Gavin Petersen is a junior at Greeley West High School. Petersen is a student who is involved in many things around the school. One of those is being on the Student Council and helping around the school. Petersen is also part of the boys tennis team and plays doubles.

Something a lot of people don’t know about Petersen is that after graduation, he wants to go to college for media and film to get a career in producing. Petersen has already been in the pursuit of following his dream by meeting the Today Show producer to make sure he is following the right path to get where he wants to be. 

“I went to the Ed Sheeran concert at the Today Show,” Petersen explained.  “We then got each other’s information and got into contact.” 

The Producer, Kevin Schatell, hosted a zoom meeting so he could get more information and then continued to help Petersen. Schatell said he had gone to college for entertainment media which is now called mass media, and also got a degree in journalism.“Key qualities to be successful are needing to be good at public speaking and asking good questions to keep audiences entertained,” Petersen said.  

Schatell stressed that Petersen should start working toward his goal now.  He himself had done internships at the Seacrest Studios at Children’s Hospital. Petersen said his favorite part that Schatell had told him is “Roots before Branches.” Since that moment that saying has stuck with Petersen since the meeting. 

Petersen’s mother and father are principals at different schools. His father Jeffery is the principal at Christa Mcauliffe Stem Academy and his mother Nicole is the principal at Brentwood Middle School.

He has two siblings: a younger brother and an older sister. Petersen’s brother attends Mcauliffe and is in the 4th grade. His older sister graduated from Northridge High School in Greeley Colorado in 2023. She now attends Daytona State in Florida under a soccer scholarship. Petersen travels a lot to Florida to support his sister in her college soccer career.

Knowing that his sister went to Northridge, he had the option of where he wanted to go to school. He says he chose West because, ¨I choose to come to West to start my own legacy somewhere new.¨ 

Petersen is a well-known student around the school and is known by his peers for being a hard worker. He is also a good speaker and is not afraid to talk to other students outside of his friend group or in leadership situations when needed.