About YES
At YES, we spend the week attending and leading workshops, playing music on the porch, dressing up for themed community dinners, watching incredible sunrises and sunsets, joining together in nightly worships, and more! Every individual is celebrated for their choice to be involved however they are comfortable. All shoalers are encouraged and empowered to lead activities, and to share their knowledge and experiences if they are interested.
For many youth, YES represents a first opportunity to begin defining a sense of identity, and the conference provides a supportive, welcoming, challenging, and encouraging group for this exploratory stage of life. The conference spans a wide age range, from 16 to 22. Younger conferees find role-models and mentors, and then gradually become those role-models as they return to YES year after year.
In its over 30 years on Star Island, our youth-led conference has been known as Liberal Religious Youth (LRY), Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) and more. Now, as Youth Empowerment and Spirituality (YES), we hold onto the core values that have served our conference for decades, while adapting to the ever-changing needs within our community as we move forward.
For many youth, YES represents a first opportunity to begin defining a sense of identity, and the conference provides a supportive, welcoming, challenging, and encouraging group for this exploratory stage of life. The conference spans a wide age range, from 16 to 22. Younger conferees find role-models and mentors, and then gradually become those role-models as they return to YES year after year.
In its over 30 years on Star Island, our youth-led conference has been known as Liberal Religious Youth (LRY), Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) and more. Now, as Youth Empowerment and Spirituality (YES), we hold onto the core values that have served our conference for decades, while adapting to the ever-changing needs within our community as we move forward.