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:Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward is the outgoing June YRUU Program Specialist (YPS) and as such focused on Youth Office trainings, social justice organizing, and supporting queer and questioning Unitarian Universalist (UU) youth. This meat-eating fan of “The O.C.” is leaving the Youth Office to teach at Ithaca College (her alma mater!) and move to the West Coast to attend Starr King School for the Ministry. One time she accidentally cut all the way through her hand...with a butter knife. It’s unbelievable but true.
Brian Kuzma, the September YRUU Programs Specialist (YPS), focuses on Anti-Racism programming, supporting Youth of Color, and helping plan General Assembly (GA). He’ll be in the office until September, when he returns to Earlham College. Brian would like to thank fellow Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) staffer, Elandria Williams, for giving him a much-needed and (according to observers) “hilarious” hair-washing this spring.
Jesse Jaeger, who hails from Madison, WI, has served as the Youth Programs Director for the last three years. He is an all-around fun guy and has some of the funniest dance moves you’ve seen in your life. His toddler-aged son, Lorn, provides the office with some of the most amusing stories you can imagine.
Ethan Field, the Youth Office Assistant, is known for his funky tunes, distinctive laugh, and deliberate pronunciation of the letter “H” in words like “when” “why” and “where.” Ethan is a dedicated young adult leader in the Boston area and originally hails from—that’s right—Ohio. Like the rest of the YO, Ethan is friendly and doesn’t bite, so give him a call!
Josephine Bibby is the spring 2005 Synapse intern. Josephine is from Dallas, TX in real life, but she currently goes to Brandeis University. She is into fair labor and the color pink. Josephine also enjoys making art, drinking tea, correct grammar, dancing ridiculously in her (or anyone’s) room, and listening to the “Buffy” musical soundtrack with Betty Jeanne. The Youth Office staff thinks she’s grrrrrreat!!
Lily Sparks is the incoming June YRUU Programs Specialist, and will join the team this summer. Lily is a past member of both the YRUU and DRUUMM (Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries) Youth and Young Adult Steering Committees (whew!) Read more about her in the fall issue of Synapse, and be sure to welcome her to the office—she’s AMAZING!!!
Beth Dana will be joining the Youth Office in June as the first-ever Youth Ministry Associate, a one-year position similar to the YPS’s, but focusing on the UUA Board of Trustee’s youth ministry initiative (read more about it on page 9). A current student at NYU, Beth is a Chrysalis Trainer and member of the Anti-Racism Trainer-Organizer collective, and an absolutely fabulous person to get to know as well!!
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
