Martin Petersen — Chasing Opportunity
Charger Football | Class of 2020 | Hillsdale, MI
WORDS: Calli Townsend
Senior tight end Martin Petersen is a well-known guy around campus, and in town. The Hillsdale native is not only a Charger athlete, but also involved in the journalism program where broadcasts sporting events for the college radio station, and he volunteers at the Mary Randall Preschool. And yes, his dad is the Dean of Men here on campus.
"I don't really see my dad, which is probably a good thing," Martin joked.
Martin's younger brother Shannon is also a member of the Hillsdale football team. He'll be a freshman defensive end this season.
"I see my brother, though, because we're on the football team," Martin said. "I get to look back and realize the stuff I had to go through as a freshman too. It's a cool experience to play with him."
Growing up in Hillsdale, Martin attended the Mary Randall Preschool, and attending Hillsdale College just across the street from the school gives Martin the opportunity to volunteer there once a week.
"I did it my freshman year, and I've done it every semester since then," he said. "I felt like I had an obligation to give back because of what they gave me. And it gives me time to take a break, decompress, and hang out with some great kids."
Working with these young kids sure does give Martin some great memories to carry with him after he graduates.
"Every week last year if we won or lost in a football game, one of the kids would say 'Congrats on the football Mr. Martin,' or 'Sorry about the football Mr. Martin,'" Martin said. "That's just a great quote."
Martin's still unsure of where exactly he'll head next once he's graduated, but with his marketing and journalism degrees, he's already had several great opportunities, especially in radio.
"I've been doing stuff on the radio since I was in like sixth grade," he said. "And the college started the radio station my freshman year, so I got to grow with the station. It's been fun to grow with them."
Hillsdale's radio station grown very well since its beginning. The broadcasting team won Michigan College Station of the Year in the 2018-19 school year, along with several other awards.
Working with such a strong, quickly-growing program has given Martin a wide variety of broadcasting experience.
"I interview our state rep once a month, I do a couple sports shows, and cover baseball games and high school basketball, a lot of the Hillsdale Academy games," he said. "For the College station I do Charger Rundown and Locker Room Talk."
After getting involved with the college station, he interned in Mississippi on a radio show called Our American Stories, which can be heard on the college's radio station. Martin recently finished up this year's summer internship in Kalamazoo with Stryker. He worked as an upstream marketing intern for the High Speed Drills team in the Neurosurgical Division.
"I got to work with Stryker products, and attend trade shows and boot camps for new residents, he said. "I also got to work on marketing projects for the internal team."
With all of these experiences, Martin has many options to pursue after he graduates.
"Everything is kinda up in the air. I think the ideal situation is to do something you love that makes you money as well," he said.