Drawn to ‘student-friendly’ museum and it’s committee is youth rep Terry
His goal: ‘get more people involved, interested in Town’s history’
Robert Edmund Terry III, 2023-24 youth representative for Farragut’s Museum Committee, said he is hoping, through his involvement, to encourage interest in the Town and its history.
Terry, a rising senior with CAK Homestudy, is a Farragut resident who has been interested in serving on a Town committee, and specifically the Museum Committee, for some time.
“I’ve always wanted to serve on a city council,” he said. “Public service is a family value; I like history. I have never cared for memorizing dates and such, but I love studying why events happened.
“We would go to the Farragut Museum at least once a year,” he added. “I like the events that the Town hosts, like the play the committee sponsored for Black History Month. It was very student-friendly.”
However, he noted, “There were very few young people present. The committee is trying really hard to engage the Town with its heritage. I want to be a part of that.”
Terry also volunteered to serve on the Battle of Campbell Station commemoration sub-committee.
Terry said he applied to be considered for the Town Municipal Planning Commission last year, “because I wanted to see how the Town approved developments. I thought about the Museum Committee, but was afraid that I wouldn’t make a good docent.
“I decided to reconsider the Museum Committee after I visited one of their meetings for a school assignment,” he added.
Terry said his goal as youth representative “is to get more people involved and interested in the Town’s history. There are a lot of transplants that have no idea of what happened in the Farragut/Concord area. Historic knowledge creates a sense of pride and citizenship.
“I was also thinking that we could start a program in the schools to maybe get students involved,” he added. “The committee is planning a memorial (this fall) for The Battle of Campbell Station. I hope to approach area Tennessee history teachers for student involvement.”
As a student with CAK Homestudy, Terry attends the Thursday Connection Cooperative, where he is part of its Student Council. He also takes online classes and served as a Boy’s State delegate earlier this summer.
As for his future plans, Terry said he is applying for an early decision at Sewanee, the University of the South.
“I am undecided on my major; however, my goal is to work for a government agency,” he added. “I participated in Joint Science and Technology Institute last summer and was one of 43 students chosen to work with a DOD Defense Threat Reduction Agency internship in Baltimore.
“I would love to work as an intelligence officer someday.”
In his free time, Terry is interesting in flying and hopes to obtain his pilot’s licence before he graduates high school. He also is a member of Teen Board of Knoxville, is editor of the James White Society, Children of the American Revolution newsletter and is in Civil Air Patrol. He is the son of Andre and Robert Terry Jr.
