#4--How can we women reach more Jr/Sr high youth (or younger) ?

[vic303]

Folks, I was asked to split out the 4 main questions I had originally posed into separate questions, so to better organize everyone's thoughts on a particular topic. Please post your replies to question #1 below.
Ladies, the title says it all--what CAN we do to improve participation in Project Appleseed?  I know we have some women IITs/Instructors etc, a fair number of AS attendees are women, Riflewoman does a TON of stuff, but what can you & I do?

4.  How can we reach the Jr High/ High School crowd?

What suggestions do y'all have?  What ideas of your own are you willing to share here?

--Vicky

[vic303]

What about a presentation to Boy Scout groups, and Girl Scouts?  What about to 4H?

[ksuguy]

One potential issue with getting the scouts out there is the BSA policy about firearms.  They require NRA certified instructors.  Some of our instructors do meet that qualification, but not all of them.    Also, they only like the kids to single load their rounds.  That makes it difficult for them to participate in everything without breaking the official BSA rules. 

I'm not sure how things are handled with the girl scouts or 4H.   

Other groups that might work are the FFA, or maybe the junior ROTC groups and civil air patrol. 

[vic303]

I was thinking more of a talk presented to a BSA/GSA meeting or at a 4H club meeting.  Get the kids interested in the program--maybe have a slide show...targets, the stock/sling set up to demonstrate proper positions etc.  I wouldn't give them the 3 STrikes, but you could tease them with some of the history.

This approach would take less time for folks to do (a couple hours in an evening), would neatly get around the firearms restrictions/aspects of the BSA, and get our info out to the future shooters.  Then if they want, they can attend the AS of their choice, not as a BSA event, but just as an Appleseeder.

[samjt15]

Well i'm new to AS but with anything in order to get people involved you seem to have to go through other people.  I think a huge help is to first get their parents involved. That is a major thing since they will be more then likely bring and picking up their kids also. My school, Idk about others and how they do it but hosted and had the kids of my towns gun safety class when I was 12 if we can give the community programs like that papers and information about it, I'm sure that more kids will start attending.  Most people who take their gun safety have an interest in things like this and they can talk their parents into it. Also at shooting ranges, I had a bunch of friends who always went with their parents to the gun ranges if info is posted their then people are more likely to come also.  Hope these help.

[Jules]

As a former Girl Scout leader, I would say approaching those kinds of groups is a good idea. This also depends on the state and area in which you live. The town we just moved from, an AS presentation would go over like a fart in church. You have to know your demographics. Where we live now, there is a large 4-H population. Posting flyers and talking to these groups results in positive feedback. It's amazing what moving 60 miles north will do..........

Jules