“Purpose: The purpose of the Junior Activities Committee is to inspire active participation in members aged 17 and under so they become engaging, productive members who will want to continue their American Legion Auxiliary membership into adulthood.” – alaforveterans.org

 

Encouraging and mentoring young members from birth to 17 years of age is a big part of the Junior Program. Let junior members have a voice and to share that voice with the people around them. If you have a small group, you can always get together with another unit that is near you or as a whole District and do a Fun Day and a service project. You can also invite young Sons of American Legion members to join you as well. This way they can make friends and get together with old friends and do something fun and meaningful as well.

Be mentors to junior members. Include them in your meetings and fundraising or any other events you do as a unit. Make them memorable and fun. Most if not all just want to feel included.

 

Teach them to be future leaders, I know that Minnesota has some great juniors who will someday serve this wonderful organization and be very proud to do so. They are amazing girls.

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The patch program is a great program to get junior members involved in Auxiliary programs and to learn about them. These can be found on the Department website as well as the National website.

 

There are also e-learning courses on the National website for junior members to learn about protocols and parliamentary procedures.

 

There is a National Junior Meeting this year in Minnesota! Please plan to have your juniors attend! It is November 15th. Registration can be done on the National website.

There are also scholarships available to junior members. These are:

 

• Spirit of Youth Scholarship: must have 3 consecutive year membership and must keep current membership throughout the 4-year scholarship period.

• Junior Member Loyalty Scholarship

• James H Parke Scholarship