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Engaging Youth in Family History — Schmink Christopher Richard Bieneman
Edited August 10, 2020 at 12:47 PM
ast year our stake Primary held an A-days camp, and one of the major activities involved rotating the girls through the FHC for a presentation. It was geared to their level, with very little discussion of tree construction, sources and rules for sourcing, etc. We would have lost them in the first three minutes. Instead, we highlighted some interesting things about some Memories associated with the grandfather of a FHC staff member who was never a member of the Church, but had some very special experiences (both good and bad) in his life - personally knowing and working for Thomas Edison, and then going off to a special and little-known assignment during WWI that didn't actually end until a year after the actual end of WWI in Siberia.
The emphasis for the girls was on getting to know who those "old dead people" are in old family photos. Because of some really neat things in the grandfather's life, along with some actual objects that exist today yet came from the events lived by that grandfather (including photos of a ring worn on Christmas day 1919 in Siberia, and currently being worn by the FHC staff member today), the girls were encouraged to imagine it was their relative, and that something in THOSE relatives' lives was equally interesting about them. The girls were able to imagine that, and were exceptionally attentive to the presentation that included lots of interaction with the girls.
As a result of that A-days camp, three particular girls really stood out as being interested, and have not stopped their involvement with temple and family history work using FamilySearch. But the real excitement came in the mail today from one of the girls who tracked down our address (we're in another ward) and wrote us a letter because she says she misses us from that day. I'd like to share exactly what one 11 year old girl shared with us as her experience:
To read the rest of their experiences please follow the link to see the rest of the story... https://community.familysearch.org/s/feed/0D54V00004yA1mt?fromEmail=1&s1oid=00D30000001b00H&s1nid=0DB30000000TNLA&s1uid=0053A00000DeQFg&s1ext=0&emkind=chatterGroupDigest&emtm=1597559030689