2023 Summer High School Youth Trip
July 21-28, 2023
Washington, D.C.
We are thrilled to announce a Conference-sponsored youth trip to Washington, DC, next summer, July 21-28, 2023. The trip will be open for any youth who has completed 8th-12th grade during spring 2023.
The primary focus of the trip will be legislative advocacy on justice issues collectively chosen by the youth participants. Youth will work with staff from UCC’s office in Washington, D. C., and other faith-based groups to prepare for meetings with lawmakers and other officials. To help establish the framework for the service-learning and lobbying work, the group will visit a number of monuments, memorials, and museums, such as the Frederick Douglas National Historic Site, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, U.S. Holocaust Museum and Memorial, and other significant sites. We hope these experiences will reinforce the need for participants to agitate for justice and to never be silent in the face of injustice.
This experience allows multiple opportunities for youth to give voice to their passion, commitment, and outrage as they engage in open and respectful dialogue with our political leaders. These can be powerfully formative experiences for young people working to discern their unique gifts and voice through boldly speaking truth to power.
An essential part of preparing for the trip will be a for youth participants and adult companions to meet for three or four Zoom and in-person events during the winter and spring of 2023. These gatherings will help connect participants, begin the work of building trust and a sense of community, and create space for conversation for youth to name their shared lobbying priorities. Attendance for these gatherings will be a mandatory activity for anyone—youth or adult companion—planning to travel to DC.
About the trip
Spend a week with other youth from UCC congregations around Minnesota advocating for justice issues collectively chosen by participants. Along the way the group will:
• Work with the UCC’s office in Washington, D. C. and other faith-based groups to prepare for lobbying with lawmakers and their staff
• Visit monuments, memorials, and museums, such as the Frederick Douglas National Historic Site, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the U.S. Holocaust Museum and more
• Engage in direct service with community and faith-based groups to learn about root causes of systemic oppression using an action-reflection learning model
• Have plenty of space for loads of fun, conversations that matter, time for reflection and shared spiritual practice, and personal discernment
Registration
Cost: $650/youth | $400/adult (reflects a generous subsidy from the Ashely endowment!)