When you hear the word “recruitment,” what do you think of? For a lot of people, the answer is probably numbers. How many new members did we get? How many people came to the event? How close are we to our goal? I used to think about recruitment the same way. When I helped bring 15 new members into Shield AZA, I was proud of that number. Twenty felt like an accomplishment, something I could point to and say, “We recruited 15 people.” And we should be proud of those numbers. Growing a chapter matters. Membership matters. Having more people in the room means more voices, more ideas, more energy, and more opportunities to create something special. But over time, I started looking at that number differently, because 15 isn't really a number. It's 15 people. Fifteen different personalities, fifteen different stories, and fifteen people who each had their own reason for walking through the door. Some were looking for new friends, some wanted to try something different, some came because a friend convinced them, and some probably had no idea what they were getting themselves into. And some might have walked into their first event wondering whether they actually belonged. That is the part of recruitment that numbers can't tell you.

We spend so much time talking about getting people into BBYO that sometimes we forget what happens after they get here. Getting someone to sign up is only the beginning. The real goal is making sure that person looks around the room one day and realizes, “These are my people.” Because joining BBYO and belonging to BBYO are two completely different things. You can become a member without ever feeling like you are truly part of something. You can have your name on a roster without having someone to sit next to at a convention. You can attend an event without feeling comfortable enough to introduce yourself to someone new. Recruitment shouldn't just be about filling seats; it should be about making sure there is a seat for everyone. That's what being Moreh has made me think about. At first, it is easy to see the position as simply being responsible for recruitment: get more people involved, reach out to new teens, increase membership, hit the goal. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that the job is much bigger than that. Being Moreh means finding the people who haven't found their place yet. Maybe they're the person sitting alone at school, someone who has never been to a Jewish youth group before, or someone who says they aren't interested because they don't think BBYO is for them. We don't always know what someone needs when we invite them to BBYO, and that's okay. Because sometimes an invitation can mean more than we realize. Maybe that person comes to one event and never comes back. But maybe they come to one event, meet someone, come to another, go to convention, make a memory, and eventually become the person inviting someone else. That's how BBYO grows, not just through numbers, but through people.

Looking back at the 15 people I helped recruit, I'm proud of the number. But I'm even more proud when I think about the fact that behind that number are 15 individual stories that are now part of Shield AZA's story. Maybe one of those 15 people will eventually become a leader. Maybe one will make their closest friends through BBYO. Maybe one will attend a convention that changes the way they see themselves. Maybe one will eventually recruit someone else and continue the cycle. I don't know what their stories will become, and honestly, that's the coolest part. Recruitment isn't about knowing exactly what someone's BBYO journey will look like. It's about giving them the opportunity to have one. That is what I want to remember every time I think about recruitment: not the goal, not the percentage, and not the number on the membership report, but the names. Every number represents a person who could find a friendship, a memory, a passion, a community, or a place they didn't even know they were looking for. So yes, let's celebrate the numbers. Let's celebrate growth. Let's celebrate every new member who walks through the door. But let's never forget what those numbers actually represent. Don't just count the numbers. Learn the names. Because at the end of the day, BBYO isn't built by numbers. It's built by people.