Go For Broke | Journalism Institute

The Go For Broke Journalism Institute advances educational goals through youth engagement and professional development, partnering with journalism organizations to provide intensive training while teaching students about important historical narratives⁠⁠.

Go For Broke Journalism Institute

Since 2022, the Go For Broke Journalism Institute launched at Go For Broke National Education Center in partnership with the Asian American Journalist Association - Los Angeles Chapter (AAJA-LA). We bring together high school students from Downtown Business Magnet High School to learn about the Japanese American WWII soldiers’ story, and also provide world-class journalistic instruction.

Students participate in the summer for a three-week intensive programming for first-hand experience learning journalism skills such as research, writing and innovative storytelling strategies. The sessions are led by journalists and experts from Los Angeles Times, ABC7, GFBNEC, and other top-tier journalism outlets.

The curriculum is centered on the Japanese American WWII community and soldiers’ experience. The students develop a deeper appreciation for this history and are able to explore the connection of how the story of the Go For Broke legacy applies to their own communities and identities.

For more information or to share your interest in partnering or joining the program, complete form here.

Veteran Legacy Project

In partnership with the Department of Veteran Affairs, Interned at Home, Honor on the Battlefield: The Remarkable Stories of the Japanese American Soldiers of WWII project recruits University students to conduct research on the untold legacies of veterans buried at the VA National Cemeteries. In 2025, interns from UCLA’s Asian American Studies Department researched the stories and wrote biographies for 24 veterans buried at Los Angeles National Cemetery.

The undergraduate interns were trained by experts in the history of Japanese American wartime incarceration and the military service of the Nisei soldiers. The interns published their work on the Department of Veterans Affairs website and also completed passion projects that relate the Go For Broke legacy to their own identities. In conjunction with the Go For Broke Journalism Institute, the high school students and these undergraduates conducted a field trip to learn more about these Japanese American soldiers and their individual stories.