Recruitment & our personal responsibility
Great conversations at both the pre- and post-revel, and during the day at Clothiers, especially the class Vincent de Vere taught on the connection between garb & recruitment helped crystalize a few things in my head. Since it's my blog, I'll share them with you.
“Back in the day,” which for me was 25 years ago,
when I joined the SCA, it was mostly college-age to mid 30's. I remember thinking that Volkmar & Isadora were old, grown-up, and so experienced, while in reality, they were less than a dozen years older than me.
Now, we have grown up. A Under 30/Over 30 battle will generally find the Under 30 side with fewer fighters. As many of the active SCA members grow up, & raise kids, it becomes harder to recruit the younger college-age kids. The college group in Lincoln is much smaller than it was and the same can be said for some other areas as well. Certain places like Bellewode are an exception - there most of the members are in college - but travel difficulties & dispersion when they graduate inhibits the activity of those folks at times.
But even though we have aged, developed interests that aren't based purely on dating, have jobs, kids, & responsibilities, we often-times think only about how we got hooked on the SCA when the topic of recruiting comes up. Vincent pointed out that demos are NOT recruiting - they are just the opportunity for people to stop & look, at which point we who are working the demo can try to make the personal connection to that person, and get them to engage and give us a real try. Viktor von Wedel suggested we needed to have fighters & non-fighters in a range of age demographics - since the likelihood of a 19yo college student connecting on a personal level is greater with another 18-24yo, rather than someone like me, a 40+ mom.
Problem is, sometime we just don't have the volunteers in the college demographic. I told Adelaide she was awesome, and she needed to get right on finding more like her. While I was somewhat joking, it is partially truth. We should entrust a lot more responsibility for recruiting the college-age demographic on the SCA members we have that are that age, WHO are also fully invested in SCA culture and activities - our 2nd Generation members. My older 2 kids, Patrick Davenport & Bechte von Holtzburg have told me about times when a 22yo SCA member with 2.5 yrs of SCA participation tried to “explain” the SCA to 2nd Gen youth, or have not listened to the ideas & wisdom those youth with 15 to 20 years of experience have to share. Other valuable 2nd Gen members I personally know are Kate, Miranda, Rowan, and there are more.
Now, we do know that just because a kid was drug to SCA events, where they spent the whole day playing video games, doesn't really earn them the title of “2nd Gen.” We all know kids that disappear once they go to college, because they never fully enjoyed the SCA as youth. We need to be connecting with the pre-teens & younger teenagers, and try to figure out how to help them invest fully in the SCA - then when they go off to college - they will be our best recruiters.
So, now that I've passed off responsibility for college-age recruiting to my kids and others who are younger than me - where does my task lie?
One topic that the SCA census brought forward is that there are a lot of “FORMER” members. These are people who were interested enough at one time to participate - but don't really now. I suggest that even some of the people, like myself, who participate on the kingdom level, but don't interact much locally, are halfway into that group. The vibrancy of the local group is what helps develop new members once we find them, and we need to figure out how to both find members, and make the local more attractive to new, former, and less active members.
Again, what is my task? I can best show how SCA blends with my current responsibilities by talking with & recruiting others like me. When I'm not playing SCA, I'm very involved in Scouting - both Girl & Boy - as a part of helping my kids develop skills, confidence, & experience. And I've even skipped SCA activities because a scouting commitment took precedence. (That's why I wasn't at Lilies last year, and why I'm not going to Kingdom A&S.) We all know other SCA members, who have seriously cut back their activity level, because they are trying to be active in the lives of their kids - whose activities may be scouting, sports, or music. How can we reach out to those former or less active participants, and bring them back into the group, so they enjoy the SCA, and their families? Local to me in Mag Mor, I know that Master Mikhail, & Mistress Vasilla have invested significant time in their son & scouting, as has Mistress Kyrsten. Sir Jean Michel's daughters are in Girl Scouts. I personally can't participate much locally, because I have to choose - SCA or scouts, which benefit not only my children, but 5 to 30 other kids as well.
It is actually quite common for SCA members to also have scout involvement - both include camping, outdoor cooking, physical activity, and fellowship with a group. Many areas already do demos for Cub Scouting Blue & Gold banquets - so the 1st to 5th grade boys & their parents can see and enjoy the stuff we do. However, I don't personally know of anyone we have recruited through that first contact, although there may be some.
One possible solution, which is targeted toward those with scouting families, and could possibly recruit new families, is having some youth activities that also can work for scouting badge work or advancement. It would be a way help connect the youth with others who share age, scouting, & SCA, and possibly help deepen the SCA investment of the half-hearted kid. It would be a way for the parent to get both SCA activity and scout participation, and not feel that they have to sideline their kid to do SCA. And in areas where we have at least a few SCA invested youth, we could also open up the activity to non-SCA kids - in the local troop or pack - and possibly make that connection with the family & recruit new members.
I know that Girl Scouts runs yearly background & child abuse registry checks for its leaders. Boy Scouts background checks all new leaders, and requires training on youth protection every two years. Both organization require a minimum of 2 adults, both to protect the youth from any possible abuse, but also to protect the adults from any unfounded allegations. This is pretty similar to what the SCA has devised. I don't know the logistics of how SCA could work with Scouting, in regard to waivers, Ministry of Youth, etc. But maybe we should think about it. In some cases, it might be easier to run the activity as sponsored by the scout troop, but do it at a time & place where SCA also meets. Non-SCA parents are likely more comfortable with the scout paradigm, and then we can explain the SCA method is equivalent. Anabela, would you like to chime in here from your past kingdom MOY experience?
I would suggest that we develop plans for a SCA oriented way to fulfill various badges. Those of us who have the experience can write up, in essence, lesson plans that cover the badge requirements while also exposing the youth to SCA activities and skills. We can then share those plans. For example, Bechte will be earning the Textile Artist badge (for 9th & 10th graders) next weekend at the unofficial Bobbin & Weaving retreat. (The steps are Choose your textile art; Find tools & materials; Learn the basics; Make something for everyday use; and Create a gift or item for a special occasion.)
I'm listing out the various age levels below, and in a separate post the badgework/ advancement tasks that I think fit well with the SCA. Then maybe we can work together to develop & test the plans. If we are very creative, we can combine the requirement of both Girl & Boy Scouts for a particular age group, and thus make it more useful for small groups. (There are good reasons for the overall separation by sex, but since this would not be the child's entire scouting experience, joint activities would be ok if desired.)
Daisy Girl Scouts - K & 1st grades
Tiger Cub Scouts - 1st grade
Brownie GS - 2nd & 3rd grades
Wolf Cub Scouts - 2nd grade
Bear Cub Scouts - 3rd grade
Junior GS - 4th & 5th grades
Webelos Scouts - 4th & 5th grades
Cadette GS - 6th, 7th & 8th grades
Boy Scouts - late 5th grade to 12th grade
Senior GS - 9th & 10th grades
Venturing Scouts - girls & boys 14 to 21 yo
Ambassador GS - 11th & 12th grades
It might help recruit. It will help make good use of our valuable and limited time, and allow those of us that are both SCA & Scouters to share our dual interests with our kids & others. It is one way I can contribute to helping grow my local group.