I was most pleased when I read this morning that Brad Jencks won a $10,000 scholarship award as one of 52 students 
nationwide to win the 2009 AXA Achievement Scholarship, in association with U.S. News and World Report. Brad is one of several teenage genealogists in Utah that we’re justifiably proud of. I came into contact with Brad when introduced to him by my friends, Starr and Hailey Campbell. A little later, he wrote an article for the March-April edition of the Genealogical Helper entitled “An Old Historic Ghost Town Cemetery is Brought Back to Life,” about his cemetery project in the Bingham City Cemetery. I’ll see what I can do about getting that article reprinted on this blog in the next day or two… Following is the news release on Brad’s latest achievement.
Apr 29, 2009 (The Salt Lake Tribune – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) Despite the troubled economic times, paying for college just got easier for at least one local student. Bingham High School senior Brad Jencks is the Utah winner of the 2009 AXA Achievement Scholarship, in association with U.S. News and World Report.
Brad is one of 52 students nationwide – one from each state plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico – to win the $10,000 scholarship.
“I was in shock, literally speechless,” Brad said. “I read the paperwork again to make sure it wasn’t a mistake.”
Recipients of the scholarship are graduating high school seniors “who demonstrated ambition and drive, determination to set and reach goals and the ability to succeed in college,” according to an AXA Achievement Scholarship release.
Brad has exemplified each of those things.
The teen has dedicated much of the past five years of his life to improving the Bingham City Cemetery and researching the lives of those buried there.
When the project began, his intention was to dedicate 100 hours in pursuit of his Eagle. He has since donated more than 6,000 hours to cemetery projects.
With the help of more than 2,000 volunteers, Brad replaced and preserved grave markers, discovered the identities of some 1,100 unknown burials, wrote a 1,500-page historical book about the cemetery, authored a military war hero book, and installed a “wall of honor” for 1,825 burials, a new fence, an information center and a monument honoring veterans of six years.
He has created a job for himself as Lead Cemetery Research Specialist and oversees a five-person team that works to answer international genealogical and research inquiries regarding those buried at the cemetery.
Through Brad’s project, “Connecting Families Across the Globe,” the South Jordan senior helps living people from about 30 nations find common relatives at the Bingham City Cemetery and learn more about their ancestors’ heritage.
“People e-mail us, and we are able to answer questions, provide them with the name of their ancestor, and even living relatives,” Brad said. “I find it rewarding to say to someone ‘Yes, I have information about your ancestor, your heritage, and I have met with and interviewed your living relatives.”
Brad – he hopes to become an oral surgeon someday – leads the effort free of charge and plans to continue this work throughout his life.
Passionate about genealogy, Brad is not a typical teen.
“[Brad] showed me and the world that one kid can make a difference in the lives of many,” said Lori Jencks, Brad’s mother. “When he started interacting with people in foreign countries about his research, it was the spark that lit the flame and it fueled the desire to continue this long-term project … Watching him unite others in a love for people worldwide that they had never met warmed my heart.”
For Brad, befriending people across the globe and contributing to genealogical research has been reward enough. The $10,000 was icing on the cake.
“I never started the project with awards or money in mind,” Brad said. “In fact, it is hard for me to be in the spotlight. I was a kid who saw a need, and I wanted to make a difference … It was an awesome feeling to receive this scholarship. It proved to me that there are organizations that honor students who donate their time and talents to a cause greater than self, not just highest ACT score in the country.”
