Meet the Youth Office
The Youth Office, or YO for short, is part of the Lifespan Faith Development staff group at the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston, MA. Aside from arguing who gets to ride shotgun in rental cars and having dance parties in the hall, we serve all of Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUUs) and Unitarian Universalist Youth Programming. We are:JooYoung Choi, the June YRUU Programs Specialist (YPS), focuses on supporting the YRUU Steering Committee, helps plan the YRUU Social Justice Training (YSJT) and Youth Council, and focuses on supporting Youth of Color! She loves listening to hip hop and noise-core, putting funny pictures in YRUU handbooks, enjoys painting, drawing people when they aren't looking, and screen printing. She is currently a student at a local college and takes Korean classes at a community learning center. She lives in fabulous Watertown, MA with many other official SCRAM members (Supa Cool Radical Asian Misfits)!
Hi! My name is Beth Dana, and I'm one of two Youth Ministry Associates in the Youth Office. My main responsibility is supporting the Consultation on Ministry To and With Youth, which is the Unitarian Universalist Associations (UUAs) two-year initiative to revision and strengthen youth ministry. In addition to that, I also do other interesting things like support and provide resources for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Pansexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersex (GLBPTQQI) youth, write other resources, and help with the publication of Synapse! Before I started working in the Youth Office I was very active in Unitarian Universalist (UU) youth circles—on the local, districts, and continental levels, in the Chrysalis Training Program, and doing anti-racism/anti-oppression work. I am also taking time off from studying Religion and Metropolitan Studies at New York University (NYU). I enjoy movies, justice-oriented books, conflict resolution, letters and emails, tea, and cities!
Marissa Gutierrez was born and raised in Chino, CA (where nobody should ever visit). She moved to Los Angeles where she graduated in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) , and worked with such organizations as Human Rights Action, the USC Progressive Alliance, the USC Volunteer Center (among her favorites). In a past life, Marissa has been an intern with Global Exchange, STRACC (a Mexican service union), and a volunteer for FIDESMA (a Guatemala development organization). She's very passionate about human rights. While not working as a Youth Ministry Associate at the Youth Office on the Chrysalis Training Program and General Assembly (GA) Youth Caucus, she enjoys riding public transportation, making piñatas, art, and watching Tarantino films. Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Robert Rodriguez are some of her personal heroes. MTV and music videos in general, are her guilty pleasure.
Hi, I am Jesse Jaeger, the Youth Programs Director. I have now been working in the Office for three years. I have an amazing wife, Natalie, and a son whose name is Lorn. I support the Youth Office staff on all the work that they do, plus I work on developing resources, supporting the UUA's Sexuality Education program (Our Whole Lives) and consult with congregations on their ministry with youth. I am also putting in a lot of time right now on the Consultation on Ministry to and with Youth. If you do not know what that is you should find out; it will be affecting how we do youth ministry for years to come. I was a YRUUer in the early 90's out in the Central Midwest District and every once in a while a really funny picture of me pops up from when I was eighteen years old. I hope to see you around.
Heyo, it's Ethan Field! Born in New England and raised Ohio, I grew up in Ohio-Meadville District YRUU and continental YRUU in the late 80's and early 90's. After studying physics and religion in college, I spent three years teaching high school physics in Tanzania (East Africa) with the Peace Corps. I came to the Youth Office in April 2002. As Youth Office Assistant, I manage the YRUU database, act as registrar for all continental YRUU conferences, send out resources, manage the office finances, and am the person behind 'yruu @ uua.org' In my free time, I enjoy being in my church's UU Young Adult group, playing music, and gettin' my groove on.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
