by Anjali Sharma — published in The Torch, April 2016
Between a high-flying career in the air force and reporting on the Ukranian-Russian War, Pine View Class of 2000 alumnus Nolan Peterson stumbled into becoming a recognized journalist centered in Ukraine. Peterson is a Ukraine-based foreign correspondent for the Daily Signal, a news outlet for The Heritage Foundation.
Peterson joined Pine View as a fourth-grader in 1991 and graduated from the school in 2000 to join the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado, majoring in political science and minoring in French. After completing his bachelor’s degree, Peterson earned a master’s degree through Middleburry College in Paris at Sorbonne University. In 2012, he earned a master’s in journalism at Northwestern University.
Peterson’s segue into pursuing journalism was not what he originally planned. “It was very random. As I got older, every time I would come home from Iraq or Afghanistan or any of my other trips around the world, I felt like when I explained what it was like in these places, people at home just couldn’t understand,” Peterson said. “They had no frame of reference with which to imagine what war was like or what war life in Iraq or Afghanistan is like. So I found myself becoming a storyteller and I think that when I came home from the military in 2011 I had a lot of options. I could’ve flown for an airline, I could’ve been a consultant or lawyer, but I really thought that there was a lot of value to being somebody who has been to these places and could share pieces of those experiences with people back home who will never have the chance, hopefully and most likely, to see some of the things I’ve seen in my life,” Peterson said.
To further his credentials, Peterson began working as a freelance writer in the summer of 2014 and felt inspired to cover either the war in Gaza or the war in Ukraine. “I was trying to get my career going and just took a leap of faith to report on one of the two wars. I decided to come to Ukraine because I had a friend here who was an Air Force pilot who was [in Ukraine] at the time.”
Peterson cites his greatest accomplishment as simply being able to make an impact on people through writing. “There have been a lot of stories that I’ve written that have really impacted people. Journalism really has the power to change people’s lives. The feeling of being able to help somebody is one of the reasons why I continue to be a journalist,” Peterson said. “It sucks to report on wars and see people’s lives being destroyed. Their souls have just gone through hell for months, sometimes years on end. But when they email you or call you up and say, ‘Your story gave me a little bit of hope, a little bit of happiness’ it is really gratifying. Some silly thing I wrote by myself on my couch made it easier for someone to go through something so hard.”
Peterson’s favorite aspect of attending Pine View was keeping a close-knit group of friends.“I think it’s really special that we’ve never broken off. When we left [Pine View], you could really reflect on your childhood. We spent our entire childhood with somebody, and it really was … an end of a chapter of your life,” Peterson said. “Nowadays it’s easier to get on Facebook and stay in touch with people … As I’ve gotten older, I can see what an amazing group of people they really were just based on the lives we’ve all led.”
Several Pine View teachers impacted Peterson in varying ways. “Mr. [Rory] Kaminske, Mr. [Tom] Krause, Ms. [Linda] Janoff — she taught me how to write and I never knew at the time, but she immensely influenced my writing,” he said.
Peterson plans on staying in Ukraine for one more year before covering more foreign stories. “I think I want to stay in Europe because there is just so much going on there. It’s just a really crazy time in the continent and I think it’s a really important time for journalists to be here.”
by Nathan DeSouza — published on PVTorch.com, Jan. 13, 2023
As of January 2023, Peterson is still in Kyiv, Ukraine reporting on the Russian-Ukrainian war. He posts regular updates on his coverage through Twitter (@nolanwpeterson).
This spring, PVTorch.com published a feature on Peterson’s experiences as a war correspondent — click the embed below to read more.
Every week, we select one of our previous stories to republish, as a glimpse into the past. Stay tuned every single Throwback Thursday for new installments of this PVTorch.com exclusive series.
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