Recruitment Tips

You may already have a group ready to sign up. Or, maybe you want to increase the size of your group (which can result in additional chaperons traveling at no cost). Here are some tips we've received from previous group leaders:

School Presentations

• Schedule with foreign language teachers, bring a returnee or current exchange student with you to the presentation.

• Ask faculty advisors of clubs to pass out information about the program to the students or give a presentation at a club meeting.

• Contact the PTA about putting an announcement in their newsletter.

In the Community

• Ask your place of worship (church, synagogue, mosque, etc) to make an announcement or put one in their newsletter.

• Contact local groups and organizations about placing announcements in their flyers, bulletins, newsletters to parents, etc.

• Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts are often interested in working with AFS, plan a presentation at one of their scheduled meetings and invite their parents to stay.

Host Families

• Some host families will have children the right age for this program.

• Ask local volunteers for their contact information and make sure the host parents know about the program you are chaperoning.

• Invite them to come to an information session.

Have an Information Session
(more than one is often needed)

• Once you have a few students interested, invite them and their parents to an info night.

• Make sure the students you invite know they can invite their friends.

• Show pictures of the past trips (ask for our great power points), videos made by past chaperone/recruiters, and encourage parents to ask questions.

• Follow up with the students and parents after the information session.