Most people who pick up a copy of the Daily don’t read every single word. However, they definitely see every visual. Jaylin Cho has spent three years thinking about the graphics that everyone sees. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, she is graduating this May as an international relations major with a minor in Japanese, and she is leaving the Daily’s Graphics and Production sections fundamentally changed from when she found them.
Cho did not set out to become a central part of the Daily’s visual operation. She joined in her sophomore year, pulled in by a friend who mentioned that the Graphics section needed help. She decided to give it a try and never looked back.
By her junior fall, she had become executive graphics editor, a role she held for two consecutive semesters. Then, she stepped up to assistant production director before transitioning this spring into the role of an alumni liaison. Each step brought new responsibilities and a sharper understanding of what it actually takes to keep a section running.
One of the more demanding parts of her tenure was building the section itself. Recruiting new members meant reaching beyond the usual channels. Cho made a point of reaching out to students at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, bringing in artists who might not have otherwise thought of the Daily as a space for them to express themselves. The experience reshaped how she thinks about leadership.
“I learned how to communicate effectively with students across different campuses,” Cho wrote in an email to the Daily. “I found that reliability and follow-through are essential when it comes to building engagement and maintaining involvement.”
The results of that work showed up most visibly across two consecutive commencement editions. For both the 2024 and 2025 issues, Cho produced the two-page centerspread graphic. They were the kind of scale that most student illustrators rarely get to see their work reach in print. She still keeps copies of both at home.
“Seeing my work printed at such a large scale was incredibly rewarding,” Cho wrote. “I was very aware that the commencement edition is picked up by many seniors and their families, which made the process feel even more meaningful.”
She stayed in close communication with the managing board throughout, she added, incorporating their feedback so that the final product became something collaborative rather than solitary.
Her favorite memory with the Daily is the Hunt. The Daily’s semesterly scavenger hunt has been a fixture in Cho’s Tufts experience, as she has been present for five of them. For the majority of the Hunts, she was among the students moving from station to station, completing activities and solving various clues. This past fall, however, she was on the other side of the event, helping organize the activities and running a station herself. It turned out to be one of her favourite memories at Tufts. It was a small but meaningful inversion of a tradition she had grown to love.
After commencement, Cho plans to pursue law school. As for what she would tell students just arriving on the Hill, she resists the generic.
“Recognize the importance of communication and connection early on,” she wrote. “In high school, it’s often possible to succeed academically without engaging much with others. In college, building relationships—whether through networking, leadership roles, or community involvement—is a central part of the experience.”
