I remember the time I published my first story in The Daily. After timidly approaching a shopper and the owner of a boutique store in downtown Evanston, I wrote up a visuals-dense, light-on-quotes, probably-just-barely-off-a-Pulitzer article. I worked with editors in the newsroom in Norris, then flew out of the building and into the stairwell of East Fairchild with joyous tears in my eyes.
Beyond my being an especially emotional person, being published in The Daily truly felt special. There is something momentous about seeing your words, your interviews, your revisions published in a real paper. Many bylines later, I still feel that glimmer of running-across-campus pride when my stories are published.
My first experiences with journalism did not come from my Medill classes, but from The Daily. I learned what a nut graf was in the training session, buried myself in a 501 page document detailing Evanston’s budget for a story that was frankly way over my head, and produced my first podcast about Northwestern theater. I proved to myself, new journalist that I was, that I could be an effective leader by recruiting and training new peers as development and recruitment editor.
While I was not a mainstay in the newsroom every night because of my 5 a.m. crew practice wakeups, I always felt welcomed and supported by editors and peers in the newsroom. Special shoutout to pa group 114, particularly my friends Nicole Markus and Ethan Lachman, for being an anchor for me in my work at this paper. As Nicole’s assistant social media editor and Ethan’s assistant opinion editor, I gained experience with new platforms and saw how fun collaboration with friends in a newsroom can be.
At The Daily, I told stories that mattered to me. As someone with a brother with autism, it was empowering for me to amplify the story of a Special Olympics athlete who had 180 medals. As Assistant Opinion Editor, I got to talk about myself (one of my favorite subjects) in a series of journal-esque entries. I wrote about my beloved rowing team, and even found out from one of the recruits later that they joined the team because of my story.
When I was a creative nonfiction warrior in high school, I would wake up in the middle of the night to write something down for stories I was working on. I was always thrilled whenever I came up with something that seemed to pull the entire piece together. My time at The Daily has similarly allowed me to tie together the threads of my college experience into a cohesive story.
The Daily has given me the reporting and analytical skills to channel my writing energy into pieces that inform and empower. Infusing pieces with meaning that could impact someone else is something I know will serve me throughout my life, and I am forever grateful to The Daily for giving me that skill.
Email: [email protected]
X: @chiarafkim
