Recent Young Adult Blog Posts
Meet our 2019 General Assembly Spark Leaders!
At this summer’s General Assembly, UUCSJ is excited to offer our third annual stipended leadership opportunity to alumni of our programs and related justice and leadership initiatives to support their engagement in social justice education, action, and outreach at GA....
Personal Check-In

We’re over halfway through the summer, and a handful of you are beginning to close out your internship. At this point, all of you are familiar with the organization and learned about the work they do – their successes, their challenges, and their aspirations. At UUCSJ we hope that you have felt both supported and challenged, in your tasks and learnings, so far.
This week I wanted to take a break from diving into issue-based topics to stop and reflect on how the summer has been treating you so far. This “pause” offers us a nice opportunity to look back with pride and humility, and to look forward with intention and openness.
Take a deep breath and think about any (or all) of the questions below. Feel free to use your own reflection questions:
- How am I feeling?
- What have I learned since starting my internship?
- What has changed in my life since the start of my internship?
- What has been challenging for me?
- What has been exciting or uplifting for me?
READ: "Each of Us Is An Artist"
Each of us in an artist
Whose task it is to shape life
Into some semblance of the pattern
We dream about. The molding
Is not of self alone, but of shared
Tomorrow and times we shall never see.
So let us be about our task.
The materials are very precious
and perishable.
— Arthur Graham
ACT: Looking Forward
Go back to your spiritual practice. If you’ve been practicing regularly, GREAT! If you haven’t, that’s okay too. It can be a long process to integrate these kinds of practices into our lives. Some of us have been working on them for decades and still struggle to maintain a regular practice!
This week, while doing your practice, hold in the back of your mind the idea of setting an intention for the rest of your internship. An intention is different than a goal. One way to think about it is like a horizon, something which guides you and shifts over time, but which one never fully reaches. Stay with this idea, and see what comes to you.
If something comes, what is that intention? Is it clear?
Share & Discuss
As all weeks, we encourage you to post your thoughts and/ or reactions on Facebook and/or Google Drive.
I also invite you to bring your intention to your supervisor, liaison, intern partner – or someone you trust. Discuss ways you can work going forward with that intention in mind.
BONUS: Share Pictures!
Have you been taking any pictures of your internship experience? Do you mind if UUCSJ shares them on our social media? Feel free to post them (as few or as many as you wish) on Facebook or Google Drive, or send them directly to me via email.