Students reflect on first complete school year since 2019

Throughout the school year, Fresno Christian students participate in a variety of experiences, ranging from sports and academics to performing arts and clubs. All these events are documented by The Feather team, through either The Feather’s Instagram and website. At the beginning of the new year, The Feather takes the time to look back on the ‘21-22 school year.

Clubs

Sister to Sister

The Sister to Sister program is led by cheer coach Hope Villines. Each year, a middle school and high school student are paired up. Older sisters in high school mentor their middle school sisters.

CSF

The California Scholarship Federation is made up of students with high academic honors. Every semester, if grades are high enough, students can join CSF. Depending on how many semesters a student is enrolled in, they may be eligible for a cord and sash at graduation. 26 seniors graduated with 100% membership.

Chess Club

High school science teacher Jacob Cantu founded Fresno Christian’s chess club. Club members met weekly on Fridays to play tournament style games.

Book Club

The book club was created by junior Rachel Moate and sophomore Ruby Baker. Every Friday at lunch in Room 603, the 10-12 members met to discuss their readings. Book club is open again for the 2022-23 year, at the same time and place.

Leadership Events

Homecoming

“Homecoming for Humanity,” the 36th annual homecoming, ended with a 47-6 Eagle victory. Class floats were themed after a charity of each class’s choosing. $5,135 was raised overall. The senior class won the float competition, and raised $1,042 for the Cal Fire Benevolent Foundation.

Senior king – Owen McCann
Senior queen- Ashley Logan
Senior prince – Kamdon Marquez
Senior princess – Emily Penberthy
Junior princess – Brandy Penberthy
Sophomore princess – Gabby Hutcheson
Freshman princess – Milly Morgan

Formal

The formal theme, “Films in the Forest,” had each class create parody short films of popular media. Dressed in formal wear, classes watched each movie, while parents and staff voted for awards each film would receive. The juniors’ remake of The Hunger Games won for Best Picture. The night also included a soda bar, catered meals and Ampersand Ice Cream.

Freshmen – Paul Blart Mall Cop
Sophomores – Stranger Things
Juniors – The Hunger Games
Seniors – Carpool Karaoke

Sadies

Organized by Aubri Foster and leadership, 2022 Sadies took place at Magic Mountain Six Flags. Over 100 students dressed as dynamic duos of their choosing for the event.

Serve Day

For the eighth annual Serve Day, high school student body traveled to 10 separate locations throughout the community. Led by Robert Foshee, students participated in activities like yard work, organizing donated goods and assisting churches.

• Central California Food Bank
• Reading Heart
• CrossCity Christian Church
• The Well Community Church
• Peoples Church
• Fresno Discovery Center
• Art of Life
• Graffiti clean-up

Kids Day

The 35th annual Kids Day was online due to Covid precautions. However, leadership and Feather students gathered on street corners to advertise. With decorated signs highlighting the different ways to donate, Fresno Christian raised $2,050 for Valley Children’s Hospital.

Sports

Fall

Cheerleading
The varsity cheer team performs in two different capacities, either cheering at games or performing in competitions and championships. Over the course of the year, they earned four first place championships, won third place at FCC Nationals, and won an award for Best Choreography and Showmanship. Coach Hope Villines was also nominated for Coach of the Year.

Football
After a two year hiatus, Fresno Christian football returned for the 2021 season led by Coach Mick Fuller. Through the season, the Eagles earned an undefeated record. This culminated in the first CIF 8-man Central Section championship for the team since 2017.

Girls Tennis
Backed by Daniel Jessing, girls tennis played through the season with a record of 18-3 and a league record of 11-1.

Girls Volleyball
With coach Steven Guglielmana, volleyball held an overall record of 15-22 and a league record of 7-3.

Winter

Boys Basketball
For the first time in two years, basketball kicked off its 2021 season. Led by team captain Orion Tomlinson, ‘22, the team earned a record of 15-0, winning first in the East Sierra league. For the third year in a row, Fresno Christian also hosted The Pagmeter Road to Selland showcase. Fourteen schools were in attendance, hoping to be scouted by universities.

