Editor’s note: The Daily’s editorial department acknowledges that this article is premised on a conflict of interest. This article is a special feature for Commencement 2026 that does not represent the Daily’s standard journalistic practices.
When it comes to her time at the Daily, graduating senior Grace Nelson believes that everything happens for a reason.
This spring, Nelson’s eight semesters at the Daily will come to a close. During this time, she held six different positions — staff writer, assistant features editor, deputy features editor and executive features editor, as well as associate editor and managing editor within the 93rd Managing Board. Although she oversees all sections in her current role as managing editor, Nelson’s heart will always be with Features.
“[In Features], we’re uplifting voices that otherwise wouldn’t be heard on campus, or voices that may not be in mainstream news or relevant current policies but [are] definitely still an important part of campus,” Nelson said. “We’re shining the light on people who deserve to have their voices heard.”
Nelson’s time at the Daily took several unexpected twists and turns, beginning with her initial plan to join the News section during the fall of her first-year. However, upon attending a general interest meeting and experiencing the contagious energy of the then-executive features editor, Mark Choi (LA’24), Nelson quickly realized that features was where she was meant to be. When she began writing for the section, she resonated with features pieces’ long-form writing style that allowed for creative freedom and the ability to explore a myriad of topics.
“News has to stay pertinent to the moment. [With] Features, you get to take your time. You get to do what you want. It’s beautiful,” Nelson said.
Nelson’s first couple of articles were profiles, which provided her the opportunity to explore interviewing and journalistic writing. But one of Nelson’s first articles that she truly felt she spearheaded was a piece profiling several Tufts buildings undergoing renovations, inspired by her own first-year housing experience at Blakeley Hall.
Nelson was one of five first-year students who were housed on the top floor of Blakeley for their first month on campus while three new residential facilities were being built to accommodate the Class of 2026. The building was not an active dorm, did not have a resident assistant and was not being used by other students, crafting a living experience that Nelson described as a “free for all.” During her sophomore year, Nelson was able to draw upon this unique experience to craft a Features story surrounding the ongoing renovations of on-campus buildings such as Blakeley, Eaton Hall and 123 Packard Ave.
“I felt like I had a niche that the Tufts population didn’t know [about] at the time, and it gave me a good perspective to be able to write about Blakeley as a construction project, because Tufts students were so used to just walking past this building and not knowing what it was,” Nelson said.
After being encouraged by her executive editors throughout the semesters, Nelson became an assistant editor, then a deputy. By the end of her sophomore year, Nelson was approached to be the next executive features editor — a role that she was initially unable to take on, as she would be abroad at the University of Oxford for the entirety of her junior year.
Even so, Nelson continued to demonstrate her commitment to the Daily, taking on an editing shift once a week and publishing a biweekly column, “The Oxford Comma,” that detailed her time abroad. Upon return, Nelson hoped to be executive features editor, but was unsure if she would have the chance.
“I was worried, coming back from Oxford, that perhaps features exec wasn’t in the cards because I had taken a year off,” Nelson said. “Thankfully [then-executive features editor] Dylan [Fee] put her trust into me, and I was able to be features exec, and that was the best job ever.”
Under Nelson’s leadership, the Features section flourished. One of the biggest highlights of her semester as executive editor was leading the features team to victory during the Daily’s semesterly scavenger hunt. Nelson also recalled how special it was to give out awards to her section at Cocktails, the Daily’s end-of-semester celebration, especially considering the impact of receiving those awards as a new writer.
“When you’re a sophomore and you get an award at Cocktails, it really does mean so much,” Nelson said. “Now it’s harder to remember that feeling, being on the other side of it, because at the end of the day you just get a piece of paper. … [But] people are believing in you, and that means a lot when you’re in that really impressionable stage of your time at the Daily.”
Nelson entered her final semester at the Daily as an associate editor, a role that required her to come into the Daily office twice a week to finalize and schedule articles for publication. However, when positions within the managing board shifted midway through the semester, Nelson stepped up to take on the role of managing editor, which required a greater commitment of four shifts a week.
Although Nelson initially doubted her ability to take on the responsibility of managing editor, she realized upon stepping into the role that it is where she was meant to be.
“I applied for associate editor mainly out of self-doubt. … It just seemed reasonable for me not to want managing editor, because I was like, ‘I’m not gonna be good enough for that much responsibility,’” she said. “[I’m] super grateful it worked out the way it did, because I love the Daily. I don’t care that some nights we’re [in the office] until 2 a.m., because I’m really enjoying it. I love working on Wednesdays and seeing the print edition come to life. And I love late nights, and I love the people who make it all happen.”
Nelson cites the close-knit Daily community as being at the heart of her love for the newspaper. She and the rest of the managing board often spent time together going on grocery runs, playing Bananagrams and getting frozen yogurt at BerryLine. However, much of their time is spent in the office, preparing articles nightly for publication.
This time spent in the Daily office has provided Nelson with crucial experience and skills — more so, she stated, than her actual classes.
“The Daily has been one of the most important learning experiences and a more hands-on education than any of my classes at Tufts,” Nelson said. “Not that they haven’t been amazing classes. … But there’s something different about being thrown into the deep end and just having to operate in a newsroom made up of students without a faculty advisor. You have so much more responsibility, and it’s a really important learning experience.”
As Nelson graduates from her time at the Daily, she hopes to inspire current and future staff members to take a leap and follow their instincts, even if it may seem daunting or unorthodox. In fact, that is where Nelson believes the true beauty often lies.
“Things always happen for a reason, and that’s definitely what I’ve noticed in my Tufts Daily career,” Nelson said. “I ended up in a managing editor position, and that’s what I wanted to do all along, deep down, I just didn’t know it. … Take a chance on stuff. See what happens. It might not go in the way that you expect, but it happens for a reason. … You’re bound to find some new, weird group on campus, or some interesting fact that puts you on a whole different path.”
