Engaging the Next Generation

When my youngest son Nathan attended New Tech High at Coppell, he became interested in the Civil War. Together we began searching for records for his great-great-great grandfather, William Edward Peters from Marshall County, Alabama who was a Union soldier for Co. M, 12th Tennessee Calvary.

Little did I know a passion would be ignited to continue researching my family history. Now that my four children are young adults and out on their own, I wish we would have spent more time discussing our family history.

Needing additional guidance in genealogy research I reached out to my grandmother, Betty Ross Crook who serves as an officer of the Central Texas Genealogical Society in Waco. She encouraged me to begin by searching Fold3.com for military records and FamilySearch.org. She also suggested to join the Texas State Genealogy Society (TxSGS). Their annual conference was held in Dallas that year which I eagerly attended.

While attending the TxSGS Conference banquet in 2016 the Writing Awards were presented. It was then I realized my children could have engaged in the Student Writing Contest. Since then, my goal has been to involve Coppell High School students with DGS and TxSGS.

On January 11, 2020 three Coppell High School sophomore students attended a DGS sponsored DNA program at the Cozby Library in Coppell. These students from KCBY-TV’s weekly student-run television program recorded, edited and produced the program, What Your Ancestors Didn’t Tell You: Getting the Most from Your DNA Results.

Immersing ourselves in our family history can be contagious. Sharing our discoveries with our family can become the beginning of the next generation’s preparation to take the baton.

Perhaps you might consider reaching out to your (community’s) school administration to engage their students in genealogy and family history research. I did. They loved it!

KCBY-TV is produced weekly and reaches an audience of 6,000.