The American Battlefield Trust has selected 10 high school students from across the country for its first Youth Leadership Team. Among the selections was Gloucester’s own Owen Lanier, a junior at Gloucester High School.

 “They started with 55 applicants and by the end it was down to us 10,” Lanier said. Applicants went through a question-and-answer process as well as writing an essay on their opinions of the importance of historic preservation.

Lanier explained, “I wrote about how, just growing up in Gloucester County, we’re surrounded by so much history that it’s a shame to watch battlefields and our history disappear.”

The junior’s essay was enough to separate him from the other applicants and earn a spot on the leadership team, something Lanier feels will help him pursue his passions of history and political science after high school.

“My passion is history but my secondary passion, which I want to go get an education fo...