Seniors of CPS: Athena Arndt

Interview conducted by Elsa Chun '28

Monday, October 27th, 2025 at 11:49 AM.

Elsa: I'm gonna start it. Okay, so I'm going to start with the rapid fire questions, so you can answer these quickly. Favorite Trader Joe snack?

Athena: Those little peanut butter cups. 

[Bell rings]

Athena: Those little peanut butter cups, and they're really good if you freeze them.

Elsa: Oh, I haven't tried that. Freshman physics or Asian worlds?

Athena: I was a transfer student…

Elsa: Hypothetically?

Athena: Hypothetically probably Asian worlds.

Elsa: Okay! Gym deck or Student Commons?

Athena: Gym deck.

Elsa: Go-to karaoke song?

Athena: "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Elsa: Best way to spend a rainy day?

Athena: At home, in bed, on your phone or reading. No, reading fan fiction.

Elsa: [Laughs] Nice! Okay, favorite day of the week?

Athena: Saturday.

Elsa: One item on your bucket list?

Athena: Oh, that's a good question. Learn how to do a death drop.

Elsa: Oh, what's a death drop?

Athena: It's like when you're dancing and you know how… you like, boom! [gestures dropping down]

Elsa: Oh, that is cool! All right, I have some longer questions for you. What is something… [bell rings] oh.

[Both laugh]

Elsa: Okay, let’s try that again! What is something a lot of people don’t know about you? 

Athena: Not a lot of people know about me... Shoot, maybe I should have thought about these questions.

Elsa: It's okay. 

Athena: Well, I really like to dance. I think it's super fun, and I'm kind of hoping to get more people to dance with me. And for a while, my greatest ambition was to become a rock star.

Elsa: Really?

Athena: Yeah, you know, that's still my Plan B, in case something doesn’t work out. And I'm really good at calligraphy.

Elsa: Whoa, that was a good one. All right, if you could say thank you to one place on campus, what would it be and why?

Athena: One place on campus? 

Elsa: Yeah, one place.

Athena: The bench right next to Joy's office. It's a great place to go if it's raining or you need to study or [when] you want to work but you also want to be outside.

Elsa: Oh, yeah! What's one of your favorite CPS memories?

Athena: Favorite CPS memories? Ooh, that's a good question. Um, I'm not sure if this is a specific memory, but when I first came here, – I'm going to tell a little story– when I first came here, I was kind of expecting to be a loner. I had just… kind of made peace with that fact. I was like, "Okay, I'm just going to get through two years of high school, and move on to college." And then half a year later, I was sitting and talking with my friends, and I realized, like, "Oh, I'm actually really happy," and I wouldn't be as happy as I am right now if it weren't for them.

Elsa: Awww, yay! That’s really sweet. Okay, if you could give advice to your freshman year self, what would it be?

Athena: Get curious. Just get interested in things and people, because you're not going to be perfect, and no one else is going to be either, but you just have to get curious about the world around you, and that's how you'll work towards truth.

Elsa: Oh, nice. Okay. And last question, where do you see yourself in five years?

Athena: Either a wandering mendicant or probably going to grad school.

Elsa: The last guy I interviewed, he said homeless. Wandering... What was it?

Athena: Mendicant? It's just a beggar.

Elsa: Oh… oh dear, okay. Well, thank you for the interview.

Freshman year Athena!