Southern Lehigh senior Charlie Petri is a first-year staff reporter for “The Spotlight.” Seeking a fun elective to fill up his schedule, Charlie stumbled upon Journalism to make use of his creative writing skills. Since joining, Charlie has embraced his role as a staff reporter, and even found himself competing at the state level for editorial cartoon drawing.
Charlie is not only a student journalist, but also a very dedicated student athlete— competing in both the SLHS Swimming & Diving and Track & Field teams.
Charlie has been a varsity swimmer for three years now. With that, he has successfully qualified for the District Championship for all three years, contributing greatly to the boys’ District AA first place title this past 2024-2025 season.
On top of Charlie’s athletic success, he has also had significant academic achievements
In the past four years.Charlie has been a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish club, Operation Smile, and the Future Business Leaders of America Club (FBLA). In FBLA specifically, Charlie competed at the state level competition in Hershey.
“Things aren’t always going to be handed to you, if you want something then you have to
go out and take it,” Petri said.
In Hershey Park, Charlie and his partner, Avinash (Avi) Shah, competed against some of the best “future business leaders” in the state. Together, they placed tenth. Charlie Petri’s hard work ethic and determination for a valuable education grabs the attention of a teacher at Southern Lehigh.
“I had Charlie Petri as a junior in world cultures last year. I felt that he was a very strong student, but an even better young man.I really enjoyed having him in the class, and I’ve enjoyed seeing him around the hallways this year, popping in and saying hello,” World Cultures teacher Mr. Lee Zeisloft said.
An expansive resume like this does not come without its own challenges. In Charlie’s junior year, he underwent spine surgery for his scoliosis which left him out of school and sports for over a month. During this time, he focused on dedicating himself to not only his grades, but also to himself.
“It was hard to acclimate to high school life,” Petri said. “I had a few setbacks throughout my time at high school, such as getting spine surgery at the end of my junior year which kept me out of school and also moving houses three times. It all like, really led me somewhere and taught me something.”
Amidst Charlie’s successful high school career, he gives all the credit to his high school peers who helped shape his journey.
“I really admire the seniors from my sophomore year. Karan Sidhu taught me to let loose, and Sam Desai taught me to focus on academia,” Petri said.
Through these life lessons, Charlie was able to grow into the person he is today with hopes that he can have this type of impact on other underclassmen and inspire them in similar ways to how he was.
Charlie is very excited to step into his next chapter and go off to college. He plans to attend the University of Pittsburgh to study accounting, and hopes to get his master’s degree. As Charlie graduates in May, he wants to leave a lasting impression on his peers and teachers. He offers his peers a piece of advice to help them tackle high school.
“Take challenging classes and push yourself, you only get this opportunity once,” Charlie Petri.
