After previously being located in the Hub since fall of last year, the Writing and Literacy Center has returned to Studio C with student tutors.
One of the reasons for the move, according to Kelly Meyer, the Literary and Performing Arts Division Head, was to free up space for teachers and students working in the Hub.
“We want to free up that classroom space [in the Hub], because it’s a space that’s used frequently by teachers who are bringing their students in to do research or breaking out into the small conference rooms,” Meyer said. “[…] It can be confusing to look around the Hub where there’s so much going on to try and find a writing tutor to have that appointment.”
In addition to being less confusing, according to Meyer, Studio C is also more “comfortable” for students that may need help with their work.
“[Studio C] is a central meeting place. It’s a space that students, I hope, feel comfortable already going to, and that they won’t [see as] a big step to go to the back of the room […] take those few steps up and find that support service there,” Meyer said. “We don’t have a lot of free classroom spaces around the building, and [Studio C] has been used as a Literacy Resource Area before, so it was, I think, a natural choice.”
While the Lit Center has been located in Studio C before, a new addition will be student tutors who will support other students along with teachers stationed there as well.
“You can come for anything English related, any stuff of the writing process that you need help [with],” Alayna Woitel, junior, said. “It doesn’t necessarily need to be just editing or drafting your final paper, anything like that. It can be any process, even like other kinds of English homework that maybe isn’t an essay.”
Woitel is one of several students who began tutoring earlier this year, and has been stationed in the Hub until now. According to Woitel, tutoring in the Lit Center is similar to how NHS or Scholars Pathway tutors students.
“Tutors would have a little signs announcing their presence, and then students can come and sit down and get the help they need,” Woitel said.
Meyer believes that student tutors in the Lit Center will not only help students on their homework, but will also benefit the tutors themselves later in life once they graduate.
“This is an opportunity to support our students who have that teaching, learning, coaching bug, and to encourage them to take that with them when they leave here,” Meyer said. “It’s a chance for students to recognize that […] you should learn to feel comfortable [being tutored], so you go and seek it out when you’re in college.”