Youth Connections
We invite all young people to join us to share our time and hearts together.
Crossing Paths – Grades 6-8: Ages 11-13
(10:45-11:45 am Sundays)
This course leads students through an exploration of various contemporary faith groups and seeks to work towards respect and understanding. Questioning is encouraged, and differences are encountered with open minds and hearts. We lift up the core pieces of other faiths, and we also compare and contrast those faith’s beliefs and practices with those of our UU faith. While the program is built around interfaith engagement, its focus is really on UU youth identity formation.
Wednesday Night Youth Programs
Our Whole Lives comprehensive sexuality education (OWL) – 8th-9th Grade: Ages 13-15
This program is a comprehensive sexuality course for 8th and 9th graders that helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, Our Whole Lives not only provides facts about anatomy and human development, but also helps participants clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality. This program is guided by trained adult facilitators selected for their knowledge of, and comfort with, the topic of human sexuality. This program is currently offered on an annual basis. This year-long program requires a high amount of commitment from both students and parents and requires that students are registered before the class begins in September.
There is a $50 fee for this course. More information about the course at: www.uua.org/re/owl
Being A Teen (BATs) – High School grades 9-12: Ages 14-18
6:30-8:30 pm 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month
This program focuses on four areas of concentration: UU identity, self-exploration (including elements from our former Coming of Age program), life skills, and sexuality (including elements from the 10-12th grade Our Whole Lives Curriculum www.uua.org/re/owl). These areas are designed to be interspersed and explored over a four-year period. This experience gives our youth the opportunity to continue forming their faith identity, do deep self-exploration, connect with Fellowship friends, and more deeply consider how they want to live their values today and as they grow into young adulthood.
The fee for BATs is $250.00 per student per year. The fee, along with fundraisers and Fellowship funds, will help offset the cost of our exciting UU Heritage and/or justice work field trips.
Robot and Refreshments with the Revs
6:00 pm on the last Wednesday of most months (No meetings in October and December)
Youth! Join our ministers for a laid-back monthly evening of food and conversation. We will use the book “Psalm for the Wild Built” (A Monk and Robot Book) by Becky Chambers, which explores themes of life, humanity, and society in a far-future setting where the world is actually pretty great. The main characters are a gender nonbinary monk whose god emphasizes comfort, and a robot who has never encountered a human. Get the book and follow along (only one chapter a month!) or we’ll provide a short explanation of the chapter before we begin chatting.
Please contact Director of Religious Education Kim Hartman at [email protected] with questions.