[Cynette]

Start recruiting new students, NOW! Spring is a great time to recruit for the fall!

We were impacted this year by a large number of Seniors graduating on 2007. The team "recruited like crazy" and around 40 new students started this fall. By the time build season rolled around we still had 18 new students, all of them engaged and essential to our team.

Some of our recuriting lessons learned:

Try to get twice as many new students as you need. Once school gets rolling in the fall, many end up choosing alternate activities, especially when you clearly communicate the time requirements during build season.

Don't forget to recruit from friends of current team members.

Recruit from other special interest groups - don't overlook the need for artists, presenters, business types, etc.

Do specific activities to acclimate / assimilate new team members to make sure they feel that they belong and to make sure they know what will happen during build.

Don't forget to get their parents on the loop too!