K/1^st/2^nd Grade OWL had their final meeting last Sunday and will be attending the service this Sunday, 6/12, to witness the bridging seniors ritual, flower communion, teacher appreciation, and our choir singing. A huge THANK YOU to facilitator Joel Best and teacher Juliana Post-Good for making this possible for our youngest OWL group!

K-6 Experiences with the Web of Life:  These nature lovers had their final meeting this past Sunday and will be attending the service this Sunday, 6/12, to witness the bridging seniors ritual, flower communion, teacher appreciation, and our choir singing. A huge THANK YOU to teachers Joel Best, Ed Kautz, and Dyana Warnock for sharing their time, energy, and this exciting curriculum with the K-6 kids!

5/6/7 Grade OWL (Our Whole Lives sexuality education): Their next session is scheduled for Sunday, 6/12, at 5 pm. They’ll meet in the large, third-floor classroom in Waters House. Masks are required and there is an air-filtration unit in the classroom.  We hope they’re able to attend the 6/12 service as well! A huge THANK YOU to facilitators Bryan Cherry and Erin Piotrowski for making OWL happen for our 5/6/7 graders!

7^th/8^th Grade The Fifth Dimension had their final meeting this past Sunday and will be attending the service this Sunday, 6/12, to witness the bridging seniors ritual, flower communion, teacher appreciation, and our choir singing. A huge THANK YOU to teachers Courtney Barber and Sharon MacNeil for their patience, humor, and perseverance with this tech-reliant curriculum. They made it rock!

Senior Youth (9^th-12^th) had their final meeting this past Sunday and will be attending the service this Sunday, 6/12, to witness the bridging seniors ritual, flower communion, teacher appreciation, and our choir singing. Please encourage your youth to attend the 6/12 service also, to show their support for the bridging seniors. Also, keep an eye out for details on an upcoming Senior Youth kayaking and canoeing trip! We’ll be including our bridging seniors as well as next year’s incoming 9^thgraders! A huge THANK YOU to advisors Mark Hyland, Aaron Tyo, and newcomer Emma Joy Maher-Horvath!

11^th/12^th Grade OWL (Our Whole Lives sexuality education): Their next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, 6/12, in their Waters House meeting room. Masks are required and there is an air-filtration unit in the meeting room. A huge THANK YOU to Barbara Cornell and Sarah Tyo for their commitment to making OWL happen for this dedicated group of six!

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Sowing Seeds Youth Justice Workshop

August 3-6, 2022, Pittsburgh, PA

Save the Date! Registration opened June 1st for Sowing Seeds, a UU Youth justice focused, in-person, immersive workshop. August 3-6 Abby Crum, Sara Dendy-Green, Gina Collignon, Shann Harper and more staff tba, will be gathering with high school age youth to build community, dig into the local Pittsburgh social movement scene and explore what seeds we’re called to plant and nurture in the world.

This is a collaborative project between the UU College of Social Justice and the Unitarian Universalist Association. Its roots connect to the Grounded and Resilient Organizing Workshop (GROW) for UU Young Adults and UUCSJ Activate programs. The cost to attend this workshop is free and travel will be reimbursed thanks to the generous funding from UUCSJ.

OWL TRAININGS AVAILABLE (Our Whole Lives sexuality education)!

The UUA (UU Assoc) has recently begun offering online OWL facilitator trainings! If you’d like to be a part of this important work, check out the information below and contact Dir of Lifespan Religious Education Robin Ahearn at dlre@uuschenectady.org to register.

Time Commitment. Online training requires up to 35 hours of your time over three weeks. You will have 20 hours of synchronous (live, on-camera) weeknight and Saturday sessions plus 10-15 hours of asynchronous tasks to complete (reading, webinar viewing, and written assignments) on your own time. Do not register unless you can commit to attend every synchronous session and complete the assignments. Your most intense time commitment will be during the week prior to the first live session (approximately 3.5 hours to complete assignments) and between the first and second sessions (~2 hours to complete assignments).

Training Schedule. Synchronous sessions for all online trainings are from 6-8:30 pm on Mondays and Thursdays for three weeks, ending with a 10 am to 3 pm Saturday session (with a one-hour lunch break at noon).

Upcoming Online Training Dates and Grade Levels:

The application period opens seven weeks prior to the first live session for each training. Training slots fill quickly and are limited.

Training requires live, on-camera attendance for six (6) live sessions plus one (1) Saturday as shown below.

July: Grades 7-9/10-12, 6-8:30 pm, July 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 28, plus 10 am to 3 pm July 30. Registration opens 9 am, May 23.

August: Grades K-1/4-6, 6-8:30 pm, Aug. 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, plus 10 am to 3 pm Aug. 20. Registration opens 9 am, June 13.

September: Grades 7-9/10-12, 6-8:30 pm, Sept. 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, 29, plus 10 am to 3 pm

Oct. 1. Registration opens 9 am, July 25.

October: All Adult Levels, 6-8:30 pm, Oct. 3, 6, 10, 13,17, 20, plus 10 am to 3 pm Oct. 22. Registration opens 9 am, August 15.

November: Grades 7-9/10-12, 6-8:30 pm, Nov. 1, 3, 7, 10, 14, 17, plus 10 am to 3 pm Nov. 19. Registration opens 9 am, September 12.

Age Minimums for Trainings: Participants must be at least 21 years of age to register for training, and if working with teens, they should be at least four years older than the oldest teen in the program. This is a change from previous UUA policy, which set an age 25 minimum for the Elementary and Secondary trainings.