Alumna Catie Leebrick plans to take her multifaceted degree from the College of Liberal Arts to the American University of Paris
Catie Leebrick
By Taylor Pedersen, CLA Student Writer - October 1, 2025
When Catie Leebrick, ‘25, walked across the stage to receive her diploma, she carried more than the weight of a Spanish degree and three minors in education, sociology, and film studies; she carried a story of shifting passions, rediscovering old loves, and learning how to see the world through multiple lenses at once.
Leebrick, who grew up in San Luis Obispo, California, has always had language at the heart of her life. Raised in a household where Spanish was encouraged, even though her family isn’t of Latin or Spanish descent, her parents enrolled her in a dual-immersion elementary school where every subject was taught in both English and Spanish.
“It gave me this perspective that there’s never one way to look at something,” Leebrick said. “Language holds so much power. If you don’t have a word for something, you can’t fully know what it is. I think that shaped the way I see the world."
But by the time she was supposed to start AP Spanish in high school, her brain was burnt out. At OSU, she initially declared sociology as her major, considering a career in juvenile justice and possibly law school. Yet something pulled her back.
“I loved sociology, but it sometimes gave me a really pessimistic view of the world—these systemic problems are so big, what can we even do about them? Which I know is a very privileged perspective” she said. “Education felt like the way forward. And Spanish became part of that. I wanted to teach, to make a difference.”
Her academic path shifted accordingly. Sophomore year, she declared a minor in Spanish in addition to her minor education. Then came a turning point: studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain.
Though she was only 19, younger than most of her peers, the experience widened her horizons. “It just showed that the world is so much bigger,” Leebrick said. “My problems felt so small, and I really liked that. It reminded me that there’s this whole world functioning outside of myself.”
Back in Corvallis, she threw herself into another passion: storytelling and creativity. At DAMchic, OSU’s fashion and lifestyle magazine, she rose to assistant editor by her senior year. She credits the experience with showing her that creativity could be more than a hobby.
“Growing up, creativity was never really seen as a career path in my family,” she said. “But with DAMchic, I saw that it could be. Fashion, film, writing; they’re all ways of communicating.”
Two projects stand out from her time with the magazine. The first, an article titled Trapped in a Sweater Vest from DAMchic’s The Pride Issue from Winter 2024. This was the moment she realized her vision and passion could translate into a full editorial spread. The second, far heavier in scope, was a feature she wrote about her best friend Sophie, for the magazine’s most recent issue, DAMchic: On Display. Sophie Bottum-Musa is Palestinian and a class of 2025 graduate of OSU.
“It opened my eyes in ways I’m not proud to admit,” Leebrick said. “I’d been living with this ignorance-is-bliss mindset about what is happening to Palestinians. But once you really see it, once you listen to someone you love, you can’t go back. That piece was the most important thing I’ve ever worked on.”
Now, Leebrick is preparing for her next chapter: a master’s program in Global Communications at the American University of Paris, starting in Fall 2026. Until then, she is working as a TK teacher at home in California. At AUP she plans to focus on film, specifically documentary work, combining her love of language, her sociological lens, and her creative drive.
“Film is communication. Fashion is communication. Language is communication,” she said. “That’s why this program feels right. It’s a way to keep everything connected.”
Her time moving between cultures, California, Oregon, Spain, and soon France, has already shaped her identity. Each place, she said, has left a mark. “There are little parts of me from all of them,” she said. “But I don’t plan on staying in one place forever. I want to keep moving, keep learning.”
That sense of openness, of keeping doors wide, seems to define her. Leebrick has her eye on documentary filmmaking, maybe teaching one day, maybe even law school down the road. But for now, she’s content with the uncertainty.
“I’ve had a very privileged life,” she said. “So why not go for it? Why not try everything I can? I just want to keep learning, keep seeing more of the world, and keep telling stories.”