From sketching student life to leading a design team, UC Davis gave me the courage to grow into opportunities I never thought I was ready for — and I’m so glad I dared to try
By LANHUI ZHEN — lazhen@ucdavis.edu
My story at The Aggie began when I first saw the vacancy posting for the cartoonist position — thinking, “Finally! A dream on-campus job that lets me express my love for illustration and storytelling.” As a cartoonist, I illustrated many moments of humor, heartwarming stories and social commentary drawn from everyday student life at UC Davis. Seeing my artwork getting printed and distributed all over campus was one of the most rewarding experiences!
I later joined the layout team to broaden my skills. To be honest, at that time, I doubted if pasting some text and images onto a page was really going to help me. Fast forward, I am so glad I took on the experience. It gave me a holistic understanding of how each part of The Aggie fits together to meet production deadlines and brings the paper to life, which grounded me when interviewing for my current design director position.
Before becoming the design director, I actually had never been on the graphic design team, nor did I have any prior experience in design directing elsewhere. Looking at the usual path that many past design directors took — started out as volunteer designer and worked their way up, it still feels crazy how I dared to apply. Although I was starting the team from the ground up again, it pushed me to harvest all the lessons from past experiences in a professional setting, i.e., class group projects, facilitating discussions as an orientation leader, design thinking tools and ways that my professors critiqued design.
This role taught me to think holistically, problem-solve creatively and grow in ways I never anticipated. Thank you Chris and Alyssa for trusting me! Serving this role, I had the opportunity to design a merchandise line for the first time, design-direct my favorite issue, Best of Davis 2025 (yes, the one I am holding onto!) and lead an incredibly talented team: Savannah, Crystal, Darixa, Kayla, Stephanie, Jason, Nova, Emily and Veronica. Watching each of you grow was such a joy, and I’ll always cherish all the memories from our weekly brainstorming meeting. Thank you to the rest of the managing staff! It’s been so great working with you all, and I never expected to learn so much about journalism just by being around such passionate editors!
If I could leave one piece of advice to my younger self, I would say, “You don’t need to wait until you feel 100% ready to chase an opportunity, because you never will. As long as you meet the majority of the qualifications, just go for it! You will learn the rest on the job. And remember, every experience counts, even if it’s a small one.”
I would like to give special thanks to Professor Jae Yong Suk, Professor Akshita Sivakumar and Professor Christina Cogdell for their unwavering support and mentorship, reshaping my understanding of what architecture can be and what it can do, and inspiring me to think critically about our sustainable future.
I am also incredibly grateful to the many friends I have met throughout my four years at UC Davis — each of you carry such a unique energy and perspective, and I have learned so much from every one of you.
And of course, to my most beloved parents, thank you for the unconditional love and support, and for always lifting me back up whenever I hit roadblocks.
There are still so many memories I wish I could share, so many lessons I’d tell my younger self and so many more people I want to thank. But as I close off this chapter, I’ll say that UC Davis has taught me that there’s so much more than what I could ever have imagined. I’ll miss the feeling of stumbling into new ideas and meeting new people each quarter, when learning felt exponential and discovery never stopped. Being a double major taught me how two disciplines view the same world in entirely different ways — and that there’s rarely one “right” answer. Those countless “aha” moments, where ideas collided and clicked, are what I’ll carry with me most. I’ve learned to think more critically, more curiously and more compassionately.
To my alma mater — thank you. Until next time!
Lanhui Zhen is The California Aggie’s current design director. She joined The Aggie in October 2023 as a cartoonist under the opinion desk. In March 2024, she also became a layout artist under the layout team. She is graduating with a bachelor’s degree double majoring in design and managerial economics.
Written By: Lanhui Zhen — lazhen@ucdavis.edu
