From insightful interviews with students, faculty and staff to some truly hilarious moments shared in the CHIPS office, my time working for CHIPS has been filled with interactions I won’t soon forget. The Luther College CHIPS staff is a team of dedicated journalists who work tirelessly, even when the chips are stacked against them (so to speak). I’m honored to be part of this hardworking group of people who all work together to report on stories that matter to Luther’s student body.

Working as a Staff Writer and Copy Editor for CHIPS this past year, I’ve had the opportunity to both write my own stories and work with my peers on their stories. The work of my fellow journalists that I see when I’m editing truly inspires me. I think of their hard work when I’m writing my own stories. I’m inspired not only by their hard work and dedication to CHIPS, but by their willingness to take on potentially difficult or controversial stories, or write opinion pieces that are important to them.

Whenever you put something in print, online, or on social media, there is bound to be someone who disagrees with you. To me, that’s just the nature of our world today. In recent times, CHIPS has had its share of people who disagree with our work, with some critics being more vocal than others; we’ve certainly struck a nerve on campus with some of our stories. However, despite a few negative comments here and there, I think it is important that we continue doing our best to report on stories with clarity and truth, and without bias. Because that’s what good journalism is all about, and our communities need good journalism more than ever these days.

There’s also been some recent discourse, at least amongst our staff, about the lack of financial and institutional support CHIPS receives from Luther College. Even though this isn’t opportune (for example, we can’t pay the vast majority of our staff for their hard work), it hasn’t stopped CHIPS staff from continuing our work this year, and I have confidence that it won’t in the future. CHIPS published Volume 150 of our newspaper this semester, which is a pretty impressive milestone for a student-run college newspaper if I do say so myself. To me, this is a testament to what I discussed in the above paragraph: the continued hard work, persistence, and ambition of the CHIPS staff, past and present.

Despite a few minor difficulties and bumps in the road with some of the stories I have written this year, CHIPS has been a great experience for me overall. As I move on from Luther College into the next phase of my life, I hope CHIPS continues to stand the test of the ever-changing times, and continues to bring Luther students the news and perspectives that matter most.

May the chips fall where they may.
-Scott Rust (‘24)