Girls Basketball
Led by Robert Foshee, girls basketball earned an overall record of 12-10, placing second in the East Sierra League.

Boys Soccer
Boys soccer started their season for the first time since 2019 with a new coach, Adam Smith. The team held a record of 15-5-1, advancing through to the second round of playoffs before their season ended.

Girls Soccer
Coached by Matt Markarian, the team brought home Fresno Christian’s second CIF championship of the year. Girls soccer earned an overall record of 19-4-1 and, placing first in league, earned a 4-0 record.

Spring

Boys Tennis
With Robert Foshee and Daniel Jessing, the tennis team made it all the way to the finals before finally losing to Firebaugh.

Boys Volleyball
For the first full season in Fresno Christian history, boys volleyball earned a record of 17-17. Coached by Steven Guglielmana, the team only ever played for one month during their 2020 fall season.

Baseball
With coach Noah Heinz, the team played a 20-9-1 record, going all the way through to the third round of playoffs before the end of the season.

Softball
Under the leadership of David Davilla and Jacob Cantu, the team earned an overall record of 18-8-1. Softball aso led with a league record 9-1 in East Sierra.

Track and Field
The track team expanded in the spring season after winter sports came to a close. Led by Dorina Gilmore-Young and Shawn Young, individual team members competed in multiple meets and events over the season.

Golf
Coached by Brent Deffanbacher, Trevor Morgan and Kevin Schwab, boys golf won four consecutive league championships throughout their season.

Academics

Students

At the beginning of the year, the student body boasted higher numbers than the past 10 years. School enrollment last year totalled 673.

At the end of the year, 50 seniors graduated at the 41st annual graduation ceremony. 12 of those 50 were “lifers,” having been at Fresno Christian since kindergarten. Valedictorian Avery Loeffler and salutatorians Max Hinton and Noah Weimer all gave speeches on the uniqueness of their class.

Teachers

Two staff joined Fresno Christian at the beginning of the year. Replacing Michelle Logan, Silva Emerian took up the mantle of middle and high school office manager. Thomas McEntee also started, teaching middle school English in place of Diane Blowers.

Three teachers also parted ways with the school at the end of the year. High school English teacher Andrea Donaghe and video productions instructor Matthew Vincent’s roles were filled in by Stephanie Hoffman. Lesley Bannister, band teacher, also departed. She was replaced by Lindsey Clarno.

Performing Arts

Choir

FC choir performs at many different venues during the school year. This includes the Fall Choir Concert, the seventh annual Valentine’s Day Concert and The Christ Cathedral choral clinic in Orange County. While in Los Angeles, the team also enjoyed a day trip to Disneyland.

Drama

After four months of preparation, the drama team put on a performance of “Meet Me in St. Louis” at Redemption Bible Church. 16 cast members put on three separate shows of the comedic, dramatic play set during the 1940 World’s Fair.

Band

Over the course of the year, band performed three separate concerts, as well as lost their band director of seven years, Lesley Bannister. 36 band members performed at the Clovis Electric Light parade and the Christmas Concert, both in December. At the end of the year, the music department performed one last concert, entitled Decades.

Publications

Staff

After the loss of Greg Stobbe as co-adviser due to a cancer diagnosis, The Feather, manned by 22 staffers, was sent into a tailspin. Forced to scramble, as new students needed training and half the leadership was absent, a select few were chosen to fill editor positions.

Senior Editors – Amanda Johnson and Emma Calderon
Video Editor – Austin Petersen
Photo Editor – Bella Johns
Creative Editor – Summer Foshee

Events

Five journalists received the opportunity to attend the NSPA Conference. While there, students were able to attend classes taught by different award winning journalists and instructors.

At the end of the year, Feather students past and present threw a party for what Stobbe thought was a celebration of 25 years of teaching. In reality, co-adviser Kori James nominated Stobbe for the Charles R. O’Malley Award. This is the highest honor an educator can receive from CSPA for “a sustained record of outstanding teaching.”

Follow The Feather’s social media platforms and website throughout the year to keep up with school events and other important information.

To read more from The Feather, go to Senior Sunrise 2022 or PROMO: 37th Annual Homecoming.