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Have a strong opinion about something happening on campus or in Fort Collins? Want to respond to an article written on The Collegian? Write a Letter to the Editor by following the guidelines here.

Arndt: Thanks for everything, Collegian

Christian Arndt, Life and Culture Editor

May 1, 2025

Collegian | Cait Mckinzie

Christian Arndt

Editor’s Note: Traditionally, graduating seniors working at The Collegian are given the chance to write a farewell note at the end of their tenure at CSU.

When I first joined Colorado State University, I came in as a psychology major with ambitions to become a school counselor or therapist. When I very quickly realized I couldn’t do math at all, which is a requirement for the psychology major, I switched my major to journalism.

I never enjoyed writing — hated it, even. It was in high school when my English teacher, Lisa Harris, helped me find my voice, and that’s eventually how I found my love of writing as well as literature.

I joined The Collegian in January 2023 as an arts & entertainment writer. I specifically remember timidly pitching my first idea to the editor at the time, Alex Hasenkamp, to review some small horror movie titled, “Skinamarink,” and riding the bus back home calling my mom, excitedly telling that I was working on my first assignment.

After a semester of writing for A&E about movies, music and art, I applied to be the editor of the life & culture desk. This desk has meant more to me than can be expressed in words.

The story behind this desk is that it was spearheaded and run by a certified badass journalist named Ivy Secrest. After she was promoted to content managing editor, the editing position was given to me. That makes me the second editor to manage this desk, and I take great pride in doing so. Thank you, Ivy, for entrusting me with your baby.

It’s been a whirlwind ever since. One of the greatest joys of being an editor is seeing reporters grow and develop their voices through their writing. During my last desk meeting to assign stories, I looked around at my fellow coworkers and realized nearly all of them had been a reporter for me at one point. It genuinely warms my heart looking back on meeting all of you for the first time and now seeing you all work right alongside me.

A huge shoutout to every single copy editor who has dealt with my mistakes and caught the most critical errors. There’s nothing more I can say aside from thank you, thank you and thank you.

Thanks to the stellar superdesk crew, Aubree Miller, Sam Hutton, Katie Fisher and Ruby Secrest, for making this semester so much fun. I have learned so much from you all. Being around each and every one of you sincerely brightens my day, and you all have such incredibly promising futures ahead of you.

I’m going to miss the group banter in the bullpen; I’m going to miss eating lunch and chatting with everyone about their days and stories that are being written; I’m going to miss looking through photos and joking around with Cait Mckinzie and Garrett Mogel; I’m going to miss talking sports with Michael Hovey and Sophie Webb; I’m going to miss nopes and dopes; I’m going to miss updating Willow Engle, Claire Vogl, Hannah Parcells and Allie Seibel on the 10 plus things that are happening with my stories. But most importantly, I am going to miss this job immensely.

Being around all of my wonderful coworkers on a daily basis and getting to know all of you personally has been an incredible joy. Thanks for the memories, experiences and laughter. Long live journalism.

Christian Arndt was the 2024-25 life and culture editor of The Rocky Mountain Collegian. He can no longer be reached at life@collegian.com.

About the Contributors

Christian Arndt, Life & Culture Editor

Christian Arndt is the returning editor for the life and culture desk for the 2024-25 school year at The Collegian. Hailing from Silverthorne, Colorado, Arndt began his writing journey in high school. With the help of his English teacher, he found his love for writing and, eventually, his love for journalistic writing. Arndt is a fourth-year at Colorado State University, where he will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media communication with a minor in English. Although his studies have provided excellent insight and practice within journalism, The Collegian has helped Arndt foster professionalism and experience in the field. Arndt looks forward to learning and growing through this experience. Initially a reporter for the arts and entertainment desk in early 2023, Arndt primarily focused on movie reviews, local art coverage and curated playlists. He soon took over as the second-ever editor for the life and culture desk in summer 2023, where he takes pride in providing coverage on local happenings, cultural events and local business features. Going into this year with the same amount of enthusiasm as last, Arndt is looking forward to providing accurate and important coverage of the Fort Collins area. If not editing articles, Arndt can be found watching movies, listening to punk rock, hoping for a Talking Heads reunion tour and walking his adorable dog, Penny.

Cait Mckinzie, Photo Director

Cait Mckinzie is a second-year student double majoring in art and journalism and media communication. She is one of two photo directors for the 2024-25 school year. Despite growing up in Renton, Washington, Mckinzie knew she wanted to go to Colorado State University since middle school. She had only ever been to Colorado twice, but she visited campus once, and that was all it took. At first, there wasn’t much in Fort Collins that Mckinzie was familiar with. But in high school, she was the co-head of visuals for her school newspaper, so she applied to The Collegian as a photographer to get back into a similar environment. Mckinzie was first introduced to photography by her grandfather, who has been a photographer most of his life. After he gifted Mckinzie her first camera in her junior year of high school, she began to take any assignment she could for her high school paper to improve her skills. Of all the memories made in her first year at CSU, most of the interesting ones came from The Collegian. One Halloween drag show assignment, a lot of mentorship and a few months of practice later, Mckinzie found herself being offered the position of photo director for the next academic school year. Mckinzie is excited for another year at The Collegian and aims to continue learning and growing during her time as one of the photo directors.

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