First of all, if you were wondering: yes, the headline is a Marvel reference.

Secondly, thanks for reading CHIPS! If you’ve read us before, we’re glad to have you back reading again. If you’re new here, welcome! You share a defining quality with everyone on the Fall 2022 CHIPS staff. Like you, all of us on the staff are new to CHIPS in some capacity. 

Yeah, I can see the confused look on your face already. Let me explain.

The small but mighty crew currently working for CHIPS is doing something that has to be unprecedented in the history of our newspaper. As a staff, every last one of us are working in a new role and have a ton of new tasks that we’ve not previously been responsible for. This is because, frankly, we took a big hit after last spring. Between people graduating, studying abroad, transferring, taking a step back or even retiring (shout out to David), CHIPS was left in a state of disarray. On our editing staff, the only people left were CHIPS champion and new editor-in-chief Jackson Geadelmann, copy editing hero Ethan Kober, and myself. Our motto became “don’t kill CHIPS”, because for a while, it looked like we might. With very few returning writers and trepidation about the future ahead, we ended last school year with no idea what CHIPS would look like when we returned in the fall.

Ok, so obviously I’m dramatizing a bit. But fast forward to today. Here’s where we stand.

Our editor-in-chief? New. (Jack, you’re a legend!) 

Our managing editor? New. (Yours truly.)

Our head copy editor? New. (Ethan’s out here carrying second round edits.)

Our advisor? New. Our copy editor and section editors? New. Our social media coordinator? Not new to the job, but new to working the job and being off campus. Our veteran writers? Also not new to the job, but new to being expected to know what they’re doing. Our first-time writers? So very, very new.

So, to recap: new, new, new, new, new.

Everyone, collectively, has been thrown in the deep end of the pool — and are exceeding expectations! Our staff is working hard, helping each other out, and even having some fun. I’m so glad I can write that last sentence with confidence, because I recognize now the importance of our jobs as student journalists. In the past, I’ve made the mistake of assuming no one even reads our stories, or cares about what we write. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about this campus, it’s this: there’s always something new going on week in and week out. We’re already in October, but things are happening. Big things. Yes, we’ve got our presentations and guest lectures — but what about everything else? Sports teams are winning. Ensembles are performing. Businesses are opening. Student groups are planning. Government officials are visiting. COVID is…still existing. All of these things are happening in the Luther community, and we are here to write about it all — for you.

I know the reputation of CHIPS is iffy in certain circles. We’ve rubbed many people the wrong way over the years, and made some mistakes. This fall, our staff is learning as we go, and I’m sure mistakes will continue to happen. I’ve already made a couple in the past few weeks. But, like it or not Luther, we are your student newspaper. As our cliche motto goes, we will “let the chips fall where they may,” and report on things as we see them. This isn’t the old CHIPS, this is the all-new, all-different CHIPS. We may not be the Avengers, but we are a pretty cool group of people who write some pretty cool stories. I can’t wait to see what we do this year.