels with my name and phone number or my senior cadet's name and phone number on all the material.  The thought was that if they have any questions, they could call either one of us.  I think having the meeting location and time is better info.
4. I'm kicking around the idea of having the chaplain in blues and myself in Bdu's along with my 24hr equipment.  The students see two different uniforms and some of the equipment we use on the gt.  I do have issues with this idea.  I am torn about Bdu's in recruiting events.  I feel that you should be in blues anytime you are recruiting.  But there may be the students that are attracted to the organization because of bdu's.  What are your thoughts on this?

If you have any lessons learned from recruiting in middle schools, please share them with us.  I have 3 more middle schools in town to talk to and I would appreciate any suggestions or tips. 

I'm doing a big push on psa's on the radio and TV, so hopefully all of this combined will increase our membership.

[stillamarine]

You have some great points there. We put our meeting info on our labels, hope that helped out. Also when we did the Airshow last week, we had half of our Cadets in Blues and half in BDUs.

[RiverAux]

I did the lunch-time gig at a high school once and I think only one person came up to me -- and I think she was a JROTC cadet who felt sorry for me. 

Have done presentations in various middle schools and always got a lot of interest, but no actual results from it.

Did a booth at a middle school science fair and ended up with getting 2 cadets and a parent who stuck with the program a long time. 

[Dad2-4]

I'm starting a squadron in my middle school and having about 16-17 cadets each after-school meeting. A couple even come after finishing mandatory band practices. I believe, however, that the nearest local squadron would get the same responce you've had if they tried to recruit here. Convenience is key for a lot of kids, especially for lower income families.

[PHall]

The only question I have is why are senior members doing the recruiting?
Get your cadets in there! You usally get a better response if you have cadets doing the recruiting.
Yes, you still need at least one Senior Member there for supervision purposes, but your cadets should be the ones doing the actual recruiting.

[star1151]

The only question I have is why are senior members doing the recruiting?

My only thought, and this is completely serious and not a slam on the cadet program at all, is that the cadets don't want to be made fun of by their classmates. 

Granted, junior high girls are a whole lot meaner than junior high boys, but I can only imagine the harassment and attacks I would have endured had I been a CAP cadet and <gasp> shown up at school and recruited for them.

[baronet68]

The only question I have is why are senior members doing the recruiting?

My only thought, and this is completely serious and not a slam on the cadet program at all, is that the cadets don't want to be made fun of by their classmates. 

Granted, junior high girls are a whole lot meaner than junior high boys, but I can only imagine the harassment and attacks I would have endured had I been a CAP cadet and <gasp> shown up at school and recruited for them.

Use High School cadets... Pre-teens tend to look up to then and you eliminate the classmate harassment problems.

I've found that we get a 0.5% return on recruiting contacts.  We'll contact 3,000 students in a week's time and net about 15 visitors at our open house.  About half of those visitors will actually join.

[brasda91]

The only question I have is why are senior members doing the recruiting?
Get your cadets in there! You usally get a better response if you have cadets doing the recruiting.
Yes, you still need at least one Senior Member there for supervision purposes, but your cadets should be the ones doing the actual recruiting.

Mainly because the cadets are in school, none of which attend the middle school we went to, yet.

[brasda91]

Use High School cadets... Pre-teens tend to look up to then and you eliminate the classmate harassment problems.

I only have two cadets in high school, both at different schools.

How do your cadets justify their absence from school to their principal?  Do the principals not have any problem with them missing school, if it's only for an hour or so?  Just curious, so I know how to procede with my cadets.

[baronet68]

How do your cadets justify their absence from school to their principal?  Do the principals not have any problem with them missing school, if it's only for an hour or so?  Just curious, so I know how to procede with my cadets.

Parent writes a note to the school to excuse the cadet's absence for part of the day to participate in a CAP activity.  Next day, the cadet makes up any missed work just like they would for any other absence.

[JCW0312]

How do your cadets justify their absence from school to their principal?  Do the principals not have any problem with them missing school, if it's only for an hour or so?  Just curious, so I know how to procede with my cadets.

Parent writes a note to the school to excuse the cadet's absence for part of the day to participate in a CAP activity.  Next day, the cadet makes up any missed work just like they would for any other absence.

