Ms Freya Petersen

Journalist 

Freya Petersen graduated from State High in 1988 and has had a rich and diverse life pursuing journalism internationally since then. She was born in New York, raised in Australia and has been all across the world for both business and pleasure. She remembers having a passion for journalism and a desire to pursue this as a career from a young age, which she attributes partly to her father being a foreign correspondent for many years, "leading an exciting life, including reporting from the Vietnam war, attending Woodstock and becoming the first Australian civilian to fly in an F1-11 fighter jet". Another contribution to her early budding passion was the encouragement of a wonderful English teacher she had at State High who put her "on the path to becoming a storyteller".

Freya's impressive career has given her the incredible opportunities of working in Paris for 4 years as a journalist and in New York City for The New York Times, which she describes as her career highlights. Even with these impressive feats, Freya remembers State High well, especially playing sport (water polo) and she and her friends organising their social lives in the 'Upper Quad', friends that she has maintained throughout her exciting life.

Freya believes the most important messages for current State High students are to "Appreciate the diversity of your fellow students - their socio-economic, cultural and educational backgrounds - and what you can learn from them and they from you" and "Be kind to yourselves and others: think about the kind of world you want to live in, the value of the greater good and start trying to help shape the future (which is really the only thing you have any control over!)".

Written by Eden Rees*