Colter Sienkiewicz

Colter Sienkiewicz of Livingston, Montana, is a member of the 2022-2023 American Battlefield Trust Youth Leadership Team.

For his capstone project, he hopes to create a virtual tour and virtual museum for the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Big Timber, Montana.

“My grandfather is from Belarus, but after WWII he and his parents fled to America and settled in Princeton, New Jersey. Ever since I was little, we both loved trying to piece together our family's story. In fifth grade, my class did a project on the important role immigration played in shaping our country. My grandfather and I made a short video documenting his experiences. We found the Ellis Island archives from 1950 and found the manifest of the ship on which my grandfather arrived. We also traced my grandfather's voyage from his home in what was then the Soviet Union through Eastern Europe, East and West Germany to the port of Bremerhaven, where he and his parents boarded the USS General Black, a repurposed troop carrier from the war, headed to Ellis Island. Creating this project with my grandad was the start of my love for history. I loved being a detective and discovering facts and stories about my past that I had never known. Furthermore, I loved learning about history, because the more I understand about our past, the more the world around me made sense." - Colter Sienkiewicz