Written by Ethan Greenberg
Photos by Aaron Cronin and Blair Guo
The Writing Center at Colorado College has been a part of the campus since 1981, and has seen general trends toward more use over those 35 years. However, Block 1 of 2016 exceeded the trend with record numbers of appointments, especially among first-years.
Block 1 of this year was the Writing Center’s busiest Block 1 on record. Block 1 of 2016 had 688 appointments in contrast to 529 in 2015. That represents a 30 percent increase in Writing Center use. Writing Center peer consultant Grace Perry, sophomore, called it a “block of insanity” due to the huge popularity. “I’ve been three times,” said first-year Coby Petau. “I found it to be super effective because the transition to college is so different and the writing style you have to portray has to be a lot more formal.”
First-year usage was mostly responsible for the surge. Appointments by first-years increased 42 percent, while non-first-year usage only increased nine percent. “I don’t think I worked with a single person who wasn’t a freshman,” Perry said, and she had 23 appointments throughout Block 1. Another Writing Center peer consultant, junior Maddie Walden, said that “the majority [of appointments] have been first-years.”
This data is mirrored by the Quantitative Reasoning Center (QRC). Although QRC data is not as complete because it is more difficult to track, the QRC saw a 74 percent increase in individual tutoring appointments over 2015 and a 40 percent increase in drop-in appointments.
The popularity of the Writing Center and QRC is perhaps even more interesting considering the library transition period. As Traci Freeman, Director of the Colket Learning Center, said, “this increase has occurred in a year of dislocation and disruption.” The Writing Center now resides in the Mod Pod and the QRC in the Gill House, which in some ways may have increased the visibility of both resources on campus. Through this transition and in general, Freeman said that the she feels “very well supported by the college.” Tracy Santa, Director of the Writing Center, said that “the administration has been sensitive to the needs of the student.”
The reasons for the uptick are hard to pinpoint because causal links are almost impossible to prove. However, Freeman and Santa have their theories. “What I’d like to believe is that we have been working to change the culture around academic struggle,” said Freeman. Asking for help is not a “sign of helplessness or hopelessness.” First-year student Julia Gledhill said, “I think that the resources that we have on campus really encourage students to not only ask for help and acknowledge academic struggle but also just acknowledge these resources that are free and want to accommodate us.”
Santa also pointed to the possibility that better writers are more likely to use the Writing Center. As acceptance rates have dropped at CC, some believed that the more academically-oriented the student body becomes, the less the Writing Center will be used. In fact, the opposite has happened. This could be because more confident writers have a higher probability of using the Writing Center. “If you are a struggling writer, it’s more difficult to share your draft work with peers,” said Santa. “if you are struggling with math, it’s not seen as something which is as personal as struggling with writing.”
“I do think that we get the better part of the writers in the Writing Center and we’d really like to extend that because I think that the difference between the good writers and the improving writers is that they don’t know what resources are available to them or they don’t feel comfortable using them,” Walden said.
As the number of first-years goes up, peer consultants have noticed a larger emphasis and need for more than just writing assistance.
“I spent a lot of time on anxiety management, counseling them on what is good anxiety, what is crippling anxiety,” Perry said. In a similar vein, Walden said that she tries to address the “feeling of inferiority when it comes to being around their new peers.” But this concentration on mental health and confidence relates to the effectiveness of the writing process. “I try to make sure they are okay emotionally, as corny as that might sound, before we even start on their writing,” said Walden, “because otherwise they are distracted.”
Writing Center peer consultants make it very clear what purpose they serve. “We are here to bounce ideas off of and support them to become a better writer, not just produce an essay that will get a better grade,” Walden said. In essence, Perry said, “don’t worry about the grade you’re getting, worry about what does this sentence mean?”