Twenty-year-old Gedeon Bring places a vintage Kodak Pony 135 on a shelf. The small layer of dust covering it and vivid, detailed descriptions on the paper beside it give a small preview into the history of the city of Coppell.
The next day, he is sitting in a classroom at Baylor University in Waco learning about museum studies.
A couple hours later, he strikes the surface of a drum set for the Izaiah Forman Music group.
This is the average week-to-week life of Bring.
Bring’s interest in the past began early in his life.
“I have always really loved history, even from a young age,” Bring said. “When I was a child, my mom would take me to museums very often. I grew up in that atmosphere.”
Bring’s start at the museum was not typical.
“I first met Gedeon at the Coppell Historical Museum in August of 2023,” said museum intern Alyssa Gray, a Coppell High School senior. “We actually found Gedeon at the Fourth of July Parade. He saw our float that year and was like ‘I want to do this.’ He showed up later and was like, ‘Hey, I am here to volunteer.”
Currently, Bring interns at the Coppell Historical Museum, curating artifacts, giving tours and learning about the history of the city.
“He is really good at curating exhibits and doing the research,” Gray said. “That is something he really enjoys. He will sit down and crank out an exhibit. He will sit down in one day and do all the research needed, create the document, print it and hang it.”
Putting together the story cultivates his curiosity for engaging in the local community.
“There are a lot of different resources on Coppell history,” Bring said. “Most of them are very sparse, so I often have to piece together a lot of information. I take that information and put together a narrative. I start writing and I think, ‘What do people want to learn?’ or ‘Are there any cool stories that I can highlight?”
In his free time, Gedeon plays the drums for the Colton Hamilton Band and the Izaiah Forman Music group. Through these activities, he expresses emotions and bonds with other bandmates over similar interests.
Izaiah Forman, 18, met Gedeon at camp in 2025.
“There is a kids camp called Kids Who Rock Camp, and I had the honor of being asked to volunteer,” Forman said. “I told the kids about what I do and my performances and my experience, and Gedeon was there volunteering as well. I got to know Gedeon more and after the camp ended, I played a few gigs. I needed another drummer, so I reached out to Gedeon. He was the man.”
Bring puts his all into every performance with the band, contributing to the overall energy of the group.
“I tell them about a thing I call the crowd-o-meter,” Forman said. “You can sense the crowd is losing their attention, and while I am playing the guitar, I can kind of feel that we need to change this up. Gedeon has a fantastic crowd-o-meter.”
This constant in his life gives him a high no matter the situation. This sparked a force that drives his passions at both the museum and in the band.
“I get to entertain people,” Bring said. “I get to bring smiles to people’s faces, and much like what I do at the museum, I aim to provide people with some laughter, some entertainment and a little spark of joy in their lives. That same mindset has very much fueled me to become involved with the museum, to continue playing music and to continue getting better.”
Music and history are not isolated. For Gedeon, what is learned in one area can shape how the other is approached.
“There is a lot of history in music, and with us shining light on all the different genres, you can hear the distinct periods of time,” Forman said. “Knowing the history of music makes you appreciate history in general.”
For the museum, Bring wrote a book, The Museums of Dallas-Forth Worth and Beyond. He has also been working on a book called Maxwell’s Trouble on the Mound, a fictional story inspired by his middle school and high school life.
“It combines all the things that he loves,” Gray said. “He grew up playing baseball, so the main character gets into baseball. It combines his love for music and even takes his own personal life and adds elements like me into there. It is for middle grade readers, so his goal was to write a book that other kids could relate to.”
