Seabeck Conference 2015 – Youth and Children’s Programs
The Children’s Program: The Children’s program for 3 to 11 year olds will be led by Nora Walsh and Jamie Martineau. Activities will be geared to the needs and interests of the individual children, and will develop a sense of community through play and mutual problem solving. We celebrate and explore our beautiful surroundings with walks and outdoor games. We rely on adults and youth attending the conference to volunteer their time and talents to assist us. Beyond Seabeck, Nora teaches art with young people in a variety of settings.
Youth Program: The Youth Program for 12 to 19 year old attendees will feature workshops following two threads, “The Power in Your Voice” and “What is Youth Driven Activism?” Participants will explore their own perspectives & experiences and express them through writing & performance of poetry/spoken word/hip-hop curriculum. They will also develop a discussion of what is important to their generation and how to be the change they want to see. These workshops will culminate in a poetry/spoken word segment at the Talent Show and a youth-led discussion during the Sunday Activist Fair and a possible family supported direct action after the conference. The Youth Advisors are: Margot Zimsen, returning to our youth program, which she co-led in 2013. She works with the Unitarian Pacific Northwest Conference, facilitating their ongoing intentional youth-created, youth-run community. She is a full time student, becoming a massage therapist. Shane Knode is a community organizer, hip-hop artist, and youth educator. He has worked with youth in the public school, mental health, and prison systems. He is the director of MOBROLL, a Puget Sound festival of music, bicycles, film, & art, and runs a business consultation/event design/project management group called GIANT OCTOPUS. He is an Evergreen graduate, and lives on board his 44 ft. sailboat.
Exciting news this year is that the conference will have dual youth programs. The FOR Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship program (formerly the Peace Activist Training program) will culminate their week long training at Seabeck. The two groups of young people will have many opportunities to learn from and with each other, sharing fun and social time together.