Youth

Youth are an important part of who we are and we value their presence and participation!

We encourage and support youth in their quest for faith development, fun, and fellowship. Relationships that grow during adolescence have lifelong significance.

Sunday morning classes are offered for Middle and High School ages youth from 10:45 to noon each week during the academic school year.  Classes begin again on September 13th, 2009.  Registration for our religious education classes for youth is required and opportunities to register will begin in August and continue through October.  Guests and visitors are welcome to most youth classes.  Occasionally, a class becomes a "closed group" in order to provide a safe and nurturing environment for participants. 

RE Classes offered to youth include the following:

Coming of Age (Grades 8-9)

Offered:  2009-2010

Our 8th - 9th graders will be offered Coming of Age this year, so many volunteers are needed!  As is tradition on our church, Coming of Age will be combined with a condensed version of Neighboring Faiths.  The Coming of Age program consists of four main parts:  pairing youth with adult mentors; discussions and retreats that emphasize self-awareness and confidence-building; service to the church and community; and a culminating affirmation ceremony.   Neighboring Faiths involves actively learning about other faith practices in our community - and field trips to various places of worship.

OWL - Human Sexuality Curriculum (Grades 8-9)

Offered:  2010-2011

Our Whole Lives helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, Our Whole Lives provides not only facts about anatomy and human development, but helps participants to clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality.

Our Whole Lives uses approaches that work. The curricula are based on the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education produced by the National Guidelines Task Force, a group of leading health, education, and sexuality professionals assembled by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). See the UUA OWL site for more information.

Dare to Know - By Jeff Liebmann

Dare To Know: “Isms” Linking Humanism and Unitarian Universalism for High School Youth

This year-long curriculum for high school youth introduces participants to Humanism and to other contemporary “isms.” Rather than provide definitive answers to questions about the nature of existence or the purpose of life, this program uses a discussion format to give participants tools for finding their own answers.

The curriculum is divided into five modules: “Origins of Humanist Thought,” “The Tools of the Humanist,” “Humanism and Social Relations,” “Humanism, Politics, and Economics,” and “Humanism and the World.”

Goals for Participants:

• To develop an understanding of the relationship between Unitarian Universalism and humanism;
• To learn about a wide range of Western philosophical traditions, with a focus on modern philosophers;
• To become familiar with the words and lives of prominent Humanists and free-thinkers;
• To develop techniques of futurist research and critical thought.

More details here

D.A.R.E.

D.A.R.E. is a cooperative program in which law enforcement and the school district join together to educate students about the personal and social consequences of substance abuse. The D.A.R.E. lessons and follow-up activities also focus on strategies for anger management and violence prevention. The concepts and skills emphasized in the D.A.R.E. program are sequentially developed to extend from kindergarten through junior and senior high school.

The aim of the senior high school D.A.R.E. project is to extend the information and reinforce the skills students need to enable them (1) to act in their own best interest when facing high-risk, low-gain choices and (2) to resist peer pressure and other influences in making their personal choices. Equal emphasis is placed on helping students to recognize and cope with feelings of anger without causing harm to themselves or others and without resorting to violence or the use of alcohol and drugs.

Thinking the Web - Unitarian Universalism and Controversial Moral Issues for High School  by Jeff Liebmann

Web site www.pitt.edu/~jdl1/ uucurric.htm

This year-long curriculum for high-school youth investigates political, constitutional, and legal issues facing the United States. After instruction in the techniques of "systematic thinking dispositions," it moves on to discussions such as issues abortion, death with dignity, the legalization of drugs, censorship and pornography in the media, capital punishment, gun control, weapons of mass destruction, and peacemaking versus just war. Goals for Participants:

• Develop systematic, critical, and creative thinking skills;
• Become comfortable considering and discussing complex and challenging issues;
• Become familiar with a variety of current political, legal, and constitutional issues;
• Learn about the Unitarian Universalist Association's responses to these issues through vehicles such as General Assembly Resolutions.

Source:  UUA website