Spreading the Literary Word

After a year of virtual learning Dante Chavez ’24 was eager to be involved with the places he was hearing so much about, making applying to be the Rose O’Neill Literary House Summer Intern an easy choice.

 

The position blended his two areas of study, English and computer science, seamlessly as he worked remotely designing email advertisements for the Signature Center’s summer events. 

“Dante was undaunted in learning difficult desktop publishing programs such as InDesign and other Adobe Creative Suite programs,” his supervisor Dr. James Hall, Director of the Rose O’Neill Literary House shared.

Dante’s favorite event he advertised for was a virtual reading by Kathyrn Nuermberger. 

“The thing I liked most about her virtual visit was the craft talk. I really enjoyed hearing about the struggles she dealt with as a writer. It felt good to know that even experienced writers can go through the same issues I do.”

Experiencing a virtual school year allowed Dante to be well prepared for working remotely throughout the summer. 

“When you’re not actually going to work or going to class, the work can become conceptualized in a way which makes it harder to acknowledge as urgent, but because of my first year, I’ve had to learn to take an online schedule just as seriously as an in-person schedule,” he explained. 

In addition to advertising, Dante worked on the Cherry Tree Young Writers’ Conference as a “camp counselor” where he was able to work with professional guest writers and share his passion for creative writing with high school students.

“I have been writing and making up stories for things I’ve experienced all the way up until now, so studying English seemed like a natural choice,” Dante expressed.