There’s no better time than the beginning of school to recruit new MENC Collegiate members. Here are a few recruitment suggestions from some of our active Collegiate chapters:

Networking

“The first thing that our chapter did was start a Facebook group. We had fifteen people join the first day. We put information of high importance on the site such as praxis information, dates/deadlines, and announcements from our Music Education department,” says William M. Johnson.

“Our chapter maintains a Google calendar of MENC events, a Facebook group, and a bulletin board in the music building to keep everyone informed,” says Krysta Mirsik.

Recruitment Letter

“We write personal letters to the freshman music education majors and host a pizza party for them to socialize with current education majors,” says Johnson. You can find a sample recruitment letter in the 2009 Collegiate Kit (p. 7) to invite potential members to a chapter meeting. 

Information Table

Set up a table displaying MENC materials in your music department. “Our chapter sets up a table at our School of Music convocation. Here we sign students up for CMENC on the spot, and have raffles and door prizes,” says Johnson.

Resources

Help your chapter increase its enrollment this year and earn the MENC Collegiate Chapter Growth Certificate of Achievement.

View 50 Great Recruiting Ideas for more tips and suggestions.

Join the official MENC Collegiate Facebook group by searching “MENC Collegiate Headquarters.”

MENC Collegiate contributors

William M. Johnson is a graduate student and doctoral candidate in the Music Education program at The University of Memphis, Tennessee.

Krysta Mirsik double majored in french horn and voice and is in her final year in the Music Education program at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

--Shauna Leavitt, September 3, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education