Youth Leadership Team 2023-2024
The American Battlefield Trust is excited to introduce our fourth Youth Leadership Team!
The American Battlefield Trust Youth Leadership Team (YLT) is a rotating group of 10-14 young people, aged 15-18, who serve as the youth face and voice of the American Battlefield Trust. Youth Leadership Team members are required to become experts on the Trust’s mission, history, and media talking points, participate in a youth Lobby Day and create preservation, education, or visitation projects in their local communities over the course of one year.
By supporting this group of motivated young leaders, we hope to create a ripple effect for battlefield preservation, visitation, history education in our nation. Our goal is for young people to connect and empower each other to create change within their own schools and communities.
My project is discovering the histories of soldiers who served in the War of 1812 in my local community, compiling oral histories from families/descendants, and creating a museum exhibit detailing the stories and providing recognition.
“I’m excited to meet and work with others who are just as passionate as I am about preserving our history and recognizing the importance history has on our future.”
I will be researching the lives/backgrounds of a few individuals who were at the battle at the North Bridge in Concord and plan to put on an exhibition profiling these individuals.
“Not only am I able to tap into my personal love and interest of history, but I also get to give back to my community by educating and informing people of the local heroes who fought at the battle that started the American Revolution.”
I hope to create a documentary about the New England Civil War Museum focusing on the citizen soldier, emphasizing the importance of artifact and battlefield preservation.
“Often, it's hard to get young people interested in history. I look forward to making history relatable by retelling the personal stories of the citizen-soldier. The citizen-soldiers were everyday people, like you and I, who enlisted knowing that if they survived, they would return to being civilians. I try to imagine what it was like for them to leave their families behind to fight in lands far away from their homes. Working with the Trust can help me gain a better understanding of that personal relationship with history.”
I will be creating an “Honoring the Revolutionary War” event.
“I was drawn to working with the Trust because my grandparents would often tell me about their struggles and why they wanted to move to the US. This highlighted the value of opportunity and the freedoms that exist in this nation, and I believe it's so important to know about the foundation our country was built on, which the battlefields perfectly represent!”
I hope to work to clean the Griswoldville Battlefield site, improve its outward facilities, and request signage that helps people know this place exists.
“I’m looking forward to helping more middle Georgians know about this civil war battlefield in their own backyard.”
My project endeavors to establish a platform that not only pays homage to the Native American inhabitants of this region but also seeks to illuminate any noteworthy role that Texas might have played during the Civil War. The objective is to garner recognition for these historical facets and foster a deeper understanding of Texas' historical narrative.
“I firmly believe that as a dedicated American citizen, it is incumbent upon me to value, safeguard, uphold, and conserve the illustrious history of our nation. These essential aspects deserve to be safeguarded and passed down to forthcoming generations.”
My battlefield project serves to educate. I intend to hold interviews with educators to learn more about specific wars. Using this information, I will create presentations and hold sessions to educate students about the lesser-known battles of the Civil War. I also plan to work and arrange a trip to the Battle of Galveston that took place during the Civil War. Additionally, since I play the violin, I plan to compose pieces that can bring out the feelings of these wars and publish them on YouTube. Through these efforts, I hope for others to think of their knowledge of these battlefields as a glimpse throughout history and further inspire a better future for their peers and fellow citizens.
“The prospect of getting to see others find their ancestry, heritage, and own background because of a preserved battlefield or conserved property is truly exciting, and it reminds me of the prevalence of history in our daily lives.”
I want to create a presentation on the Battle of Picacho Peak and share it with my school district; having it be presented in the history classes..
“I want to help educate others about the sacrifices made by those who came before us.”
My project is to help revitalize the Burning of Kingston reenactment by helping to modernize their website and to help bring in new people to his historical event.
“I’m excited to be part of this program because I have long admired what the American Battlefield Trust has been working towards, and I have always thought it is very important to preserve the nation's battlefields.”
I plan on interviewing historians or activists from local historical organizations and turn the interviews into a documentary that introduces more people to the hollowed battlefields in NYC, such as the Brooklyn Battlefield or Fort Washington, as well as the story of minorities' involvement in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and the War of 1812.
“I want to ignite people's passion for American history and raise awareness for the importance of preserving historical sites, especially in the younger generation. It's easy for people to forget that those battles, alongside thousands of buried soldiers, paved the way for the buzzing New York City that we all call home today.”