Age maximum to attend youth activities

[drewolsey]

Good day friends.

Can anyone point me in the direction of where it might say in the handbook when a youth can no longer attend youth activities?

i.e. Are they required to stop attending when they turn 18? Or when they graduate? Or another time?

[russellhltn]

That transition seems to be rather fuzzy. YSA is defined as starting at 18, but it's not uncommon for students to graduate high school while still 17.

20.2.1 says "For information about planning ward youth activities, see 10.2.1.3 and 11.2.1.3.", which takes you to Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and Young Women.

Looking at those, they indicate that youth may move over starting at 18, but should transition by the time they are 19.

I didn't dig deeper to see if there's any ban on attending youth activities once transitioned, but I didn't see one.

[lajackson]

Or another time?

It would be unusual for a young man or woman to attend youth activities once they begin meeting with the young single adults, whenever that happens, usually between the ages of 18 and 19. The handbook seems quiet, but the bishop could certainly give guidance depending on the needs of the youth involved.

But everywhere I have lived, a person normally attends youth or YSA activities, not both. The beginning of YSA involvement is the determining factor.

[jsorens6]

As a bishop I always told the youth that they could attend through the end of the summer after they graduate high school at the latest. They had to choose whether they participated with YSA or youth though, not both.

[sbradshaw]

I don't see anything wrong with attending both youth activities and YSA activities during the transition time. The only requirement spelled out in the handbook is that they should be transitioned to adult classes and activities by the age of 19.

[BrianEdwards]

I don't see anything wrong with attending both youth activities and YSA activities during the transition time. The only requirement spelled out in the handbook is that they should be transitioned to adult classes and activities by the age of 19.

Agreed. For example, the language in GHB 11.4 uses phrases like "By age 19, each young woman should be fully participating in Relief Society," and "... to help each young woman successfully progress into Relief Society." This indicates that there may be a time when they are partially participating, as part of their progression into RS (or EQ) and by extension into a YSA program. I appreciate the option of having a phased transition that is tailored to the needs a particular youth, based on individual factors such as school, friends, personal readiness, etc.

[russellhltn]

As a bishop I always told the youth that they could attend through the end of the summer after they graduate high school at the latest. They had to choose whether they participated with YSA or youth though, not both.

That makes a lot of sense, but runs into a problem. In our area, children start school based on their age at the end of the calendar year.

Depending on the local school policy, you could have some high school graduates that won't turn 18 until as late as December 31. The Handbook indicates they can't be a YSA until they hit 18. I don't know how student singes wards handle this. Student wards are not defined in the Handbook.

[sbradshaw]

Depending on the local school policy, you could have some high school graduates that won't turn 18 until as late as December 31. The Handbook indicates they can't be a YSA until they hit 18. I don't know how student singes wards handle this.

When I was in a young single adult ward in Provo (almost 10 years ago now, but in the LCR era), records for 17-year-old students were transferred into the ward as youth. We had to watch for them, and manually move them into the Relief Society or elders quorum in Leader and Clerk Resources, so they'd show up on rolls, etc. That seemed like the best option, though it's not explicitly addressed in the handbook. As far as I know, none of the YSA wards in our stake maintained separate young men or young women organizations (though one of my YSA wards did have a primary, for the children of out-of-unit leaders where both parents were serving in the ward).

So-called "student wards" or (in Provo) "BYU wards" were discontinued around 2010, replaced by regular young single adult wards that happen to serve mostly students.

[russellhltn]

Kind of what I suspected. I do hope this transition gets a review and a Handbook update. The current process seems awkward.

However, I do wonder about potential legal complications that could arise out of mixing youth with adults without distinction.

And let's not forget the occasional student that skipped a grade and may only be 16.

[Liamtheknight]

In my experience, I had an interesting transition. I was given the option to remain in youth Sunday school classes up until the end of the year when I turned 18 (I was also the oldest out of my friend group). I ended up staying in youth classes until one of my friend's also turned 18 as well. This interestingly also made it a bit more convenient to teach classes since I was (technically) an adult there could be 1 teacher as I was an adult in the class. I was also involved with YSA activities before I turned 18 so I made several friends there before.

Fast forward to the end of the year when I got invited to FSY (along with a couple of others) not as a counselor but as a youth with was interesting. It was an interesting situation because while I was legally an adult I was in a group with my friends who would be turning 18 in the next 3 months. I pointed it out a couple of time (mostly to get a counselor room) but they used common sense. Overall it was an interesting experience to deal with from the leaders perspectives but it got dealt with, probably not entirely following the handbook but it got dealt with. Just a heads up from readers, I live in Australia.