It all began in June of 1995 when my husband Rick, my daughter Shannon, and I attended a Star Trek convention in Chicago with some friends. As we were touring the fan club tables we stumbled upon one representing a chapter of the International Federation of Trekkers. Each of us was impressed with the IFT’s mission of preserving and promoting the ideals of Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future.

I picked up an application for each member of my family and; after a couple of months thought, we filled them out and sent them in. On September 25, 1995 the Appleby family became official members serving aboard the USS T'hy'la, the IFT’s chapter for those without one in their area. In that day and age of early 1996 we had yet to have a computer in our home, so unfortunately our involvement with the T’hy’la was limited.

Shannon was thirteen years old then and would soon enter the Eighth grade. Fortunately for us, her Junior High School was equipped with modern day computers. After writing to IFT President, Russ Haslage, we learned that at the time there were no chapters in our state but we were welcome to start one.

Since she was still a minor, Shannon was unable to be the Commanding Officer of our venture in the beginning. We started our chapter with my husband, Rick, in Command and Shannon at his side as Executive Officer.

After a couple of months events of the real world would prevent Rick from being the coordinator of our newly formed club, a chapter without a name. That’s when I took the conn, although still having the rank of Ensign.

In January of 1997, we all discussed names for our then four month old ship. Having only three members, we were only a shuttle in those days. We considered several names, among them were: Sheridan (the last name of a General and the name of the road we live on) and Southport (what our city used to be called, because we have a natural harbor in the southeast corner of Wisconsin).

When it came time to christen our efforts we decided to name it after the city we live in, Kenosha the English spelling of the Potawautomee word "kenozia", which means "pike", the fish that provided for the Native American way of life in Wisconsin until the early settler days (around 1835). So, there it was, the USS Kenosha NFC-9707 was realized.

At that stage of the game Shannon wasn’t fond of writing as much and so she asked me to take over her duties as Communications Officer. Rick became the Chief of Security. Soon our local library would install new computers and I was finally able to file my reports via e-mail.

In the early Spring of 1999, I received a letter from Ginger Minick. Apparently IFT’s Federation Council had liked my monthly reports and I was being considered for my region’s new GEO Commander. I was shocked to say the least.

That April I wrote to both Russ and Ginger, telling them that I had accepted the position. Ginger was very delighted with my decision. Shortly thereafter I was then promoted to the rank of Captain. Imagine that, I went from being an Ensign to a Captain in one day!

My daughter and I then began pulling double duties; in addition to being the Kenosha’s Executive Officer I was now in charge of representing IFT in our three state region. And Shannon was not only the C.O. aboard our chapter but had also become my X.O. with GEO 14.

Since then I’ve been promoted to Fleet Captain in recognition of my service record. Along with IFT Director of Ship’s Services, Marva Imel, I have enjoyed helping to bring several new chapters into GEO 14. Now is an exciting time to join the International Federation of Trekkers. Won’t you start a chapter in your town?