Catching up with: Rob DeArmond

What has your life been like since leaving Southeastern? What do you do for a
living? And have you married and/or had children?

I’m currently working as content editor for Shop Marketing Pros. We do top-tier marketing for top-tier auto repair shops around the nation.  I previously worked in sports at The Daily Review in Morgan City after graduation and then at the Daily Star in Hammond, The Advocate and The Livingston Parish News. I do a little stringer work to stay active in journalism. I’m married to Kaci Faller. We have two kids, Averi and Adam. Adam is a junior at Southeastern.

What do you remember most about your time at Southeastern and working with student publications?

The student publications group was such a tight-knit crew. We always looked out for each other, and it seemed like we were always doing things together. The group that was there during my time was like family. We didn’t take crap from anybody.

Give me your back story. How did you wind up at Southeastern and interested in
working with student publications?

I originally enrolled at Southeastern to go into sports medicine working in the training room for Doc Goodwin. Heading into my junior year, I changed my major to liberal arts-journalism. I didn’t want to lose too many credits, and when I changed my major, I realized I had all the math credits I needed. Bonus! It also hit me that graduation was closer than I thought, and Dr. Mirando and Adam Daigle encouraged me to join the Lion’s Roar.  One interview with Robin Roberts later, I was hooked.

What would you say is the biggest thing you learned while at Southeastern?

Of course I learned a lot about journalism. That’s a given. I think, more than anything, it’s not so much what I learned but the people I met while in student publications. Some relationships stand the test of time no matter what happens in our lives. There are certain people during my time at student publications that I still and always consider family even if we don’t talk or see each other much. Just because we don’t talk much, it doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about you.