Claire Yoo: Managing digital editor

As Claire Yoo prepares to graduate this year, she reflects fondly on her time at the Cardinal Times. 

Yoo joined the staff her sophomore year as a designer. She continued this work until becoming a managing digital editor and head of design her senior year. The transition into each of these roles has taught her important life skills and helped her grow as a designer. 

“I think the whole process of evolving from a designer to a digital editor has helped me both become more skilled in software and also in teaching and leading. And personal skills such as organization and time management,” she said. 

Yoo points out the uniqueness of the community created by the Cardinal Times. 

“I think one quality of this class I really enjoyed was that it’s such a diverse group of grades. So I think that it’s kind of refreshing in that way,” she said. “I get experiences that I wouldn’t have gotten before and I like how we can view each other, not just as classmates and peers, but also kind of like coworkers in a sense. I think that’s a different relationship that you can’t really form in school oftentimes.” 

Yoo is attending the University of California Irvine this fall and plans on majoring in international studies. She also intends to study abroad during her college years. 

“I think I’m going to be studying in Korea. I actually had a plan for going there for college, but it was kind of complicated. The school there has a specific major that I want to study: international development and cooperation,” she said. “I really like exploring different cultures and traveling, so I hope that after high school I would have more freedom in incorporating that into my daily life.”

In a word of advice, Yoo emphasizes growing out of your comfort zone. 

“Also, not limiting yourself and trying to succeed in things. I feel like you can only grow as much as you let yourself. So don’t limit yourself,” she said. “Just put in a lot of effort and you’ll get that growth from it.”