This is unquestionably a special season in your son or daughter's life and not only do we want to honor them for their accomplishments, we also want to carve out some meaningful time with them to celebrate our journey together and prepare them for these all-important next life steps.

I firmly believe that ministry with High School Seniors is one of the most important efforts in all of youth ministry, and after many years of keeping this a priority in groups I've worked with, I'm not about to do any less for the largest and most involved graduating class we've had at ORUMC! Will you help me?

If there are no hard conflicts with these, PLEASE consider encouraging your student to participate. Again, in my experience I can promise you will be glad they made this time for themselves, and their presence will benefit peers and ORUMC as a whole greatly.

SUNDAY MAY 15 - GRADUATION SUNDAY

We will recognize our graduating seniors in BOTH services (students decide which one they would like to be honored in), then we'll follow it up with a nice lunch together at the church. Recognition will include information listed in bulletin, slideshow mix of childhood pictures and youth ministry group shots, and a special time of prayer/"send-off" for those in attendance. Recent activity in the youth ministry is NOT a requirement for recognition, we are excited to celebrate anyone who considers ORUMC home!

Notes:

We NEED participation in planning, music, speaking for this. For those not comfortable sharing in person, a brief personal recording of what ORUMC has meant to them is always welcome!

We really want to make this a service that both honors the Seniors and one that the Seniors/Families take over to show ORUMC the incredible growth this class has undertaken here!

We NEED information and Pictures!!! Would need the following by May 8 at the latest:

To be featured in the Graduation Sunday program, newsletter or NW Observer, we'll need name, parents' names, school graduating from and any details on their fall plans that you would like to share. Also a headshot/senior pic that we can feature!

To be recognized in the Graduation Sunday Video/Slideshow, please select 5-8 pictures from baby to present to be featured in the slideshow we'll put together.

MONDAY JUNE 5 - THU JUNE 9 - SENIOR BEACH RETREAT

(If there are needs for joining us late or leaving early, we can work with that!)

We typically go anywhere from Wrightsville Beach down to Kiawah, depending which housing arrangement we get nailed down.

This retreat is SO special, has been an incredible opportunity to unwind, hear encouragement from the Lord, and support each other in the excitement and uncertainty of the next phase of our lives. We provide a custom-made student devotional and a few other meaningful surprises as we finish the season of "our youth trips" with a bang.

If you plan to come, go ahead and let Harrison know!!! Reply to this email or register online here!

We'd LOVE chaperone help! For this trip we typically bring in older college/young adult chaperones who can share about their recent transition to post-high school life, but there's always a need for additional adult help so that we can safely take our trips. Please reach out if interested or have suggestions.

We try to highlight our seniors and their info every year in Oak Ridge UMC's Summer Newsletter. Occasionally we are able to do this with NW Observer as well. As listed above for Graduation Sunday, to recognize your senior we'll need name, parents' names, school graduating from, any details on their fall plans that you would like to share, and also a headshot/senior pic that we can feature!

We need this info by May 8 at the latest!!!