Recruiting in Middle Schools

[Kudu 186]

 

kahits writes:

 

The best connection is the middle school that just happens to be across the street from the church that the troop has their meetings. No other pack is even close to this area of town, and those that are nearby, are so high profile, they don't even have to recruit. All 3 of the feeder packs has their kids going there, so it's really their domain to recruit scouts from.

 

I wouldnt worry about stepping on the other Troops toes by recruiting Boy Scouts from the middle school domain in which their Scouts are students.

 

The best audience is sixth-grade students as early in the school year as possible. In the middle school in which we recruit, the principal likes us to wait until things settle down a bit, which usually translates into late September.

 

By then the Webelos Scouts who crossed over in the previous spring will be firmly established in their new Troops, or will have failed to return in September (around here about 100% of the Webelos who do not attend summer camp do not remain Scouts).

 

The more you push the dangers of Scouting (the 3-Bs: anything that breaks, burns or bites), the more boys will want to join. Usually about half of my audiences sign up as interested in joining. Of these 40 boys, 8 to 20 may actually register.

 

I interview each of them for their Scout rank Scoutmaster Conference and ask them why they joined and if they were Cub Scouts. I find that about half of them never were Cub Scouts, and the other half dropped out of Cubs years ago because they thought it was boring.

 

If you wait too long in the school year and try to recruit after the sixth graders receive their first report card, very few, if any, of their parents will allow them to join Scouts or any other activity that distracts from their studies. If you cant recruit before the first week of October, consider waiting until the following May and pitch it as a summer program that does not interfere with school.

 

If you normally do not meet in the summer, you will have to rethink this policy. If you recruit in May, most of these Scouts either will not be able to afford summer camp at such short notice, or will already be enrolled in a non-Scout summer camp or other summer program.

 

Unlike Webelos crossovers who normally do not remain in Scouting if they do not attend summer camp the first year, my experience with public school kids is that they will all continue as long as you provide a Scouting program for them that first summer. They are also a year older than Webelos, which can be a plus.

 

For those who missed it, my school assembly recruitment dog and pony show can be found at:

 

http://www.inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

 

Kudu

[gwd-scouter 11]

Kudu, I had read your instructions for Middle School recruitment a few weeks ago and used some of your ideas earlier this week.

 

A few of us gave a short presentation to 2 fifth grade classes and definately emphasized the "danger" of wild animals, the thrill of fire building, shotgun shooting, camping and cooking in the wilderness. The guys asked so many questions at the end, we had to cut them off or we'd have been there all afternoon.

 

Each class (this was a local private school) had only about 8-10 boys each but we had 2 show up that night to our regular meeting. Have gotten a few phone calls from other parents asking if they can come next week.

 

Can't wait to schedule a recruiting drive again in the early fall when we'll target the beginning 6th graders.

 

 

 

 

[ScoutNut 147]

Sorry, but I don't think recruiting 5th graders into a Boy Scout Troop in early February is a good idea. You will loose them for sure.

 

A better scenario would have been to do your boy talks this week with the CURRENT 6th graders. They are eligible to join a Boy Scout Troop immediately.

 

Perhaps it was a typo, & sixth grade was what you meant to type?

 

 

 

 

[gwd-scouter 11]

Why not a good idea to recruit 5th graders in February. Both boys that showed up this past Tuesday were already 11 years olds. We do plan to do a 6th grade recruitment as well, but couldn't do it the same day.

 

We are planning to hold the 6th grade recruiting at beginning of school year this fall.

 

Our Troop is about to lose 4 Scouts turning 18 in next couple of months. It has always been a small Troop (only 12-16 boys at any time) and losing four all at once is a big hit. We don't have a very strong feeder pack, nor a middle school available for a round up (all 3 in our area are being targeted by other Troops).

 

So, we have to do whatever we can to get the word out about our Troop and ask boys to join.

 

Scoutnut, I'm very curious about why you think we will lose the boys that just joined.

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Why give up on schools that are targeted by other troops. Soem might like yours better than the other

[gwd-scouter 11]

OGE: We tried to recruit at one of the middle schools last Fall. Another Troop had traditionally recruited there and since they also recruited from another middle school, they were asked if they would step back and let us recruit alone.

 

Biggest reason they were asked to let us have one of their middle schools was that they are a very large Troop and ours has always struggled to have more than a dozen boys (as I said earlier, the Pack we could draw from is reorganized every year and the private school is small).

 

Anyway, the other Troop refused to step aside. The recruitment was confusing with 2 troops there at the same time and I really didn't like the competitiveness of the other Troop.

 

Will try again this fall to see if they will let us go it alone, but am not holding out much hope on that.

[Kudu 186]

A few of us gave a short presentation to 2 fifth grade classes and definitely emphasized the "danger" of wild animals, the thrill of fire building, shotgun shooting, camping and cooking in the wilderness. The guys asked so many questions at the end, we had to cut them off or we'd have been there all afternoon.

 

gwd-scouter,

 

That explosive burst of interest at the end the presentation has always been my experience as well. The belief so common among BSA Scouters and professionals that 21st century kids are somehow different than previous generations is simply false. You are not competing against TV and video games, you are selling real adventure.

 

Each class (this was a local private school) had only about 8-10 boys each but we had 2 show up that night to our regular meeting. Have gotten a few phone calls from other parents asking if they can come next week.

