Meet Tanner Walling

Meet Tanner Walling

The MacPhaidin Library is fortunate to welcome Stonehill Senior Tanner Walling to our team this spring. As an intern with the Library’s Web and Social Media committee, Tanner will draft stories for the library's newsletter and create content for its social media streams. The job is a perfect fit for Tanner, an experienced author who published his first book as a 13-year-old eighth grader. He hopes the skills he acquires in his library internship will provide him with valuable insight into both higher education administration and social media marketing as he ponders his post-graduation plans. 

About Tanner 

Tanner, a Shrewsbury resident, is a double major in Communication and History, with a concentration in Media Studies. In addition to his library internship, Tanner also works in Admissions as a tour guide and serves on the executive board for Lux et Spes Society – a group whose members provide input concerning strategic and mission-driven decisions made by the College and plan and hosts campus events. Showing people what Stonehill has to offer is a passion for Tanner as he hopes some of those who he shows around campus will experience the same feeling he did when touring Stonehill as a high school student. 

“(It was) kind of (like) when you know you are in the right place.......(a) sixth sense feeling,” Tanner said.   “I didn't like the idea of being in a big classroom with 300 plus people I don't know.”  

The future? PR: Writing vs. Higher Education Administration 

Tanner has found his job with admissions so rewarding, he is considering pursuing a graduate degree in higher education administration. He’s also seriously weighing the possibility of continuing his graduate studies in public relations and marketing to continue his decade-long writing career. 

Tanner said he was initially turned off from writing by an elementary school teacher who criticized his ability to express himself. Stung, he focused his attention on science and technology – creating websites and learning programming.  But Tanner remained confident in his writing and in 7th grade began what turned into a four-book series of children’s meteorological adventure stories, the most recent of which was published in October of 2023. You can find Tanner’s books at his Amazon author’s site. 

Keep an eye on our social media streams. Later this semester Tanner will be hosting a library talk in which he discusses his experience as a self-published author and explains how it can be done – by anyone. 

by Julia Marchak '24