Who can come to this camp?

Any young person who is in middle school, jr. high school, or a participant in a local Coming of Age program; and local middle school or jr. high advisors, or Coming of Age facilitators, teachers, or mentors.

What is the organizational structure of the camp?

The PSWD Youth Camps Ministry Team visions, oversees, and sets procedures for the six regular youth camps in PSWD held at Camp de Benneville Pines. Tera Little, the PSWD Director for Lifespan Programs, coordinates the camps.

For each camp, there is a Dean, Program Staff, and Cabin Counseling Staff who work together as a team to ensure a safe, fun, UU camp for your camper.

Who is planning the programming for this camp?

For the Coming of Age: Deepening Our Ties camp the Dean, Program Coordinator, and Director of Lifespan Programs are creating the programming. Our Dean this year is Riley McLaughlin. He is the chair of the Pacific Central District Coming of Age Program, and he has served on staff for three PSWD Youth Camps. We are happy to have his expertise and talent with us. We are pulling information and ideas from the newly-published COA curriculum, Deepening the Ties.

My child is not in a Coming of Age program, but is in middle school. May she attend?

Yes! We will have meaningful activities for young people who attend but who are not part of a local COA program. Please send her!

What is the role of the local youth advisor/coming of age facilitator at this camp?

We expect that the adults who accompany your youth will be full, active participants in this camp. This means we want to see them at all meals, all worships, and the all-camp activities. When it is workshop/activity time, there will be choices of things for the advisors to participate in.

Are the advisors also the primary supervision for the campers?

No! We will have a full cabin counseling staff at this camp, just like we do at summer camp, and they will have primary supervisory responsibilities for the campers. Our cabin counselors have been trained in our week-long Counseling in Training program and they are excellent UU role models for younger campers.

Where will the advisors/Coming of Age leaders sleep at this camp?

Advisors/Coming of Age leaders will get their very own cabin and their very own cabin counselor. This means once it’s quiet on the trails, the advisors can have their own time to connect with each other, share ideas, or just read a book.