As we finish up the curricula for our children and youth for the year and prepare for summer programs, and possibly bigger changes around the corner, it is fun to take a look back and see what we have accomplished as a religious education community.
This year we registered over 50 children and youth in our Sunday program, and each child and family brought their own unique gifts and energy to OCUUC. Our special days, including our Christmas Eve pageant, brought opportunities for involvement for all ages, and perhaps we launched a few acting careers in the process! OCUUC children became educated about fair trade foods by handing out information with the UU Service Committee Reverse Trick-or-Treating packets at Halloween.
Our 7th-12th graders started the year with the Tapestry of Faith curriculum A Place of Wholeness. Both junior and senior high groups participated in age-appropriate Our Whole Lives classes. OWL is a UU life-span education that provides a safe place with trained facilitators to explore personal, UU and societal values, and access to accurate information about the human body, sexuality and relationships. OCUUC collaborated on OWL with local UU churches, and we look forward to providing more OWL classes in the next year. Our youth also held social justice activities, such as joining our local coastal clean-up day, and assisted our younger children with organizing our sock drive for Justice General Assembly.
To help us finish out the year, please bring new, cotton or cotton/poly blend adult socks for our sock drive on Sunday June 10 and 17. Collection boxes are on the patio.
Our classrooms were busy places. The youngest classroom group, the PreSchoolers-Kindergartners, were involved in their Chalice Children curriculum all year. They explored feelings, relationships and church as a community. Our 1st-6th graders ended their year exploring their heritage using the With Justice and Compassion curriculum, newly released by the UU Association. We finished out the year with a woof! - a visit from live service dogs last Sunday, to help us understand our Seventh Principle a little better.
Our volunteers brought many activities to share with us. We had movie and craft nights. A cross-committee and private donor group effort provided a brand new high definition television in the Social Hall. So look for upcoming summer fun events, movies and “G” game nights, in the RECY weekly!
One extremely important change will be to our governing RE structure beginning July 1. I am very excited to present a task force model that will more efficiently use our volunteer’s time and efforts. Volunteers will join task forces that have specific jobs mapped out with clear responsibilities. Our families are very busy, and we know that this change will be very positive for all.
Serving next year on the Task Force Lead Team will be Christine Soriano as RE Committee Chair and Mary Lundholm as Vice-Chair. Task force leaders will also serve as RE Committee Members. We will be holding open meetings for parents twice a year, to help the leaders gather information and work with suggestions. This will open us up to a much more responsive and democratic process.
It has been a true privilege to serve this community for the past year. I look forward to the exciting changes ahead for us, and opportunities for Religious Education to grow and to explore our UU values with our youngest congregants! Join us for our Calix School of Magic ( a sister school of Hogwart's) this summer. Calix begins on June 17.
In Gratitude~~
Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education