Marlee Stout, a graduating senior majoring in child study and human development, wasn’t planning on pursuing journalism in any sense upon entering college. A general interest meeting for the Daily, though, changed her mind.
“I went to a few [Daily] meetings, signed up for a copy shift, went to DailyCon and I was like, ‘Yeah, these are my people. These people are nerds, and they care about writing,’” Stout said.
She began her time at the Daily in the Copy section, eventually becoming the executive copy editor her sophomore spring. Through that role, she grew more connected to the office environment and the rest of the community. It was her time as an associate editor, though, that really allowed her to immerse herself in the organization.
“We all got really close as [a managing] board just because we spent so much time together. We were always all in the office,” Stout said. “I think that was the most stressful semester that I’ve had on the Daily, but also probably my favorite.”
I asked the members of Stout’s managing board to describe her in one word. Rising senior Julieta Grané said “clever.” Graduating seniors Arielle Weinstein and Merry Jiao both said “dedicated.” Jiao amusingly added that Stout was a “chaos-demon.” Graduating senior and editor-in-chief at the time, Rachel Liu, said “bright.”
Stout spent the entirety of her senior year serving as an alumni liaison for the Daily. Some of her responsibilities include fundraising, organizing coffee chats between staffers and former staffers and reaching out to the Daily’s alumni network.
Stout has also ventured into news writing, finding herself interested in a story about the Somerville Public Library closing midday due to concerns about teen violence, and she had thought, “‘Libraries, this is kind of my thing.’”
Stout pitched the story to rising senior Estelle Anderson, then the executive news editor, who suggested that Stout write the piece herself. She wasn’t particularly keen on interviewing people at the time, but has since learned to enjoy the reporting process.
“Interviewing people is so scary, but I’ve gotten better at that,” she said. “I really like doing interviews now. It’s one of my favorite parts of being on News.”
Stout became a regular member of the News section after that, writing pieces on local politics as well as university stories.
Stout has also been incredibly involved in the Experimental College, as a teacher of an Explorations seminar and the Daily’s ExCollege class, as well as a member of the ExCollege Board.
“I taught an Explorations class my junior fall, which is a 14-person seminar for first-year students,” she said. She chose to focus on the evolution of fairy tales.
“My major advisor encouraged me to apply, and so I came up with a couple ideas. I study children’s literature. That’s my main thing, and I’m doing my thesis on it, and I’ve been interested in it since I took a class about it my sophomore spring,” she said
Her time leading the Explorations seminar helped her gain experience teaching — after graduation, she plans to teach in some capacity.
“Post-grad, my vision is to be a teacher at least for a little bit, so I think the ExCollege was a huge step on that journey,” she said. “The teaching part was really hard, but I think it was also really rewarding to figure out the right questions to ask to promote really interesting discussion. … I think I got better at it as the semester went along, and I had fun.”
At the 2025 Academic Awards Ceremony, Stout was awarded the Marshall Hochhauser Prize, which recognizes students who “have worked within the system to broaden and enrich the intellectual climate at Tufts without regard for personal gain.” She also received The Association of Tufts Alumnae Seventy-fifth Anniversary Award, which was “established to honor students who have provided meritorious service to the Tufts University community, adding to the university by their presence.”
Stout did not have an easy initial transition to Tufts because she joined after a gap year, and campus was still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic during her first year, but she credits the Daily with helping her find a sense of community on campus.
If she could advise anything, she would suggest that students take advantage of all of the opportunities presented to them — even those they aren’t sure they’re interested in.
“This wasn’t something that I really saw myself doing. I’m not planning to go into journalism,” Stout said. “I think just being open to new experiences and open to things that you don’t necessarily see or expect yourself doing. … So just [be] willing to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves and actually [give] it a shot.”
