DEAR CREDO SENIORS AND FAMILIES

Thank you for saying Yes to the Credo High Senior Solo in these strange Covid times. This is a rich and real opportunity to honor the transition you are encountering as a family. You seniors are preparing to launch into the world and your families are preparing to let you go.

Throughout time and around the world, different cultures have recognized the importance of helping young people make the passage from adolescence to young adulthood. Around the world this transition has been marked by rites of passage ceremonies. These rites challenged the young person in ways that they were forced to face themselves, thus discovering their own inner dilemmas and ways of handling them. In the process they would also uncover their unique gifts for their people. In the latter part of the rite the initiate would go through a pivotal witnessing wherein the elders and the larger community would acknowledge the new adult in their selfhood and in their new capacity and responsibility as an adult in the community. New privileges and responsibilities were bestowed at this time.

In numerous cultures these rites of passage into adulthood included a prolonged period of solitude, fasting and immersion with wild nature. In addition to the somewhat well known vision quest traditions of various Native American peoples, solitude in the wilderness has been a part of the passage into adulthood for Australian Aborigines, the Basque in Spain and many others. This kind of questing in nature is also found in prominent places in our biblical heritage. Thus, it is into these widespread and long practiced footsteps that we step as we head off for our Senior Solo. Our own practices are in many ways contemporary and modern, but they are rooted in archetypal human traditions and the need to have the next generation step forward to accept the blessing and the work of their family and community.

 

Here are a few steps for you to take in the coming days and weeks. Imagine how to set yourself up well to give these your full attention, as if your own life depends on it. Perhaps it does…

  • Consider these questions posed in the Student Questionnaire or the Parent Questionnaire, and respond by April 29 before our first call together.
  • Review and become familiar with the Youth Passageways’ Cross-Cultural Protocols in Rites of Passage (CCP).
  • Mark your calendars for the times ahead:
    • April 29 and May 13, 5:30-6:30pm, Two 60 minute intro calls to prep the ground for the work ahead
    • Monday, May 24, for a 75 minute call to prep for the first solo walk
    • Tuesday, May 25 @ 9am, 60 minute in-person gathering, Credo Community Send Off + solo day walk
    • Wednesday, May 26, 75 minute call + solo sunset walk
    • Thursday, May 27, 75 minute call + solo night walk
    • Friday, May 28, 75 minute call + solo sunrise walk
    • Saturday, May 29 @ 10am, 60 minute in-person gathering, Credo Community Welcome Home
    • May 30 – Monday, June 7, student follow up and support, if needed. Guide team debrief and closure.
  • You will be challenged. Are you ready?
    • Your decision to sign up represents a commitment to yourself and to us. Our deposit policy is policies are designed to support you with this commitment and to make it possible for us to schedule guides and prepare for the Senior SOLO. Having done this for many years, we can tell you that it is common, even appropriate, for people to feel some fear and resistance before stepping into the unknown realms of the inner or outer wilderness. It is especially common for these feelings and concerns to arise as our time together gets closer. During your preparation time, life may present significant obstacles (real as well as imagined, inner as well as outer), and it may seem impossible for you to proceed with your Senior SOLO. These apparent obstacles arise quite commonly and we believe that they are an important part of the experience, serving to help you become more clear on what your journey means to you and paving the way in your life for the insights and growth you will be bringing back to your family and community. Please keep this in mind when you register and as you show up for this. As challenges naturally arise, you’ll learn to recognize and work with them as allies in your life.

We are very much looking forward to meeting you and working with you across this next threshold.

 

Sincerely,

Scott, Jett and Dave

YouthPassageways.org

WildernessReflections.com