Coming of Age Trip Needs Planning, Nerves of Steel

It's a springtime ritual. From March to June vanloads of young teens converge on Boston, and UUA headquarters, at 25 Beacon Street. The trips culminate Coming of Age programs held by many congregations for eighth- or ninth-graders.

The teens anticipate the trips with enthusiasm. For adult chaperones the enthusiasm is shadowed by responsibility. There is much to keep track of when teens do Boston.

Karen Lewis, director of religious education at First Unitarian Church, Dallas, TX (724 members), wasn't in favor of a Boston trip when it was suggested a few years ago: "It felt too much like a pilgrimage to Jerusalem or Mecca. Unitarians don't do that. And it was expensive." But she's changed her mind and the COA trips have beome a tradition at Dallas. "The trips really are amazing," she says. We study a lot of UU history and it really does all come to life."

Bea de Muinck Keizer in the UUA's Office of Information is the point of contact for COA trip planners. She advises: don't drive in Boston. Use buses or the subways, or rent vans. Get kids to bed early; staying up late wrecks the next day. Do homework: "It's better if they know UU history before they get here. They'll get more out of it. The trip itself is not a good place to learn it. There's too much going on."

Most tours include UUA headquarters and the UUA Youth Office. Some visit UU Service Committee offices. Many attend services at King's Chapel, First and Second Church, or Arlington Street Church. Quincy Market and its Durgin Park restaurant offer fun, food, and shopping. Many groups visit Concord, Lexington, or Plimouth Plantation.

Overplan, says Lewis; you can always knock things off the list. Ask restaurants and attractions in advance for group rates. Have multiple copies of medical permission slips as well as parental contact information, says Ann D'Attilio, DRE at First UU Society of Albany, NY (337).

For housing, de Muinick Keizer recommends the UUA's B&B, Pickett and Eliot houses, behind UUA headquarters. Rooms are $100 for COA groups. Four or more to a room is okay. Reserve in advance. Or choose a hostel: www.hostels.com/us.ma.bo.html. Some groups stay in UU churches although it's likely no showers will be available.

Gabrielle Farrell, religious educator at All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, D.C. (474), and formerly of First Unitarian Church of St. Louis (498), offers this advice: shuffle kids frequently to aid bonding, limit budget-sapping snacking, choose chaperones carefully. Jamie Forbes, DRE at The Unitarian Church of Westport, CT (535), makes a point to bring appropriate quotes for youth to read when standing in pulpits and at the gravesites or the statues of famous UUs. "The kids love this trip," she says. "It's the high point of the year."

Gaia Brown, formerly DRE at North Shore Unitarian, Deerfield, IL (392), and now at UU Fellowship of Northern Nevada, Reno, NV (132), recommends a video, Portrait of Boston and the Freedom Trail ($20), before going. Guard against those youth who will spend all their money on souvenirs and go without food. "The trip really is a big deal," says Brown. "The bonding that occurs is incredible." Farrell adds, "Kids who go on the Boston trip stay with the church in some capacity. Those who don't pretty much drift away."

RESOURCES

Contact Bea de Muinck Keizer (bdemuinck@uua.org), public information specialist, (617) 948-4652. Ask for a Heritage Tour trip planning guide. Also visit the Heritage Tours page on the UUA Web site.