A few months ago, some of the students I work with at the BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy told me about a “PowerPoint Night” activity they had participated in. They explained that for this activity, each person chose a topic of interest, created a short PowerPoint presentation, and then took turns presenting to the group.
About the same time, I had the opportunity to learn about an activity being offered by the BYU Library Family History Center called Aims in My Ancestry. The question driving this activity is “What can you learn from your ancestors that will help you in your BYU journey and in life?” The goal is to connect people with their family history, which has been shown to increase psychological well-being.
Each person participating in this activity completes the following steps:
- Choose an ancestor you want to learn more about. (May be living or deceased.)
- Search for stories from your ancestor’s life that illustrate one or more of the Aims of a BYU Education, which are spiritual strength, intellectual growth, moral character, and lifelong learning and service.
- Share what you have discovered with someone important to you.
The suggestion for sharing what you have discovered is to create a single-slide PowerPoint presentation to summarize your ancestor’s story and your reflections.
I chose my third great-grandmother, Paulina Eliza Phelps Lyman, as the subject of my presentation slide (created with Canva):
“Aunt Pliny,” as the residents of her Parowan, Utah, community called her, provided all the medical aid in the community and outlying Paiute villages for more than a generation, delivering babies, setting broken bones, vaccinating the community against smallpox, and more. She is memorialized by a statue in Heritage Park in Parowan, and on a mural in nearby Cedar City. The plaque on the mural states, “The children of Parowan never heard of the stork because they believed Paulina brought the babies in her black medical bag.”
Paulina didn’t formalize her medical training until she was in her 60s, receiving her official obstetrics license after completing a course directed by Dr. Ellis Shipp, Utah’s first certified female physician. Paulina was truly an example of lifelong learning and service. Her example motivates me to continue my personal educational pursuits and inspires me to seek to do good in my own community.
As I created this slide about my ancestor, the idea occurred to me that the Aims in My Ancestry initiative and the popular “PowerPoint Night” could be combined to create a meaningful activity for any group of teens or adults. If held at a local FamilySearch Center, computers would be accessible, and volunteers would be on hand to help participants navigate FamilySearch.org to find ancestor stories and photos. Consider having participants create a free Canva.com account or use Google Slides if PowerPoint isn’t available on the computers being used. Alternatively, participants could use the FamilySearch Tree app and Keynote or Google Slides to create their presentations on their smartphones.
The theme could be customized for the group, with participants centering their slide on how an ancestor demonstrated various principles or character traits. Here are a few ideas for themes:
Character traits from the VIA Institute on Character:
- Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence
- Bravery
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Fairness
- Forgiveness
- Gratitude
- Honesty
- Hope
- Humility
- Humor
- Judgment
- Kindness
- Leadership
- Love
- Love of Learning
- Perseverance
- Perspective
- Prudence
- Self-Regulation
- Social Intelligence
- Spirituality
- Teamwork
- Zest
Principles for successful families and marriages from the Family Proclamation:
- Faith
- Prayer
- Repentance
- Forgiveness
- Respect
- Love
- Compassion
- Work
- Wholesome recreational activities
The Relief Society Declaration:
- Increasing testimony of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study
- Seeking spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost
- Dedicating ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes
- Finding nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood
- Delighting in service and good works
- Loving life and learning
- Standing for truth and righteousness
- Sustaining the priesthood as the authority of God on earth
- Rejoicing in the blessing of the temple, understand our divine destiny, and strive for exaltation
Youth Guidebook: Four areas of growth:
- Spiritual
- Social
- Physical
- Intellectual
For the Strength of Youth Guide:
- Making Inspired Choices
- Allowing Jesus Christ to Help You
- Love God, Love Your Neighbor
- Walk in God’s Light
- Your Body is Sacred
- Truth will make you free
- Find joy in Jesus Christ
- Seeking and acting on personal revelation
- Ministering to others
- Standing as a witness of God at all times and in all places
- Strengthening home and family
- Keeping sacred covenants
- Receiving the ordinances of the temple
The Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Theme
- Serving others
- Exercising faith
- Repenting and improving each day
- Preparing to become a diligent missionary
- Preparing to become a loyal husband and loving father
- Being a true disciple of Jesus Christ
I would love to hear about your experience if you try this activity with a group. What was your theme, and how did it go?
