At 6:30 a.m. every weekday, Tomo Chien is awake and working away on Morning, Trojan. After two hours of prewriting the night before, he still has his work cut out for him as he goes through Google Alerts, Sidechat and Reddit to find stories for the newsletter. But speed is essential — he only has one hour to meet his deadline.

At 7:25 a.m., Anna Hsu, Morning, Trojan’s copy editor, wakes up. She sets her alarm for 7:25 so she can stay in bed for five minutes. Once the clock hits 7:30, she gets to work reading everything Chien has written, ensuring there are no typos or grammar mistakes and checking that all the links work so it can be sent out at 7:55 a.m.

They have done this every weekday for the past four years. But this Friday, the newsletter will shutter its doors as Chien, a senior majoring in journalism, and Hsu, a senior majoring in computer engineering and computer science, prepare for graduation.

“I’m honored … it has been four years, I think it’s gone through some pretty distinct phases, and [I’ve] certainly learned a lot doing it and had a lot of fun,” Chien said. “On some level, I’m bummed to stop writing it … but also it’s kind of a relief.”

When Chien was a freshman, he noticed something missing in the USC news ecosystem. Students were working away at the Daily Trojan and Annenberg Media, but they had no way of ensuring anyone would actually read their work, he said. And so, Morning, Trojan was born as an aggregator of news at USC. 

But Chien needed help, so he reached out to Hsu, then a copy editor at the Daily Trojan. He told Hsu that she was one of the few editors who would catch his mistakes. She signed on because she felt the mission of the newsletter was important.

“Back then, it was really just trying to aggregate news sources that were relevant to college students, and trying to get college students to read more local news, and that was something that I personally struggled with,” Hsu said. 

At first, Chien said he had no idea how the USC community would react to the newsletter. He said he created it because it was what he wanted to read. 

“It was a thing I just kind of started doing,” Chien said. “We didn’t have that many subscribers. I think there’s a time when it was like my mom [and] a few professors.” 

Now, Morning, Trojan boasts nearly 12,000 subscribers. In a world of journalism that’s so often filled with bad news, Morning, Trojan’s success is a spot of good news, said Rebecca Haggerty, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“It’s a hopeful story — the idea that a student can have an idea, work hard, really put in the effort and, while they’re still a full-time student, build something that has an impact and is meaningful,” Haggerty said. 

Chien said people really started to pay attention once he started doing original reporting for Morning, Trojan in October 2024, marking a turning point for the newsletter. This included ranking sororities using AI, for which the California Post dubbed him the “campus AI nerd.” He also exposed a cybersecurity flaw allowing anyone to spoof emails.

While covering the mass layoffs USC experienced over the summer, the newsletter was gaining up to 2,000 subscribers per month for three months straight, he said.

“Journalists like to see that their work is well received and spread by people and has maybe some impact on people’s day-to-day lives,” Chien said. “I’m somewhat ashamed to admit this, but one of my metrics for success is when people are screenshotting and sharing the newsletter on Sidechat. To me, that is an indication that our core audience is really engaging with the newsletter, and it’s rewarding to see that.”

Haggerty said that one place where Morning, Trojan stands out from other news sources is the tone Chien strikes in his writing. His cheekiness allows him to engage with his audience more, she said. 

Chien’s most unforgettable moment in Morning, Trojan’s history was an example of just that: when he sent former USC President Carol Folt a “Moron of the Year” trophy in May 2024.

In the aftermath of the Spring 2024 pro-Palestinian encampments, Chien said he wanted to provide the USC community with an outlet for the anger and resentment they felt toward the administration. So, he organized the event. People were able to vote for Folt, Provost Andrew Guzman and the public relations department. Folt won by roughly 500 votes in a Google Form.

“Carol was a shoo-in; she was going to win,” Chien said. “I spent 75 bucks total on that trophy. … I had to get rush shipping. And then I knew that I couldn’t just go to her office to drop it off. So I SameDay FedExed it to her office. It was not a cheap stunt.”

As much as people want news, they also want to laugh, Chien said. And that’s something Morning, Trojan was able to bring to people.

“At the end of the day, it’s run by two college students who are a little bit goofy,” Hsu said.

Hsu said she never imagined she would be able to contribute to something as big as Morning, Trojan. Seeing how many people Morning, Trojan has reached and how many it’s impacted makes her feel proud of the work she and Chien have done, she said.

“I’m glad that for all our readers we got to touch a little part of their USC experience, no matter what stage they are, whether they’re a college student, faculty, parent, administrator,” Hsu said. “I’m glad they’ve got to experience a little bit of what life feels like for me and for Tomo.”

She can’t help but feel nostalgic as the year comes to an end, remembering when Morning, Trojan only had a few hundred subscribers. Hsu said she knows she’ll talk about this experience for decades to come. 

“I used to have to explain what Morning, Trojan was to people,” Hsu said. “It’s gonna feel weird not ever opening our software anymore. … But I think that Morning, Trojan has done a lot in the last four years, and I am glad that we are able to kind of close this chapter in a very happy way.”