When multicolored banners appear on the path to the Science Center and students turn up in suits, it’s clearly Tanner day on campus. Each fall, the Tanner Conference aims to explore the relationship between the liberal arts classroom and student experiences in the world—whether through internships and service learning, international study, experiential learning in Wellesley courses, or research and fellowships. This year, more than 250 student presenters spoke, including these three:

An Editorial Eye

In her role as an editorial intern at the Laura Dail Literary Agency in New York City, Yona Levin ’18 learned to ask a whole new set of questions of the literature she loves. “Who’s the audience? What’s compelling? Is this worth fixing?” were some of the queries the English and political science double major used as she evaluated submissions to the agency. For her Tanner presentation, “No, You’re Not Done Editing,” Levin described spending her days writing rejection letters, creating pitches for books she believed in, and doing some substantive manuscript editing.

The experience stayed with Levin as she got back to studying this fall. “Now when I read, rather than just consuming and evaluating books as a student, I’m recognizing everything that has gone into creating them—all the people that worked together to make the book happen. I appreciate everything I am reading so much more.”

When multicolored banners appear on the path to the Science Center and students turn up in suits, it’s clearly Tanner day on campus. Each fall, the Tanner Conference aims to explore the relationship between the liberal arts classroom and student experiences in the world—whether through internships and service learning, international study, experiential learning in Wellesley courses, or research and fellowships. This year, more than 250 student presenters spoke, including these three:

Justice in NYC

Tashay Campbell ’18 interned at the New York County District Attorney’s Office—also known as D.A.N.Y. and “where they film Law & Order.” Campbell was assigned to the Financial Frauds Bureau in the Investigative Division, which handles everything from check fraud and arson to schemes to defraud the public. Her assignments included transcribing a wiretap, doing research to help set bail, and analyzing financial documents. “They gave me a lot of agency in deciding if something fishy was going on,” Campbell says.

At first, Campbell was skeptical about the justice system, particularly in regards to its racial and class biases. But she was inspired by the commitment of the people who work there—including many women and people of color—and found that the office was quick to acknowledge that it is part of a flawed system, and is working to change.

Beijing Reporting

Boom microphone in hand, Anna Hunter ’19 chased Dennis Rodman—on his way home from North Korea—through the Beijing airport last summer. “I am not cut out for the paparazzi life,” she reported at Tanner, describing her internship at the ABC News Beijing bureau. While the East Asian studies major does not plan to go into journalism, she valued the research she did for the bureau. “I had no idea how many Chinese expats live in Australia, or the solutions developing in reaction to water crises in the Himalayan region, or all the other things that I studied or that happened over the course of the summer,” she says. “This research brought my East Asian studies at Wellesley to life by showing how the implications of what I am studying play out in the world today.”