Students discuss various aspects of Fresno Christian

Fresno Christian was established over 40 years ago and has strived to create an environment to raise up the next generation of world-changers. Fresno Christian is a pre-K through 12th-grade school with many opportunities for students to enjoy school with a Christian education.

Campus students can participate and often integrate into peer groups and clubs. Some clubs like California Scholarship Federation (CSF) are popular and have many participants. Others like Brother to Brother and Sister to Sister are not as well-known and are not recognized by many on campus.

The concert choir, a place to sing, bond and unite, has grown to a group with many members, an abundance of which of which are completely new to the choir at Fresno Christian. The group won many awards in march at the Anaheim Heritage Festival and received a gold rating for their performance. From that festival, the choir team plans on traveling to New York to sing at Carnegie Hall for the second time since the Bellezza ensemble went two years ago.

Member of the choir, Samantha Portale, ‘21, shares how she feels about the community and is looking forward to the high school choir’s trip to New York.

“I love being in the choir because I like the whole community and the feel of it,” Portale said. “One of my favorite songs we’re singing right now is ‘Brightest and the Best’ because the energy of it is very upbeat. At our last concert, we did a very good job and I think we are going to do an excellent job in New York when we perform at Carnegie Hall.”

Science teachers Dr. Karen Walters and Scott Bucher lead STEM Club, which is a scientifically-minded club that aims to expose participants to new things in an interesting and academic way. From experiments using rockets and a multitude of other things, STEM Club is a great place to learn. Advanced science classes go on trips to the aquarium and participate in many different labs throughout the year.

An avid science student, Cohl Obwald, ‘21, joined the STEM Club to pursue his passion for science. Obwald has taken part in many of the experiments and labs throughout the first semester.

“What I like most about the STEM club is getting to give ideas about what you want to do and the teachers will do their best to make sure you are able to try as many things as you can,” Obwald said. “It’s just a fun atmosphere. I’ve learned how to solder and about different animals and their different properties. At first, I did it just to try it out, but I made some friends and now I get to hang out with them at the same time.”

All campus students experience a biblically based education in hopes of living up to the ESLRs statement. Along with a Bible class and the opportunity to participate in FC student lead chapels, campus students are offered a Christ-centered schooling.

Angelica Escalera, ‘19, an FC student since the third grade has experienced much of what FCS has to offer and shares her love for the school. Escalera loves the FC community for the environment it allows her to thrive in.

“I love this school because of the small community,” Escalera said. “I love the opportunity to have more one on one time with teachers and we get to know everyone who we walk by in the hallways. I also like the how we have the freedom to talk about God in our daily lives at school and that we get to have chapels and a class dedicated to learning about God.”

Campus students are able to be involved in many things at the same time due to the small size of our school. Athletes are able to play three varsity sports in one year. With possible record-breaking numbers of athletes in basketball, students hope for a successful season.

Similarly, both boys and girls soccer teams experienced large turnout of athletes. Even while being a small school, FC athletics have still won numerous achievements. Most recently, football won the Valley championships and baseball won their first championship in school history last year.

A member of the campus soccer team, Angel Ruelas, ‘20, began playing soccer at a very young age. He especially enjoys competing at FC for many reasons, such as extra playing time and team bonding. Ruelas attended the school in elementary school. He is looking forward to the FC boys soccer season.

“Soccer is a very good sport,” Ruelas said. “It keeps you running and active most of the time, it’s just very entertaining to play. It’s fun because you get to play with people you know, you touch the ball, run around, goof off, and just have fun. Since I started playing soccer I have learned a lot of discipline and responsibility. I can’t rely on my mom or dad to pack my soccer bag before a game, it all falls on me. Getting to play at Fresno Christian is nice because it’s a small school so you get a lot of playing time and get to know the people on the team better.”

Something that sets FCS apart is the fact the school is based around a Christian education.Chapels are included in the weekly schedule on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to foster spiritual growth within the campus. Tuesday chapels generally feature a speaker from the community while Thursday chapels are typically focused on worship. Daniel Garrison oversees and directs the worship team.

The student-led worship incorporates many key instruments necessary for a band including drums, guitar, vocals, and piano. Nathan Mount, ‘18, explains how worship team has affected his time at FC.

“I’ve joined the worship team for my church and have remained on it since 7th grade,” Mount said. “It has always been my favorite thing to do and whenever I’m scheduled to play for the week it makes me extremely happy. Worship team allows me to connect with friends on another level because worship brings us together as Christians, it’s how we talk to God.”

Leaders among students are not limited to the worship team. The student leadership class seeks to make a positive impact on the school and aims to better the lives of fellow classmates.

Junior James White, chose to join leadership this year for the first time. He appreciates the opportunity leadership gives him to serve and help plan activities at school.

“I love leadership and one of the things I enjoy is getting other people’s opinions and helping get their ideas out so that we can share them with the school,” White said. “I also have been able to get to know other people especially in the younger classes that without leadership I probably would not have gotten to know very well. I also like getting other opinions to back you up or go against you so that way you can see what is going on or what might be going wrong.”

Many students on campus participate in extracurricular activities. For example, the Brother to Brother and Sister to Sister programs provide a way for the younger students in junior high to be mentored by high schoolers. The other goal which drives this program is to help the junior high students feel like they have a friend in high school.

Richard Cortez, ‘20, a second-year student, joined Brother to Brother for the chance to make a difference in the life of a younger student.

“I love brother to brother,” Cortez said. “It is cool to realize that you could be making a huge impact in the life of a younger person. If our younger brother does not have an older brother figure then we get to be that person in their lives and that feels really good.”

Fresno Christian is home to the award-winning online student newspaper, The Feather Online. The Feather is part of the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and submits its online newspaper every year for critique. Over the years, the publications students have brought back six Pacemaker awards since 2006 with advisers Greg Stobbe, Kori Friesen and Robert Hyatt overseeing the program.

While The Feather Online did not win a Pacemaker in 2017, they received an NSPA First Class with Three Marks of Distinction. Aside from the NSPA, The Feather has submitted their online newspaper to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association(CSPA) for 16 years and has won nine Crowns, two Silver Crowns, and seven Gold Crowns since 2009.

Along with Fresno Christian being a high school, FC students are able to receive a Pre-K through twelfth-grade education with advanced placement classes available for students ready to achieve more. Having just reached Fresno Christians 40th-anniversary last year students flock in for all grades. The junior high reached a high number of students show for the first day of convocation at numbers reaching 116.

Elementary students ranging from Pre-K to sixth grade also reach high numbers of students with at least two teachers in almost every class. Elementary students are also given the opportunity to participate in the Apex Fun Run as fundraisers for the school. Previous year have included partnering with world’s finest chocolate and other partnerships.

The following commercial video was filmed and helped edit by The Feather Online video team and helps to share the heart of the Fresno Christian campus experience.

For more articles, read COLUMN: Roman Endicott discusses life choices. For more features, read Pearl Harbor survivors recall stories of attack.

Owen Monke can be reached via Twitter.

Andrew Rieker can be reached via email.