Growing Up in the WSWC, Writing College Essays, and Moving On

I first stepped foot into this place when I just a wee lassie of fifteen years. The Writing Center seemed like a terrifying place filled with MLA snobs, grammar geniuses, and pedantic meanies as I was still an impressionable, lost, and intimidated sophomore tutor. Little did I know that I would come to love the WSWC and that the WSWC would change me as a person (a little cheesy I know, but oh so very true).

First, let’s talk about how the Writing Center made me into a functioning human being. When you are constantly forced to talk with a random person for half an hour, you learn how to get over your awkwardness fast. When I first came into the WSWC, I was much shyer, and I ABSOLUTELY HATED small talk. I’d rather do a marathon of math problems than start a friendly conversation with a stranger. Sad, I know. But, with each tutoring session, the talking became easier. The casual exchanges and the polite smiles all became effortless with the more practice I had. And now, I can do this in a whiz.

Swimming along, I now want to talk to all of y’all about how tutoring at the Writing Center has made me a wayyyyyyy better writer. I’m sure everyone has heard of the phrase “you learn the most when you teach.” And while most people can say, “yeah, I guess that’s true,” I am a hardcore supporter of this. As a tutor, I was made to hear and look for errors and inconsistencies. Overtime, those skills translated over to when I wrote on my own. I noticed rouge commas that were misplaced and sneaky little apostrophes that were missing.  And, it wasn’t only petty little grammar mistakes that I caught. I could hear when and where certain tones worked, I could figure out how to make diction more elegant. I became my own tutor.

And as a result of all the practice in writing, I could express myself better and more creatively. This became especially important to me as college essay time came around. Man oh man were the prompts boring and cliché. But inside of my brain, the creative ideas started flowing. I was writing about bubbles in one essay and the word “spew” in another. I was having a blast.

Super random tangent: some of you guys in my class have told me that you’re worried and stressed about your college essays. I am no personal narrative writing guru, but these are some quick tips I’ve gathered while tutoring college essays (some more horrendous than the others) and while writing my own.

1. Don’t you dare use fancy vocab words. People want to read your story, not the dictionary
2. I forbid you to use “I have a boring life” as an excuse to write a boring essay. Sure, you may have a harder time writing an interesting essay compared to some kid who has skydived over the Swiss Alps after swimming with the Queen of England, but I am 1000000000% certain that you can write about a story that is your own and that shows off the lovely person that you are. Some of the best essays I’ve read, in fact, all deal with a seemingly boring event that the writer somehow twists into a story that stands for something greater.
3. Be goofy, show your tone, and have fun. When you write about something you enjoy, your energy and spirit will translate into your writing for everyone to see.

Sooo, back to the real blog post. Now I am full-fledged legal eighteen-year-old and third year tutor for the WSWC. Being a tutor has, obviously, taught and helped me in so many ways, more ways than I could ever rightfully capture in this lil’ blog. I hope you all enjoy the Advanced Composition class and love tutoring here, and although I’ll be a little sad to leave in about three months something that I have become so used to, I know and trust that this place will be left in good hands.

Shall you want to contact me any further, t’is my email down below.

evasdu@gmail.com