Recruiting new students for your SADD group

Recruiting new students is often the aim for SADD groups in Term One, or when they might be starting up. So we had a chat to Bianca from Villa Maria College in Christchurch about how she went about recruiting some new members this year.

Bianca - great to chat with you, first up tell us a little bit about you and how/why you decided to get involved with SADD? 

Sure thing! I'm a Year 13 student in Christchurch who enjoys free time and walking her dog. I came to be involved with SADD only last year after wanting to join some clubs. It happened that SADD was recruiting some new members at that time so I jumped at the opportunity! I didn't know much about SADD before that so I went along to the meeting to learn more about it. And since then I've grown to love SADD because it combines my passions for community engagement, peer empowerment, and youth leadership. I now enjoy working with other SADD students in my school and community whom I wouldn't have met otherwise, and also making a difference in my community and school.

Okay, so what was your SADD’s group situation at the start of the year, and why did you decide to make recruiting some new members a priority this term? 

Well, in the summer holidays I was tossing about some ideas that I could do as a SADD leader. But one slight problem: I was the only SADD member left because all previous members had graduated the year before! So I knew I had to recruit some new members to run events because together everyone achieves more. So that was my no.1 priority.”

Tell me about how you came to run a clubs expo day at schools and how that all happened etc? 

So I knew of other schools that had run Expo Days that featured a SADD stall. I thought that a Clubs Day would be really effective for getting sign ups because then people could ask questions and have a convo about all things SADD. But my school doesn't run Expo Days or a Clubs Day, so I decided to start one up. Firstly, I approached other clubs at school asking them what they would think of a Clubs Day. They were really enthusiastic and supportive which was awesome! So then I took it to the teacher leadership team and they approved it, even sponsoring some cash prizes for a Clubs Day quiz to entice more students to come. Each club contributed a question to make a quiz where all correct entries would go into the draw to win some cash prizes. On the day, we set out tables and printed out the sheets. 

Was it a success for you and the other clubs? 

It was a massive success! All the clubs said that Clubs Day helped them to get more sign-ups than they otherwise would have. Our SADD club grew from 1 person to an astounding 21 people! I'm still in awe haha. And it was so awesome to see other clubs get really involved with their stalls. The Teen Ag club had even brought in live sheep!

Did you use any other methods for trying to recruit new SADD members this year? 

Well I did try speaking at assembly to recruit some new members that way, but that wasn't very effective. I think Clubs Day was the best way for recruitment because it really helped students better understand the club on a casual level and sign-up right there and then.

What tips would you have for another student wanting to get a few more people involved with their SADD group? 

I'd say to point out all the benefits of SADD - the leadership skills, meeting new people, service hours, etc. It's also quite good to outline the What, How, and Why of SADD as I noticed that many students at my school didn't really know what SADD does. It may also be helpful to shoulder-tap some people who you think may be interested to get the ball rolling. And when recruiting, definitely let them know that they don't have to commit to SADD just yet and instead can come along to a meeting to see what it’s all about :)

Thanks so much for sharing Bianca! It is important to remember that each school setting can be quite different and sometimes you have to try a couple of different things, which is what Bianca did. 

Some of the key things that Bianca did was that she was passionate, she persevered and gave it 100%. When you refuse to give up and show how passionate you are this draws people in, so if you are wanting to recruit some people try out some of Bianca’s ideas or get in touch with our SADD team to make a plan for your setting!