Workshop Helps Prevents Writer’s Block

NEHS members are working to improve your grades.

Rutger Scott, Staff Reporter

Do you need help writing essays? If so, the National English Honor Society, NEHS, has the tools that may be able to help.

The NEHS has created a new Writing Center. The Writing Center is a system intent on guiding students out of their English class issues. The center is student- run and open every Wednesday after school in English teacher Heather Tuthill’s classroom.

NEHS adviser Joseph Golimowski came up with the idea. “I wanted to create the writing center going back to 2013,” Golimowski said. “This year a couple of things came together: I became reacquainted with a grad school colleague who runs Herndon High’s writing center, had a student who wanted to do it and Mrs. Tuthill volunteered to oversee the weekly tutoring sessions.” He pushed for the concept as a way to improve student’s writing and mind-set in terms of literary development.

Senior Madeleine Wright is the student coordinator and lead trainer of the center. She designed the training for student tutors and takes care of all scheduling. Wright is excited to help any student who is struggling with an English paper.

“The Writing Center is able to help students at any point in the writing process,” Wright said. “Whether it’s brainstorming ideas for a talk essay, formulating a thesis, organizing a paper, or simply putting the finishing touches on an assignment.”

However, the center will help with more than writing papers.

“We’re here to help with structure, grammar, and organization of papers, as well as any other aspect of English a student may be struggling with,” Wright explained.

Although the center is a newly established concept, Wright has big plans for its future.

“In the future, we hope to expand the Writing Center to all students. We’re working with just a few teachers as we perfect the system, but we hope to be working with the entire English department by second term. We’re creating an online sign-up program, which will make arranging sessions easier for students, teachers, and tutors. The system should be ready by Christmas.”

Tutors within the Center must be senior student members of the NEHS and have had completed AP Language and Composition or 11th grade English at Mountain Vista Governor’s School.

“We welcome all English and History teachers to send students to the Center,” said Golimowski. “All they need to do is send us an e-mail to arrange a face to face meeting.” Tutoring can be available by appointment if a teacher requests a students who cannot make it on Wednesdays.

The Writing Center looks to be a very helpful privilege that should be taken up by students. In the art of writing and composition, many different skills and methods to the craft can be found. Some methods work for some students, and some work for others. Either way, the Writing Center is open to everybody and is encouraged by the NEHS to be utilized, in hopes of giving all students equal success in their English class.