 

From your description it sounds like you relied on sending home flyers with the Scouts. I would suggest that in addition to this, you circulate clipboards with a sign-up sheet that reads "YES! I WANT TO GO CAMPING!" When a presentation goes well, you should be able to get at least half of your audience to sign up.

 

If you are on good terms with the teachers and administrators in this school, perhaps it is not too late to ask the teachers to circulate this sign up sheet among the students who saw your presentation.

 

To convert this initial enthusiasm into actually closing the sale, you really must talk directly to their parents. I always ask if the flyer made it home, and very rarely is that the case. According to William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt, this is the unchanging nature of boys and even in the depths of the Great Depression, he recommended spending money on postage rather than depending on Scouts to bring informational fliers home from the Scout meetings :-/

 

On the sign-up sheet I include columns for their name, phone number, parent/guardian names, and one "interests column" that indicates what part of camping they think they will enjoy most. I also leave wide margins for my own notes about busy signals, answering machines, requests to call back, and notes from my conversations with the parents for future reference.

 

I always start the conversation with the parents with something like "Brandon indicated that he was interested in joining Scouts, and I wondered if you had any questions." After any initial questions, I always mention whatever their son wrote in the "interests column," like "Brandon says that he is really looking forward to hiking, our next hike will be in two weeks!" A New Scouts Patrol has two (2) votes in the PLC (their Patrol Leader and Troop Guide), and knowing the Scouts' initial interests and their parents' reactions can help you to make sure that the PL and TG properly represent their interests in PLC meetings.

 

Finally, calling parents from the "YES! I WANT TO GO CAMPING!" sign-up sheet can provide valuable feedback from the parents of Scouts who won't allow their son to join Scouts. For instance, when I recruit at this time of year, I find that most parents believe that their son is already over-extended and are cutting back on non-academic activities. So I wait until May and sell a summer adventure program.

 

We are planning to hold the 6th grade recruiting at beginning of school year this fall.

 

Why not recruit the boys who are in 6th grade this year?

 

Another Troop had traditionally recruited there and since they also recruited from another middle school, they were asked if they would step back and let us recruit alone.

 

How exactly do they recruit? Do they come in and give a presentation, or do they hand out flyers?

 

More details about our recruiting presentation can be found at The Inquiry Net:

 

http://www.inquiry.net/adult/recruiting.htm

 

Kudu

 

 

[ScoutNut 147]

gwd - As long as the boys who respond are 11 years old you don't have a problem.

 

I was concerned with the boys who were not yet 11, were all excited about joining this great program, then were told that the most they could do was attend 1 or 2 Troop meetings as a spectator until they either turned 11, or worst case, finished 5th grade. If it was me, & I was that eager, excited boy, who was then told that I had to wait for up to 4 months to be actually eligible to join, I would write Scouting off completely & you would never see me again.

 

As I said, I would target current 6th graders first & current 5th graders at the end of the school year (if you run a summer program).

 

It's great you got 2 boys to register. Hopefully you will get more.

 

I also, can't say I fault the other Troop for not stepping aside. Every Troop is unique. A large Troop has some advantages over a small Troop & vise versa. Every Troop is run differently, does different things & has a different "feel" to it. What attracts one boy & his family, will not necessarily attract another. If you are doing your recruiting together, the boys should be encouraged to visit BOTH Troops, just as Webelos Dens are.

 

There are many ways to recruit boys. Don't worry about other Troops traditional "territory". Talk to the principles of your area schools to see if you can do a talk in each classroom. Send out flyers inviting boys to a meeting. Put a notice in your local paper. Put up flyers on church & store bulletin boards. Put posters in the windows of area businesses. Put flyers in doors (NOT in mailboxes!) of area homes. Find out if the local High Schools have "club" days or such and put up a table (explain how the boys can have fun, learn things AND add great stuff to college applications too!)

 

[gwd-scouter 11]

Kudu,

 

We forget to bring the clipboard and get sign ups so that I could follow up with parents. We did print flyers with several action photos of our Scouts and all my contact info, but of course (if my son is any indication) most of those flyers probably didn't make it home.

 

One of our leaders is a teacher at the school and I will ask if she'd take a clipboard one day next week and ask the boys interested to sign up. Then, I will call the parents.

 

Great idea, wish I'd remembered it at the time.

 

The recruiting done at our middle schools by that large Troop I mentioned is not really a presentation, but rather they set up a display during open house night and have many of their Scouts roaming the halls handing out flyers and directing interested boys/parents to their sign up table.

 

Not a bad way to do it, but it became a competition last year when our Troop was there at the same time. Their Scouts at times pushed in front or almost ran over ours on the way to reach prospective boys.

 

I just don't want to do it that way again.

[gwd-scouter 11]

ScoutNut - yes, I too was concerned that we'd get a bunch of 10 year olds, but it seems (at least in these 2 small classes) all boys are 11 already or close to it. Also, the couple that are not yet ready are Webs II in the Pack and had not yet visited our Troop. Their Den leader was pushing them towards another Troop, so hopefully they will now give us a look and consider their options.

 

I will bring up your other excellent recruiting ideas to our Troop Committee and see if we can't implement some of those as well.

 

 

[Kudu 186]

gwd-scouter,

 

In the meantime, why not try to recruit the current sixth-graders at the private school?

 

At one time 12 was the minimum age for Scouting, and the extra year of maturity will make your efforts worthwhile.

 

Kudu