I think it'll depend on the school system. That wouldn't be a justifiable excuse in some schools. When I was a JROTC cadet years ago, I had a hard time getting to make up my work after doing JROTC functions (and JROTC is IN the school).

[star1151]

Parent writes a note to the school to excuse the cadet's absence for part of the day to participate in a CAP activity.  Next day, the cadet makes up any missed work just like they would for any other absence.

I think it'll depend on the school system. That wouldn't be a justifiable excuse in some schools. When I was a JROTC cadet years ago, I had a hard time getting to make up my work after doing JROTC functions (and JROTC is IN the school).

That was my thought.  I wasn't in high school all that long ago, and it was hard for my parents to get me out for doctor's appointments.  I can't imagine a school letting someone out for a CAP recruiting function, especially a high schooler that might be driving himself to and from school. 

Tags - MIKE

[SAR-EMT1]

In Illinois ( or at least this part of the state) CAP booths or recruiting drives at any school are forbidden by the state. Same goes for AE activities or assemblies - the thinking is that if they let us in they must let in the KKK and other undesirables. ... however the armed forces get all the time and room they want, else funding get cut. 

[floridacyclist]

Wonder if the AF recruiter can invite you in to assist with his/her booth? That would seem appropriate since we are the AF aux (at least some of the time)

[BillB]

In Florida, the County School Boards control what organizations or Groups can have recruiting tables or school assemblies. Many counties don't allow any groups because they would have to allow ALL groups. WIWAC I held a school assembly in St. Petersburg (FL), at thge next meeting we had 250 prospective cadets show up, 140 ( I think was the figure) actually joined. How many clasps did that put on a cadet recruiter ribbon? In my recent experience, most schools do not allow school assemblies since they are limited in the available time due to class hour requirements per semester.

[RiverAux]

I got a middle school assembly once for about about 5 classes.  Seemed to be a lot of interest but no actual recruits.  I think my problem was that I was doing a lot of this work at schools attended primarily by lower income students and lets face it, it does take some money and time (on the part of the parents as well) for a kid to be in CAP and that just isn't an option for everybody. 

[JohnKachenmeister]

That's one of the unfortunate facts of life about CAP, River.

I commanded an inner-city unit and was lucky because I was able to get truckloads of BDU's from DRMO.  The officers had a beer-and-pizza party to size and fold all the uniforms, which was an all-day job.  It took a lot of personal committment on the part of the officers (who were mostly cops) to make the unit work.

But out of that unit we got two service-academy appointments (USMA and AF).  I don't think either would have been competitive without the guidance and encouragement we gave them... and gave their parents.

[NEBoom]

In Florida, the County School Boards control what organizations or Groups can have recruiting tables or school assemblies. Many counties don't allow any groups because they would have to allow ALL groups.  <snip>

We got around this hassle by holding an Open House/Membership Night at our meeting place.  Instead of trying to get in to all the middle/jr. high schools and hold multiple presentations, we held one central presentation.  We used the schools to help us promote the event (info packet built and sent to all the middle/jr. high schools in our area, total cost was around $50), plus we also publicized it through the paper, radio, TV etc.  I though it worked well and was easier than trying to get in to each school.

Here's where we stole got the idea:  http://www.cadetstuff.org/archives/000113.html#000113

[PhoenixRisen]

Wonder if the AF recruiter can invite you in to assist with his/her booth? That would seem appropriate since we are the AF aux (at least some of the time)

That's what my sqadron does every year at the Miramar Airshow.  This time, it was better, as the AF guys were right in the middle of it all, instead of (like the previous year) being stuck in the middle of a hanger, which housed the consumer fair.

[L Cid]

In Florida, the County School Boards control what organizations or Groups can have recruiting tables or school assemblies. Many counties don't allow any groups because they would have to allow ALL groups. WIWAC I held a school assembly in St. Petersburg (FL), at thge next meeting we had 250 prospective cadets show up, 140 ( I think was the figure) actually joined. How many clasps did that put on a cadet recruiter ribbon? In my recent experience, most schools do not allow school assemblies since they are limited in the available time due to class hour requirements per semester.

What does WIWAC mean?