Vanessa Vasconcelos interviews editors, April 19

After a victorious trip to LA to the National Scholastic Press Association High School Journalism Convention, April 14-16, The Feather brought home the NSPA 2016 Online Pacemaker to the Central Valley.

Not only did the staff receive support from FC, but they also gained attention from a local news station. The team welcomed reporter Vanessa Vasconcelos from ABC30 into the classroom Tuesday morning, April 19. The visit consisted of interviews with the Co-Editors-in-Chief of The Feather and adviser, Greg Stobbe.

Stobbe appreciated the opportunity for exposure and change of pace. He hopes it will prove beneficial for the staff and help them receive encouragement from the community.

“We are honored to have ABC30 in The Feather lab this morning,” Stobbe said. “Most of the time it’s The Feather staffers who are conducting the interview, shooting the photos and videos. What a bonus to be on the side of interviewee.”

Co-Editor-in-Chief Josh Carter, ‘16, saw the chance to be interviewed as an advantage not only for the current staff, but for the students who may join in the future.

“The opportunity to be interviewed by ABC30 was a real privilege,” Carter said. “It was nice that the team was finally honored after an entire year of seeking excellence. Hopefully with this event, we can encourage the rest of our staff to keep on giving their best in the years to come.”

It was awesome that The Feather was recognized by our local news station, ABC30, for our hard work and successes of winning the Pacemaker. It is an honor that we are going to be on the news as a feature, I can wait to watch it! My hope is that the viewers will be enticed to check out our website so that we can reach more people locally. This makes me even more excited for what next year will bring. — Jenny King

New to the staff, Sam Cross, ‘19, enjoyed the chance the class was given to receive recognition and felt all the hard work paid off.

“Having ABC30 come to the journalism lab this morning was really cool and a great experience,” Cross said. “It’s definitely beneficial to be recognized for the efforts the journalism team has put into this year. Through our work being recognized, it also benefits the topics we have written on. However, it came as a surprise to me because I thought that few people in the local area read or recognized our work for The Feather.”

Jennifer King, ‘17, News Editor, felt the attention from local media will be profitable for years to come and help to broaden The Feather’s audience.

“It was awesome that The Feather was recognized by our local news station, ABC30, for our hard work and successes of winning the Pacemaker,” King said. “It is an honor that we are going to be on the news as a feature, I can wait to watch it! My hope is that the viewers will be enticed to check out our website so that we can reach more people locally. This makes me even more excited for what next year will bring.”

Stobbe concluded that the visit from ABC30 was valuable for his students in the way it demonstrated journalism in a professional setting.

“I liked how the students were able to see how a professional crew conduct a video package and that they are doing much the same work as their counterparts who do this for a living,” Stobbe said. “My kids deserve this attention this week and I am so glad the editors and production crew of a local TV station came out to share Fresno Christian journalism to the Central Valley.”

The Feather would like to thank ABC30 and Vanessa Vasconcelos for covering The Feather Online and featuring our Editors-in-Chief on their 4 o’clock news. Check out their website at abc30.com and follow them on Twitter @ABC30 and on Instagram @abc30_actionnews.

For more features, read AP Euro travels to Legion of Honor, examines art.

ABC30 Action News spent 45 minutes with The Feather staff, interviewing the editors-in-chief and adviser Greg Stobbe. While normally the staff is divided into three periods, the entire staff sat in with the reporter and videographer. Many of the staff had an extra period of publications but also watched a professional crew ‘do their thing’.

Please take the time to watch the ABC30 feature story and leave a comment on their site.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @_OliviaLoren_ and via email: Olivia Quebe.