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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAMS
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DIRECTOR OF
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (DRE)
Candee Cole, the Director of Religious Education, has been working with the congregation since 1991. She has a B.S. in Elementary Education, is a storyteller and "big group games" leader. With the help and support of the Religious Education Committee and a cadre of congregational volunteers, Candee organizes and develops the weekly classes and groups for children and youth from Infants through High School. She also is the advisor for the Young Adult group. Candee and the RE Committee also create a full roster of additional community building activities for children, youth and adults. These include such favorite events as the Halloween Party, Secret Pals, the Advent Garden, plus much more!
DRE REPORTS -
Director of Religious Education Report
April/May 2008
Special Events
• New UU Holiday – Electricity Day on April 20. Well, because we had un-naturally cold weather this day, instead of heating up the whole place, we set the heat upstairs and down at 60 degrees (unfortunately it switched off mid-morning so it got colder than comfortable for some.) However, the kids did great with extra blankets and candles and flashlights, and it seemed to hit home how much we depend on electricity in our daily lives. EWEB provided educational materials on Electricity usage and Rev. Steve did away with the order of service and it was printed by Judie Hansen on large sheets of paper for people to see as they walked in. It was an eye-opening day for many!
• Final Family Worship - Erin and Hailey Troberg, Katy and Sages Siepert and Christine and Sophie Puetz were the 3 parent/kid teams that put together our final family worship for the year on May 4 while I was away at the Vision Quest. Reports state that they did a lovely job and that the 3 kids, with Hailey in the lead, wrote a special song for the worship about taking a stand for things that concern you.
• Parent’s Day Planning - Gearing up for Parent’s Day service on May 11 and the Child Dedication ceremony. The children and youth will be upstairs for half the service. Steve and I have planned songs and Steve will tell a great story at the service. We will also be joined by the Spirit Choir.
• RE Committee Retreat – The RE committee is heading off to Sunriver on Memorial Day weekend to plan and look deeply at future curriculum, job descriptions, World Religions year calendaring and more!
Teachers and Program
• RE Volunteer Meeting – 15 volunteers were able to join together to go over the end of the year calendar and classroom close-down procedures. We were joined by Rev. Steve at the end to talk about upcoming property search procedures and the volunteers were asked to lend their voices in future meetings to how we might make any future property welcoming to children, youth and Religious Education programming.
Youth Ministry – Coming of Age Program
• COA Check-in meetings – David Bockoven, Laura Adams, and myself met individually or in small groups) with 17 of the 20 youth in April to check in on Mentor relationships and project completion, as well as to answer any questions about the Vision Quest or Credo assignment.
• Planning/Implementing the Vision Quest- This element of the program actually took up the majority of my time the month of April. A huge amount of planning, scheduling and collecting items took place throughout the month leading up to May 2-4. Excepting a few snafus along the way, including the high ropes course being cancelled due to weather, the weekend went off beautifully, with the 19 youth (one youth had to stay home ill) participating in all of the activities with open hearts and minds. They all had such deep and amazing things to say during and after the VQ exercises. These exercises included a death mask activity, a 4 hour silent vigil in the hills, men’s and women’s circles, worships, a night challenge, low ropes course, and a rock wall and giant swing. We took along 7 awesome staff that made the weekend fabulous (and it was so much work, we could have used 2 more), David Atkin, Sarah Holland, Kathy Dillon (chaplain), Chris Nunes, Lisa Bohannen, Aaron Mello, and Erik Troberg.
• Archives Committee – John Clay and Kathy Dillon met with a small group of 5 youth and one mentor and showed them photos and newspaper clipping of our church community over the last 99 years…and told fun stories as well. The kids were mesmerized and it feels like this should be part of the regular program in the future!
Youth Ministry – Middle and High School Program
• Pro-Bone-O Planning – The Middle School youth met and planned a sandwich luncheon for the June congregational meeting. Some members of the group will be sitting at an info table on May 11 And 18…and others will be calling volunteers to bring food and making doggy treats to sell. The group hopes to collect items need on the Wish List and money to help pay for spay and neuters to help control pet overpopulation. The younger children in the program made signs and a donation box.
• Station 7 Luncheon – The High School youth are also collecting items for Station 7, a homeless youth shelter, and will be sponsoring a burrito luncheon on May 18 at 12:30. All proceeds will go directly to the Station 7 New Mattresses project.
• District Summer Conference – A five day conference for youth is being planned in August and we are looking for an advisor to sponsor a few youth. The conference is going to be small, about 60 people, but a fun way to connect with other UU youth over the summer.
• Goldmine Leadership School – We will hopefully be sending another member of the youth group to Goldmine. I and the advisor team will be checking in with members of the group to locate a candidate.
• Moving Up and Bridging Ceremonies for Middle and High School – The June 1st service will be all about transitions! We will be honoring the children entering Kindergarten, Middle School and High School, as well as the 3 youth who are Bridging into young adulthood, Will Stancil, Skye Rios, and Nathan Heldt.
What’s Coming Up
May 18 Return of the Initiates Service and Youth Sponsored Station 7 Luncheon
May 23-25 R.E. Committee Yearly Retreat (Sunriver)
May 25 No R.E.
