Connor
Van Ligten joined the Arizona editorial team in January.
I
live in a Phoenix Apartment with two roommates that are friends from college
who are also journalists.
I grew
up in the San Francisco Bay Area, about 40 minutes south of SF. My childhood
home was very close to the Stanford campus. I spent much of my childhood
traveling to San Francisco for Giants games, San Jose to visit family and for
concerts, Santa Cruz to hit up the boardwalk, and Palo Alto to watch Stanford
football games. After graduating High School in 2018, I traveled to Phoenix to
attend the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University
from August 2018 to May 2022.
I've
worked part-time and full-time at a variety of outlets. I had two stints as a
breaking news intern for The Arizona Republic in early 2020 and early 2021,
covering local politics, crime, traffic, and more in the valley. In the
fall of 2021, I interned with Copper Courier in Phoenix as a digital reporter,
using social media and digital platforms to write articles and produce content
on political and economic issues facing Phoenix, Tempe, and other surrounding
areas.
In
the spring semester of 2022, I worked as a digital reporter and editor for
Indian Country Today. I produced content for both their website and their
social media pages to provide in-depth and authentic coverage of Indigenous
communities in Arizona and the issues they continue to face in their day-to-day
lives.
After
graduating, I worked in New Orleans for about a year as a digital content
producer for WWL-TV, the local CBS news station for that city. Moving to a city
and state I never lived in before, I managed, edited, produced, and published
content across a wide variety of digital platforms covering important stories
and issues in one of the most iconic and storied cities in America.
I'm
a big sports fan. My favorite teams are the San Francisco 49ers and the Golden
State Warriors. The NFL and NBA are my favorite sports, and I am a diehard fan
of my favorite teams and will chat endlessly about said franchises if given the
opportunity. I'm also a fan of
professional wrestling, especially WWE and AEW. The stories, characters, moments,
and culture surrounding professional wrestling make it a wholly unique and
endlessly captivating form of entertainment that has me tuning in every week.
I'm also a big fan of video games and anime, as well as movies. I especially
love fighting video games such as Street Fighter and Tekken and I enjoy
competing in local tournaments for those games from time to time. I'm also an
avid dog lover and will always be down to pet someone's pooch if given the
opportunity.
