Senior shares story of navigating high school, learning quality writing

It is hard to believe that graduation is coming and it’s time to leave this school. The last four years have flown by so fast, and yet, I have made so many memories and friends. It leads me to reflect on what I have gone through in my life.

I have spent my whole life in rural Madera, California. My dad runs a dairy, and most of his side of the family takes part in some agriculture-related profession. Growing up on a dairy, I lived a very unique childhood.

By the age of 13, my dad was teaching me how to drive tractors and perform other jobs around the cows. I say this benefited me by allowing me to learn the value of work while still at a young age.

I had previously attended Crossroads Christian School in Madera. However, the school only taught from Kindergarten to eighth grade. It was bittersweet leaving Crossroads because I spent my entire school life there. I knew every teacher; I knew how things worked. I liked my friends.

Moving to Fresno Christian, I was an outsider who had to start from scratch to learn the ins and outs of the school.

From the moment I stepped on the FCS campus freshman year, I had no idea what I was doing. I really only knew one person in my grade, and I was definitely not an outgoing person. At first, I did not know what my high school career had in store for me, but as the years went on I started to understand.

Most of my freshman year was spent attempting to keep up with my classes while making connections among my fellow classmates. I never planned to join any clubs or get involved in anything, but I suppose it was good to move out of my comfort zone.

During sophomore year, Feather adviser Greg Stobbe approached me in my study hall class. He told me how The Feather was a much better alternative to study hall. To my own surprise, it did not take much convincing for me to join. My cousins, Mariana and Julia Fikse, experienced The Feather previously and recommended I join.

I helped sell newspapers with The Feather for Kids Day 2019 alongside Austin Peterson, Blake Deffenbacher, Kyle Clem, and Wesley Hinton.

The best part of #kidsday19? Showing off the dance moves to attract more buyers! Thank you to all who bought papers from @thefeather and supporting @CareForKids. @Austinp0130 @BDeffenbacher @BraydenIest @eastfromthe_wes pic.twitter.com/f7Kpp7MnsO

— Kyle Clem (@KyleClem21) March 5, 2019

When I joined The Feather, I had no idea how much fun I would have in the coming years. The upper-classmen journalists made sure to keep the classroom upbeat and eventful. This consisted of rolling chair races, computer hi-jinx, and more than a few laughs throughout the year. It was not all fun and games though. Stobbe made sure to teach us skilled journalism. One of the most important lessons he taught me was “show don’t tell”. Through this rule, my writing reached new heights by learning the descriptive language, thereby communicating effectively with my audience.

During my second year on The Feather, we took a trip to Anaheim to teach some journalism classes and see the sights. The day we spent at Disneyland was one of the most memorable things I have done. Also on the trip, we toured Universal Studios as well as a local news station.

During that trip, we created countless inside jokes. Richie Cortez was forced to buy a $7 bottle of water from the hotel gift shop. We joked about the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland having no breaks and countless other little jokes here and there. The team group chats we had mainly consisted of humor, memes, and skilled photoshops by the video team.

On behalf of The Feather, I had the pleasure of interviewing a World War II veteran, Bob Cole. Cole shared his story with me, telling of his humble beginnings in Iowa to his days in combat. Because WWII veterans become rarer with each passing year, talking with him gave me an experience I would never forget.

During my time with The Feather, I have learned a lot about factual information. Most of what I learned was thanks to the many profiles I wrote. If I wrote something untrue about someone in their own profile, someone would find out. Fortunately, I made sure everything I wrote was credible. I also enjoyed profiles because there was no controversy. My favorite profile I wrote was on Riley Goldsborough and his music career.

Some of my later work for The Feather did include some opinion pieces on controversial subjects. The first one which comes to mind consists of an editorial I wrote regarding gun control. In those cases, I was taught to focus on the facts, and state my opinion with as much evidence as possible. Journalism is not a place for beliefs based on wild emotion and little evidence.

As I prepare for graduation, I reflect on my hopes and dreams for the future. My dreams are pretty straightforward, but still require a significant amount of work. My dream is to live a life having fun and pleasing God. With this one aspiration, many others follow such as supporting and taking care of my family, friends, and others in need of help. I also wish to develop stronger bonds with my friends in order to keep those relationships after high school.

Next school year I will be attending Clovis Community College to complete my general education. After that, I plan to transfer to a four-year college to study my future profession. My major is yet undeclared.

For more opinions, read Senior reflection: Jewel Chandler and Senior reflection: Bryce Foshee. For another Feather article, read Coronavirus pandemic, rise of misinformation highlight importance of media literacy.

For more of Brayden Iest’s articles, visit his profile page. He can be reached via Twitter and email.