Young Adults (18-25)
The SUUSI Young Adult program offers a strong, caring, loving community to participants ages 18 to 25. We come together to live in a dorm for one week a year and participate in activities made by, and for young adults. It’s a smaller community within SUUSI’s own welcoming arms where you will meet new, interesting, and caring people every year you come.
The YA program also offers exciting workshops that stretch the mind, body and soul. 
Each year the YA Staff put together a host of workshops and events based on the year’s themes, our individual experiences, and any past events that people still crave. Workshop topics include religion, politics, environment, beauty secrets, wrestling, sexuality, gender stereotypes, screen printing, being single, music, thrift store shopping tattooing and piercing (which involves an exciting field trip to downtown Blacksburg), and more.
We also have plenty of late night activities such as a love feast, hilarious games, dirty dancing, kick-ass movies, late night 7-11 trips and karaoke, not to mention spontaneous craziness that usually breaks out. Watch out for performances: YA talent tends to surface at the coffee house, cabaret, and other more random outlets as well. The YAs also dominate the dance floors at CACHE and Serendipity. We participate in two important bridging ceremonies as well. One ceremony will be to welcome the teens that will be young adults at the following SUUSI, and the second to recognize those YAs that are 25 years old and will be leaving the YA program and transitioning in to SUUSI’s median programming.
This is a new and very exciting year for the Young Adult program as it will certainly be for the entire SUUSI Community. When we look at the meaning of this year’s theme, ‘Pilgrimage’, we often think about returning to the roots of our spiritual, communal, or personal beliefs. This year, SUUSI returns to Radford, a place that has welcomed us in many previous years, and where from 1975 to 1979, we grew from 640 members to the current number of nearly 1,000 people coming every year. This year, as we go on this Pilgrimage to Radford, it is time to think about the roots of the SUUSI community and the UU heritage we share. But what does this pilgrimage mean for the YA program in itself?
This year, the YA Staff is hoping to bring the ideas of returning to the SUUSI roots into our whole process of planning our events, workshops, discussions, and worships for the YA community. In this we hope to bring back focus on our integration into this amazing Intergenerational community that SUUSI offers us. We will be modifying old events, or offering new ones that we hope to bring to everyone in the SUUSI community. We hope to bring our community out to everyone else so that every SUUSI participant might get to experience the community bonds that have brought YA’s back to SUUSI year after year after year.
We do this by holding various staff positions, continuing leading the daily athletics, inviting other SUUSI-goers to specific workshops, and leading some community time activities too. And watch out for our performers: YA talent tends to surface at the coffee house, cabaret, and other, more random outlets as well. And make sure to come challenge us to a dance off on the floors at Cache and Serendipity.
Wondering what you should pack for the week? Must haves are cameras, swimsuits, music, instruments, and fans! Also, bring your games, toys, inflatable anythings, your favorite clothes for all types of weather and for dressing up, an open mind, good ideas, and great feelings. If you bring a book, this is fair warning that you will have little time to read it. That is, unless you enjoy seclusion and introversion, which is totally cool too.
One of the ways to get to know the YAs and be a part of the community before and after SUUSI is through the young adult listserv. If you would like to join and share with the community on-line, simply email us! And if you have any additional questions/concerns/ ideas about the YA program, feel free to email the YA Director, Davin Taddeo, at ya@suusi.org.
Can't wait to see you there! Young Adult Staff
ANNOUNCEMENT!
There is a new, specially oriented position on YA staff this year. There is now, along with the role of Chaplain, the new role of SUUSI Community Liaison joining our ranks. This will be a young adult staffer who's purpose is to help better integrate the YA community with the general SUUSI population, the teen program, youth program, coffee house, late night, cabaret, etc.. I'm hoping that this will be a role the many will want to fill and expand upon to help our community grow with the SUUSI ideals of a truly integrated, intergenerational, intentional community.
Davin Taddeo
2008 Young Adult Programs Director
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Each year, several members of the young adult community step forward to take responsibility to plan discussions, workshops, late night activities, and more for the entire Young Adult Community to enjoy.
Though one of our main goals may be to provide the entertainment to the YA community at SUUSI we also:
- Support YAs physically and emotionally should they need it,
- Mediate minor conflicts if there are any,
- Set an example of the behavior expected at SUUSI,
- Act as a portal between the young adults and the rest of the SUUSI community,
- Encourage integration between the YAs and other groups here at SUUSI,
- Have fun with our SUUSI friends!
For those of you interested in applying to be on staff, take a look at the YA Staff Expectations. Or feel free to contact the YA Director at ya@suusi.org if you have any questions.