June 1 Bridging, Moving Up and R.E. Volunteer Appreciation
June 8 Pro-Bone-O Luncheon
What have I been up to?
• Cluster Meeting – Attended my cluster group in Portland in April.
• Mentoring RE program coordinator from Ashland – I have been connected with the church in Astoria through the LREDA Mentoring to support their current volunteer RE coordinator with curriculum development.
• DRE Sabbatical Scheduling - Began to look ahead at what makes sense for a future sabbatical date for me. I am hoping to take 6 months sometime before we move to another space, if possible. Steve and I discussed this idea and tentatively scheduled January 2010-June 2010.
Respectfully,
Candee Cole
Director of Religious Education Report
March/April 2008
Special Events
----• Easter – Much smaller turn out today due to Spring Break! But we were able to hold a fun egg hunt activity and offered Spring/Easter activities for the children and youth.
----• Celebration Sunday Programming for the Children’s piece – Beth Hoyt, our office assistant, was incredibly helpful in helping me maintain and run the kids program while I was in the service. It was the perfect example of why we need extra staff support! We served 55 kids with 11 providers, (9 paid and 2 volunteer youth). The children were led to their groups by Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins (Daniel and Felix Blades), and spent the hour + playing games with their fun group leaders.
----• Community Service – Service projects have begun for the children and youth. Most kids groups chose to support “Pro-Bone-O” and fundraising and a wish list drive will start in May. One age group chose to work for Stream Team, and members of the Middle School group are working on 3 different projects (see youth section).
----• New UU Holiday – Electricity Day will be honored this Sunday, April 20. We will not be using heat or lights during classes or eating snack that needed refrigeration. We have prepared education materials for all the age groups on electricity usage and power.
We have had very few days of Religious Education programming since the last board meeting with holidays and special events. Nothing new in this department other than the last volunteer meeting of the church year is scheduled for April 26.
Youth Ministry
----• Youth Conference in Canada – We sent one advisor and 5 youth via rented charter bus to a conference in Canada April 4-6th. The attendees were greatly impressed by the conference and said it is the best one they have attend thus far!
----• Middle School conference in Corvallis – 3 youth and one advisor attended a one night overnight April 11-12 in Corvallis at the Willamette Valley Cluster Middle School conference. The kids played fun bonding games and worked in a sustainable garden.
----• Community Service Projects and Field Trip – 9 middle and high school youth helped to plan, prepare and serve a meal to 20 (adults and kids) at 1st Christian Church for the St. Vincent de Paul overnight shelter on April 11. About 10 high school youth participated with 3 advisors in a tour of Looking Glass Station 7 homeless youth center. They learned of the services provided and will be preparing fundraisers and wish list drives for the agency throughout May.
----• Middle School Fun Outing – Sarah Holland, our youth coordinator, has planned a fun outing for MS youth this Saturday, April 19 at “All That and More” a fun gathering place that offers trampoline basketball and Velcro walls! About 7 middle school youth will be attending.
Young Adult/Campus Ministry
----• Met with Campus Ministry (18-25) leaders to make a game plan for welcoming new students next term.
Childcare
----• New providers have been hired and a new list is being created, We have not made changes in the coordination of childcare so has to not cause confusion with the congregants in case extra hours for childcare coordination are approved.
What have I been up to?
----• Have been spending most of my personal time celebrating my one year anniversary with my partner Mike, preparing for Saturday Market, and Spring cleaning both the house and my office!
Respectfully,
Candee Cole
Director of Religious Education Report
February/March 2008
This month, I have time for a bulleted list of everything that is going on in Religious Education!
Teachers and Program
• Short 4 teachers in the program but, things are running smoother than last term!
• Created RE Budgets and New RE Assistant Request
• Continuing work with weekly volunteer, Marj Cole, on organizing RE files
• Organized Community Service Fair and facilitating projects for Chiildren and Youth
• Met with lawyer and UU mom, Jet Harris to go over Mandatory Reporting laws and expectations after she attended a training.
Special Events
• Helped facilitate Middle and High School youth Listening Groups
• Began work on Celebration Sunday programming for the Children’s piece
• Offered a 30 minute presentation on R.E. and volunteerism for the Newcomers Class
• A simpler Easter plan for this year.
Youth Ministry
• New Youth Coordinator. Sarah Holland hired!
• Youth Advisors Meeting to go over specific issues and to plan service projects and activities
• Coming of Age Class – Mask making for their “Death Mask” activity that will be offered at the Vision Quest.
• COA Vision Quest site bumps us from our date…after a scramble, we have another date.
• Coming of Age Credo Class offered by Rev. Steve. We set up beautiful fabric and environment and bring in a canvas labyrinth for the youth to walk while organizing their thoughts for the Credo writing.
• All Mentors Finally Oriented!!!
• High School Our Whole Lives Saturday Marathon and Overnight – Kay Crider and David Pebworth ran the youth through 4 session on a Saturday and the youth celebrated with an overnight that evening.
Young Adult/Campus Ministry
• Campus Ministry (18-25) are meeting twice per month with me and are planning a retreat.
