Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring
Coming of Age Program (COA)
UUCSS offers a Coming of Age Program for 9th Graders. Coming of Age rituals around the world celebrate the time when young people are ready both to begin making decisions for themselves and to start taking responsibility for those decisions. Unitarian Universalist COA Programs also encourage young teenagers to begin identifying and defining what they believe and to determine what actions follow from those beliefs. In short, we encourage our 9th Graders to answer the questions: “What do I care about?” and “What am I going to do about it?”
The COA class meets most Sunday mornings at 11:15 and also participates in a number of “off campus” activities such as a ropes course, a wilderness solo experience, and a variety of social action projects. It concludes with a ceremony attended by the entire congregation in the spring. The 9th Grade COA class gets together with our teen group, YRUU, once a month for shared activities. After their Coming of Age Ceremony, the 9th Graders are welcomed into YRUU as official members.
The Coming of Age Class is led by COA Leaders who adhere to the UUCSS Child Safety Policy and are trained and supported by the UUCSS Director of Religious Education and other RE staff.