I was 17 when I joined the Daily Bruin as a junior at UCLA.

Before my time at the Daily Bruin, I had zero journalism experience.

Now, at 19 years old, I have been published by the U.S. News & World Report and will intern this summer at EdSource – the publication with the largest nonprofit newsroom focused on education in California.

My time at the Daily Bruin solidified my love for journalism and gained me the necessary experience to pursue journalism at the graduate level.

It also gave me the opportunity to prove to myself that my love for journalism could continue even after I graduated.

Before March 2025, my dreams of becoming a journalist were quiet compared to my vocal goals of becoming an attorney.

While both journalism school and law school are expensive, I figured being an attorney would increase my chances of being able to pay off my student debt.

As much as I want to focus my efforts on high-impact occupations, it would be foolish of me to ignore the power of the paycheck. I would rather be rich and overworked than poor and overworked.

Both occupations would allow me to enact positive change. Thus, the dream of becoming a journalist was tucked away.

The more I thought about not being able to become a journalist, the less excited I was about my future. I tried not to linger on that disheartening thought too much.

In January 2025, I applied to graduate school programs in policy, politics and journalism. Based on my previous internship, fellowship and research experiences, most people thought I would attend a graduate school program in policy.

My most prestigious awards were because of my policy work. MIT, Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford recognized my technology and education policy work.

It seemed clear to me that not only was I passionate about policy, I was fairly capable of analyzing and proposing policies too.

That is not to say I was incompetent at journalism. I am so proud of the work I did at the Daily Bruin – from covering the 2024 general election to writing about dense legal topics such as the overturning of the Chevron doctrine.

Yet I still felt uneasy about the financial feasibility of pursuing journalism past my undergraduate studies.

March 2025 changed my life forever.

I was at The Study – a cafe at UCLA – when I was told I was not only accepted to Northwestern’s Master of Science in Journalism program, but I also won a merit-based full tuition scholarship.

In pure shock, all I could do was say “thank you” and “thank you so much.” In two minutes, I repeated both phrases at least ten times.

Northwestern gave me the financial stability to more adamantly pursue journalism as a career path.

But I would not even have applied to Northwestern if not for the Daily Bruin.

The Daily Bruin provided me with a safe space to try. I wrote my first-ever news, arts and opinion articles here.

The student newspaper let me daydream about becoming a professional journalist. I would never have let myself without the Daily Bruin.

As I prepare for my move from Los Angeles to Chicago and Washington, D.C., I think about the office during times of stress and unease.

I spent so many hours laughing with my Daily Bruin friends and cuddling with Oliver, one of the office dogs.

From quieting my dreams of becoming a journalist to pursuing journalism at the graduate level, the Daily Bruin has trained me to become the person 17-year-old me would have been proud of.

Wong was News and Arts staff and an Opinion columnist 2024-2025.