Young Adult Staff Expectations
The following are expectations that I have for anybody who would like to be a young adult staffer. The General expectations apply to all staff members, including the Chaplain and the Community Liaison, except where their individual expectations differ. Where there is a difference (i.e. number of workshops that they need to plan, those positions will be held to their position expectations.
If you have any questions about the expectations or being on staff, e-mail Davin Taddeo, the director at ya@suusi.org.
General Staff Expectations:
- COMMUNITY BUILDING: Independently and together as a staff work to help build and maintain a safe and welcoming community of young adults that integrate smoothly with the greater SUUSI web.
- PARTICIPATION: Actively participate in the young adult program. This means dedication to pre-SUUSI planning, supporting/attending young adult workshops, worships and nightlife activities, and encouraging young adult participants to do the same.
- COMMUNICATION: Keep up with and contribute to the YA staff online communications, engage in conversations with fellow staffers, and speak up when something is wrong! Open communication is so important for all aspects of staffing especially planning and brainstorming, problem solving, and maintaining staff unity. It is essential to communicate in order to maintain your position on staff.
- WORKSHOPS: Plan and help lead/facilitate young adult workshops, activities and events. Full staff members are expected to work for 40 hours, which basically equates to planning, preparing for, leading, and cleaning up after at least 2 workshops, helping out with at least 5 other activities, and being available to help if needed. Half staff members are expected to work for 20 hours, which equates to planning, preparing for, leading, and cleaning up after at least 1 workshop, helping out with at least 3 other activities, and being there for fellow staffers in a pinch.
- TRAINING: Attend the staff training weekend, which will be held in March. Travel for the meeting will be covered by SUUSI, so this event is intended to unite the staff members as a whole, train for staff preparedness, and finalize any planning details.
- MEETINGS: Attend all YA meetings held during SUUSI (usually once a day for about 30 minutes or less) Arrive the day before SUUSI starts (Saturday), for crucial planning and set up.
- RULES: Understand, adhere to and enforce the by-laws and policies of SUUSI, uphold the governing laws and statutes of the state in which SUUSI is held, abide by any and all rules and regulations of the institution where SUUSI is held, adhere to all the rules set for the YA community AND help enforce the rules to insure the safety and well being of everyone at SUUSI and SUUSI itself.
- ATTITUDE: Commit to working with the young adult staff and director in an open, unified, collaborative and cooperative way. Speak up and confront issues in a positive, constructive manner.
- RELIABILITY: All staffers are responsible to ensure that any YA functions under their control are carried out. If they are unable to mange a specific event for some reason, it is their responsibility to ensure that another staffer is given the information and materials to carry it out for them.
- HAVE FUN!!! We all go to SUUSI to have a good time, and being on staff should be a labor of love and a lot of FUN!!!!
Young Adult Chaplain Expectations:
- Abide by the General YA Staff Expectations, except where they differ from the following expectations of the YA Chaplain.
- WORSHIP: The YA Chaplain is responsible for planning a very short chalice lighting and closing for the Staff Meeting. They are expected to hold a very short worship for the early arrival staff members. They will be responsible for ensuring that worship takes place for the general YA community for 5 of the 6 nights of SUUSI.
- COMFORT: The Chaplain's other responsibility is to be there to talk to the individual members of the YA community should they need to confide in someone or discuss problems they are having during the week. Though these are private and confidential, the Chaplain is not a minister and should be willing and ready to call the Minister of the day if someone needs them. They should also be prepared to call the YA Director or another staffer, should there need to be some sort of action taken to respond to rule violations or possible conflicts with the YA community itself.
- WORKSHOPS: The Chaplain is expected to still lead a minimum of one workshop or discussion and help with one late night activity and one other workshop/discussion.
Young Adult Community Liaison Expectations:
- Abide by the General YA Staff Expectations, except where they differ from the following expectations of the YA Chaplain.
- WORDSPREADING: The YA Community Liaison is responsible for having an article in each issue of the SUUSI NUUS to in some way encourage interaction between the young adults and the greater community. Either through invitations to YA workshop/discussions that are being held that day, or just asking the general community to meet a YA.
- YA INTEGRATION: The Liaison should encourage as many YAs to attend general SUUSI events such as Theme Talks, Worships, and Town Hall Meetings. They are also to attend many of these where possible and report on them in the YA Community Meetings in order to keep our community in tune with the course and mindset of SUUSI
- WORKSHOPS: The Laison is expected to still lead a minimum of one workshop or discussion and help with one late night activity and one other workshop/discussion.