Childcare
• Childcare Lead Meeting and Job Description Review
• We are creating a new and improved system of “coordinating” childcare
• Am finalizing a new Childcare Handbook
• Childcare provider recruitment, interviews, reference checks and orientation…4 new providers added to our list.
What have I been up to?
• Trip to Tacoma to visit friends and attend the District Program Consultant, Tandi Koerger’s baby shower. Worked for UUCE from coffee shops in Tacoma for a few days prior to my AGM Professional Days where I did some work with DREs and Ministers on Classism
• Attended a weekend intensive module for DREs on “Pastoral Care”
Respectfully,
Candee Cole, Director of Religious Education
Director Of Religious Education Report
January/February 2008
State of the Union
Since September, we have been running the RE program short 10 volunteers. Since more recruitment has happened (and cute kid pics), we now are needing 4 more people. 5 people have come forward and one volunteer is opting to be in the classroom every week.
Curriculum Development- With the help of substitute office assistant, Lucy Dawson, the curriculum is set, organized, copied, tabbed and mostly distributed. This term highlights human rights, animals, and caring for the earth. The children in 2nd –Middle School will participate in a Community Service fair on March 2nd and hear from 3-4 local organizations…and vote as a class which one they would like to work on. At the end of the year, the children will be given a sheet to fill out where they can express what they stand for…either in the take action style of “standing up for” something, or a representational stand…”I stand for caring for the earth.”
Office assistant interviews and hiring: We are very please to welcome Beth Hoyt to the church staff team! Beth works at Nearby Nature and does a lot of similar work there to our programming! Kim and I are very happy to have her! Beth will be working Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday morning each week. We received about 20 applicants, and we interviewed 3. I did follow up reference checking, criminal records check and notifying the rest of the applicants.
Budget: Finally completed budget requests for all of my programs, and will be working with the RE committee and DRE Advisory on staffing requests and my package in the coming week.
Recruiting childcare: I have placed an ad on craigslist to look for more good childcare people to add to our list. We are using a lot of childcare as of late, and our current people are being kept plenty busy. There is still a need in my mind for a way to use our resources more wisely and combine efforts so that several committees can be taking advantage of childcare at the same time.
Events
Minister’s Installation: In spite of snow, many people turned out for the installation service, including 18 elementary age children, and about 7 younger children. We were short 2 providers, so my energies were required in the childcare room during the service. The 7 kid groups at church worked on seven t-shirts as a gift to Steve, that depict the seven principles and kid art. I told a story provided by Steve, in the service, based on a Thich Nhat Hanh story on interdependence.
Volunteer Orientations: Due to very, very busy volunteers, the curriculum orientations are happening at 3 separate dates. Two have been held during the last weekend of Janaury, and the final (I hope) will be on February 9. The volunteers gathered for food, shared the ups and the downs of their volunteer experience, shared stories and advice, learned about upcoming events in the church and got oriented to their curriculum.
Family Worship/Children’s Chapel – The February 3 Family Worship was led by myself and Rich Glauber and was focused on inclusively and gender stereo-types.
Youth
Coming of Age Mentors and One-On-One Meetings: I met with each of the 21 youth to pick their mentor and go over their COA projects. Due to the snow at the end of the month, many of the youth received home visits from me or came over to my home or down to the office for their meeting. We thankfully had about 26 mentors apply, which gave these youth a lot of choice. Mentor orientations happened over 2 nights (with about 3 more people needing to meet). We spent about 2 hours together, talking about safety, boundaries, and what the youth are experiencing. Criminal records are being checked for those who do not already have something on file at their work, and the youth and mentors will start connecting in a week or two.
Coming of Age Classes – The January Class was led by Laura Adams and August Sabini and was on Values Development. This class included foundation work on developing belief statements.
Youth Coordinator Position – Since the last board meeting, everything has been too busy to create a job posting for the new temporary position. This has been done and fleshed out by the RE committee and went up on Craigslist as of February 6.
High School Our Whole Lives- Kay Crider and David Pebworth led the parent orientation for OWL at the end of January, and about 12 youth are participating! This is our first year offering High School OWL!
Youth Group Sleepover – The sleepover in January was quite the success, with about 14 youth in attendance. Rev. Steve joined the group until about 1 a.m. and they really appreciated that! One highlight was a game of capture the flag around the church grounds in the dark!
Upcoming Big Events in February
Listening Groups – We hope that youth will sign up to participate in one of the groups. Right now we only have one person lined up for the 10th. The youth group will not be holding OWL on the 17th, so hopefully more of them will attend that day.
Campus Ministry Start-Up – I am organizing a welcome party for February 6 on campus. Some planning and goals will be set hopefully by the attendees and a more regular activity group will begin!
Where have I been what am I up to??
• Met with my cluster group in Portland and took a quick trip to Seattle to surprise my niece.
• Attended Non-Violent Communication Workshop at church and found it very helpful!
• Told a Unitarian history story at the Interfaith Service
• Plan on attending my professional days at AGM but not the rest of the meeting
• Will be attending a Pastoral Care training for DREs in Corvallis in early March.
Respectfully submitted,
Candee Cole, Director of Religious Education
Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, Oregon
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