Graduation 2019

I’m moving to the East Coast in August, but family doesn’t end with a graduation stole and a one-way plane ticket. I will have my Cal family’s back from 2,700 miles away, and that’s a commitment.

It has been a long, unconventional route to get to where I am today, but I know that every experience played a part. To those struggling with their journeys, know that you are not alone.

Success is finding what I love to do and finding the people I love to work with. I might not be graduating, but as I leave the Daily Cal and UC Berkeley, I know my experiences working here have prepared me to take on anything.

To my 18-year-old self, who came into her first day of work at this newspaper with a full heart and even fuller dreams — I still miss your innocence, but I’m glad you grew up.

I would like to think my work on this campus has made it an ever so slightly more accepting, accessible and affordable place. I hope that others find it in themselves to continue this work.

In my four years at UC Berkeley, I changed majors, I changed houses and I changed friend groups, but there was always one constant: The Daily Californian.

As much as I wanted to end this tour with some advice or wisdom, I have yet to process my impending graduation. Maybe it’s because I can’t fit four years into 900 words, as hard as I try.