
Veterans Day prompts campus wide discussion
With Veterans Day just past and the deadliest year of California wildfires ending, many may consider the qualities of a hero. Fresno Christian students and teachers weigh in on this question.

Each Veterans Day week, Paul Loeffler interviews a WWII veteran during chapel. Bryson Graham, ’21, reflects on the heroic qualities of this year’s vet, George Poplin, and of CalFire firefighters. For Graham, perseverance and self-sacrifice are two important heroic traits.
“George Poplin powered through his disability,” Graham said. “He accepted the challenge and committed himself to power through it. They [firefighters] put themselves in front of other people and put their lives on the line to try to save other people, and not think of themselves but focus on their job.”
For both soldiers and firefighters, staying calm and solving problems at hand are crucial parts of the job. CalFire firefighter Chris Reneau, who fights wildfires in Madera and Mariposa counties since 2006, says he looked up to the heroism of police, fire, EMS, and military personnel as a kid.
“Dealing with setbacks, I feel heroes don’t get as frustrated to a max as some other people might,” Reneau said. “The process of thinking through the issue, what needs to be done, being cool, calm and collected is the main thing someone as a hero or in the line of that work does. We like to say it’s like a duck: the duck looks calm on top of the water but his feet are swimming super fast underneath. We got to keep that composure on our faces if some type of incident is going on.”
Even for teens who don’t see military or first responders as their biggest heroes, traits of perseverance and determination are still admired. Ronald Peterson, ’19, looks up to retired NFL wide-receiver Wes Welker, as Welker overcame naysayers and continued setbacks.
“I believe the most important traits for a hero to have are courage, humility, and patience,” Peterson said. “I believe patience to be the most important trait because nothing ever comes easy or fast, and in order to be seen as a hero or just a well-respected person, you must have patience. One of my heroes is Wes Welker. He was a receiver in the NFL, and no matter what anyone said to him about how he was too short or too small he was patient and kept going until he was able to complete his dream of being a receiver in the NFL.”

The Feather staff asked the high school, “Who do you look up to?” in a recent poll. Of 131 responses, 18% said their hero is a sports celebrity. But the most popular response (38%) was that people looked up to family members.
Annabelle Messer, ’20, explained why her grandma is her hero. For Messer, selflessness and humility are crucial characteristics of heroes.
“A hero in my life is probably my Grams,” Messer said. “She is my hero because she always puts others before herself and always helps me when I need it. I think the most important traits of a hero is selflessness and humility because a hero should always put others before themselves even if it is hard. They should not be boastful and show off that they are great, but be humble.”
Messer is not alone in looking up to an elder, as 93% of students stated their hero is older than them. Because of FCS’s K-12 campus, Terry Richards, junior high Bible and science teacher, believes every high-schooler has elementary students looking up to them. Richards encourages high school students to act with integrity and set a good example.
“Students are always a hero to anybody younger than them,” Richards said. “Elementary boys particularly, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade are looking up to high school guys, and junior high guys too. They want to be like them. They like to see what is going on, they want to be like them, and so they watch them carefully. It’s important for the high school guys to be a person of integrity.”
So how can students display heroism in everyday life? Abdiel Pagan, youth pastor at Peoples Church’s The Chase, shares his opinion. Pagan, who moved to Fresno in August 2016, says all heroes accept a mindset of humility.

“I automatically go to this passage of Scripture, John 15:13, when I think of the word hero,” Pagan said. “Jesus says, ‘Greater love has no one than this, then to lay down one’s life for one’s friend’. I think if we wake in the morning every day, if students get up every day in the morning, and they decide in that moment: today I’m going to live with a mindset of humility.”
Heroism begins when a person develops humility. Pagan believes this mindset sets heroes apart from others.
“I’m going to live with a mindset of laying my life down,” Pagan continued. “I think that that’s where it starts. Once you begin to have the mindset how do I lay my life down, you’ll begin to see the opportunities for when you can lay your life down. I believe that once we decide to have that mindset of laying our life down, to be a hero, then we begin to see opportunities to be a hero.”
So what makes a person a hero? Must someone’s hero know them personally or is heroism more about courageous deeds? Is it possible for someone to be a hero for someone older than them? Comment your opinion below.
This author can be reached via email: Bryce Foshee.
For more articles, read: Campus begins accreditation process or COLUMN: Sophomore mourns over loss of friend, pt. 2.