Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring
Religious Education: Youth
Middle and High School Programming includes Sunday School for 6th-8th Graders, a Coming of Age Program for 9th Graders, YRUU (teen group) for 10th-12th Graders, and Our Whole Lives (OWL), a comprehensive human sexuality curriculum for interested Middle and High School youth.
Middle School (6th-8th Grade)
Each month these students participate in a rotation of classes and activities that includes:
- Religious Educaction (RE) Classes
- Chalice Chapel (multi-age children’s worship and activities)
- Social Action (multi-age learning and projects)
- Multigenerational Worship (worship services for all ages)
Coming of Age (9th Grade)
Coming of Age (COA) is a values and identity formation program. It meets most Sunday mornings at 11:30 with some additional activities scheduled. Requires pre-registration.
YRUU (10th-12th Grade)
High School Students participate in YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists), which is our teen group for 10th-12th Graders (9th Graders become part of YRUU after their Coming of Age Ceremony in the spring).
YRUU meets every Sunday morning at 11:30 and also gets together for overnights, youth conferences, social action projects and fun social events.
Our YRUU Program focuses on:
- Congregational Involvement (such as the Auction Chili Dinner, Halloween Haunted House, and YRUU-led worship service),
- Social Action Projects (chosen each year),
- Fun Social Events (such as overnights, bowling and youth conferences),
- Educational Programming (such as documentary DVDs, guest speakers and discussions).
Our Whole Lives (OWL)
Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a comprehensive UU program on human sexuality that UUCSS offers for 8th grade youth (October-April) and 10th-12th grade youth (January - April). Pre-registration is required.
Teacher Training and Supervision
All classes and activities for children and youth are taught and led by dedicated volunteers who adhere to our UUCSS Child Safety Policy and are supervised, trained, and supported by our Director of Religious Education.
Registration
We welcome visitors and encourage you to fill out a special visitor form when you come so that we can contact you and answer any questions. After attending several Sundays, we ask that you register each child and youth by filling out a Registration Form (pdf form) and returning it to the Minister of Religious Education, UUCSS, 10309 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring MD 20903 or e-mail it to mre@uucss.org.
All of our RE teachers, team members, youth advisors, leaders and professional staff adhere to the UUCSS Child Safety Policy and are recruited, trained, supervised and supported by our Director of Religious Education and other RE staff members.