About Garrett

Biography

Garrett Mast has lived in Utah County for 3 ½ years and is pursuing a Family History degree from Brigham Young University. Last summer he married his wife, McKenna, who is also studying at BYU. He cares deeply about ensuring that government works efficiently and in the best interest of its citizens. He is also passionate about ensuring that records are easily and freely accessible.

Originally from Houston, Texas, Garrett has been active in his community from a young age, beginning with Boy Scouts. Throughout scouting, he learned the qualities of an upstanding citizen and leader. He worked to improve those qualities through serving in leadership positions in his troop and district. This included helping lead youth summer camps which ultimately resulted in the rank of Eagle Scout. When he was 16, Garrett joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the support of extended family members. Through the Church, he regularly served those suffering from the damage of the Gulf Coast’s many hurricanes.

Garrett has also been politically active since his youth. He volunteered to assist his local precinct chair run the neighborhood polling station as soon as he was eligible. Through various elections, he has provided his time to ensure his local area’s voting ran smoothly and even ran his precinct’s 2020 Republican Presidential Primary. Garrett makes sure that his vote is heard by voting in every eligible election. He believes local elections are especially important, as they can make some of the largest differences in the community.

After high school, Garrett chose to pursue further education at Brigham Young University. He initially studied technical theatre due to his love for the arts and even toured as the Sound Engineer of BYU’s Ballroom Dance Company. Eventually, his love for research, records, and history led him to family history. Through this program, he has gained invaluable skills not just in research and writing, but leadership, critical thinking, and problem-solving. He has also taken classes in leadership skills, GIS, and professional writing.

For the last 2 years, Garrett has served as the Project Supervisor of BYU’s Nauvoo Community Project. This project analyzes historic Nauvoo records to create a database of residents. In his time, he has worked with students and professors in the geography department to begin the creation of a land record database. This database will see the historic parcels of Nauvoo mapped in an interactive GIS database. In this project, Garrett has overseen a team of over 20 student researchers through database migrations and data loss. He regularly works with computer programmers and GIS mappers to ensure the project runs smoothly.

In his free time, Garrett enjoys playing tabletop and video games with his wife, entertaining their two cats (Lucy and Anna), playing hockey at Peaks Ice Arena, and enjoying Utah County’s amazing mountains.