Since the take off of YouTube in 2006, internet fame has become increasingly prevalent. ‘Content creators’ are now able to develop careers online. Among these creators are senior Cristian Patton and sophomore Drake Henrich.

“Working on my channels is one of my favorite things and it’s a fun way to express myself,” Henrich said. “However, it gets harder at some points and I will have to sit there for over an hour trying to sort everything out.”

Patton’s channel “Perk” has lured an audience of 200 subscribers in its five-month lifespan with an abundance of diverse content.

Beginning with gameplays of popular games, Patton then found himself filming a series of videos that he calls ‘Let’s Talk.’ The series features Patton’s comedic twist on certain subjects. One featured video in the series is entitled ‘Let’s talk about POPULARITY.’ In the video, Patton shares his experience with bullying.

“About my video about popularity, I was very frustrated that day watching some people getting bullied. I was just so mad, I even told them like ‘stop, you’re lame’. I was mad that whole day because I remember when I was in the fifth grade, I was bullied. I didn’t come from a rich family at all. Everything I got, I worked hard for and everything my mom gave me, she worked hard for.” Patton said. “I ended up going home that day and I made a video about it, and people really liked it because it got about 8,000 people watching it and it’s still growing.”

Henrich also has an understanding of the dedication it takes to run not one, but two channels: a personal, graphic design channel and a team channel that posts gameplay. The team channel “Fear Supremacy” has a growing platform of 45,000 subscribers. Being co-lead, Henrich said he has taken any spare moment of time he has to create quality content. Like Patton, Henrich found an entertaining career path while creating content.

“It seems like something fun I could enjoy instead of sitting at a desk all day. I’d rather sit at a desk and play video games all day then sit at a desk and do paperwork.” Henrich said.
Patton said he found a new inspiration through YouTube. He said YouTube is responsible for steering his life in a positive direction.

”I am so visual when I plan stuff out, so much to an extent that I want to do it because it’s such a relief to just get the thoughts out,” Patton said. “People think that it’s impossible to do anything. Today everybody is so judgmental but, in reality, anything is possible if you set your mind to it.”