Being a part of The Feather Online has been one of the most challenging and educational aspects of high school. The Feather has functioned as a full-time job. This has allowed me to gain valuable work experience on an award-winning journalism team. 

I joined The Feather during my freshman year of high school. I had watched my cousin Jarrod Markarian on the team a few years prior and took some inspiration to join the team. My first year on the team also happened to be the first year on the team for two others and the first time on video for another two. This made it more of a communal learning experience than self-teaching ourselves how to edit and take videos.

As they always say, your first year on The Feather Online is your hardest. There is a lot you need to learn in your first year, coupled with deadlines which can make it very hard. Knowing I had the support of the advisors, Feather veterans, and new students helped me learn what I needed to succeed in video journalism. 

Even with the first year being the hardest year, it is the year that was the most eventful. This is when I was taught my camera skills, writing skills, and learned my editing skills. My freshman year was also the year I was a part of the Choices project. This big team project utilized the whole video team in different roles. My role was to record audio and edit the final video. This PSA video won the the California Student Media Festival for 2017. 

Another big event my freshman year was the NSPA southern California conference. This was the first journalism conference I had ever attended. We went to a few different seminars about social media, video editing, and writing. This was a great experience for learning new skills. We also took a fun group trip to Disneyland, took a tour of Warner Bros Studios, and toured ABC7 broadcast facilities, definitely a highlight of the trip. 

My sophomore year was more productive than my freshman year. The skills I needed to succeed I had already learned from the year before, so the start of the year was much more manageable. We were able to get the videos started a lot earlier in the year. Larger projects were becoming more common to work on and completed faster. 

COVID-19 hit at the end of sophomore year. The school was sent home in mid-March for the rest of the semester. This uncertainty, along with the rest of the video team graduating, led to me taking a break from The Feather during my Junior year. 

Returning for my senior year, things had changed quite a bit. Journalism is an ever-evolving form of media, and things had changed since my first two years. Short-form videos were now the big focus in media. This was a quick thing to pick up, after working on other Feather projects. Instagram reels were the main focus of making videos this year. These 30-60 second clips quickly made and gathered thousands of views. 

Another thing that changed was the advisors. Feather advisors Greg Stobbe and Kori James were always looking for ways to help my first two years on the team. This year, Stobbe’s health took a turn when he was diagnosed with ocular melanoma. This left him blind in his only good eye. No longer able to help advise on our work, this left James to manage the journalists, the photojournalists, and the video journalists. 

Even with the setbacks from Stobbe leaving, James was still able to push me and help me with learning new styles of video. From learning new vertical formats to new text styles, James continued to help me learn more about video editing and social media coverage.

Being on The Feather has taught me many skills that no other class has taught me. The fast-paced work environment helped train me to keep up with deadlines and changes. The class also taught me video skills that I can use in versatile ways in the future. The Feather is one online newspaper, so another skill learned was working on a team with others to complete projects with a collaborative effort.

I am very thankful for my time on The Feather Online and appreciate the support advisors James and Stobbe have given me. The class helped me express creativity in a new and impactful way. If anyone has any interest in writing, taking pictures, or taking videos, I highly recommend joining the team!

After graduating from Fresno Christian, Petersen will attend Santa Clara University in the fall of 2022 where he will study Electrical and Computer Engineering.

For more Feather videos go to Greg Stobbe’s life altered by cancer, visual impairment, or Serve Day 2022.