Become a Coming of Age Mentor at UUC
We are looking for about 6 adults at UUC to be Coming of Age mentors this year. Being a mentor is a powerful and inspiring experience, through which you will build deep friendships with teens and other adults from the congregation. It is a profoundly meaningful way to become more connected with UUC, enhance your own religious and moral understanding, and support the success of UUC youth.
Coming of Age (COA) is a year-long rite of passage experience that provides teenagers (9th and 10th graders) at University Unitarian Church (UUC) with the opportunity to explore their personal and spiritual beliefs within a Unitarian Universalist context. Through retreats, weekly workshops, values clarification, discussions of profound religious questions and a relationship with an adult mentor, teenagers will be guided from childhood into adolescence.
A mentor is an adult, other than a parent, who takes interest in a young person’s growth and success. Mentors commit to building a relationship with a young person in order to help them understand their gifts and reach a new level of maturity in faith and life. According to David Oldfield, director of the Center for Creative Imagination at the Foundation for Contemporary Mental Health, a mentor is “not a friend. Not a teacher. Not a parent. Not an advisor. Not a coach. A mentor is one whose sole concern is the development of character in a young person. Acting on behalf of the community, the mentor’s responsibility is to guide the young person on an inner journey of self-discovery.”
What do we expect of mentors?
- Submit to a background check and sign a code of ethics for working with youth.
- Be familiar with dates on the COA class calendar.
- Attend the mentor orientation on Sunday, October 30.
- Attend and participate actively in Sunday sessions (see calendar).
- Cultivate a relationship with the student assigned to you. Our goal is to have a one-on-one relationship but you may be assigned to two or more students.
- Attend the student-parent-mentor mixer on Sunday, November 6 (see calendar).
- Help your mentee(s) write a personal faith statement. You may want to write your own faith statement and share it with your mentee(s).
- Meet with your mentee(s) to conduct an interview of each other.
- Attend the Wilderness Journey solo vigil spring retreat April 28–30.
- Participate in meetings with other mentors and UUC staff (see calendar).
- Help plan and participate in the Coming of Age worship service in May.
To become a COA Mentor, please fill out this application and return it to Director of Family Ministry, Aria Curtis, by October 16. After submitting your application, we will be in touch about scheduling an interview and pairing you with a COA youth.