On October 24, Woodbury鈥檚 Writing Center celebrated its 20,000th tutoring session with an array of campus festivities. Since its creation in 2006 by Rich Matzen, professor of the Writing Department, and Will McConnell, chair of the INDS, History, and Political Science departments, the Writing Center has employed students who offer free peer tutoring services to any Woodbury student. The 20,000th milestone includes both in-person and online tutorial sessions completed by dozens of peer-tutors and thousands of WU students over the last twelve years.
鈥淥ur peer-tutors contribute to both student success and retention,鈥� said Laurel DiGangi, Writing Center director and coordinator of tutoring services. 鈥淥ur tutors are a close-knit community of students, and this community extends to the students who utilize our services, especially those who visit on a regular basis.鈥�
Several Writing Center tutors hosted the event, which featured candy, snacks, games and prizes. Students played the 鈥楽econd Chance鈥� game by answering questions related to the number twenty. If they answered correctly, they won a carnival prize; if not, they had a second chance to win by spinning a prize wheel.
The highlight of the event was the announcement of the student who received the 20,000th tutorial. The lucky student, Armando Vazquez, won gift certificates valued at $40 total from Starbucks and Amazon. The tutor who conducted the 20,000th tutorial, Rachel Samayoa, also won a $20 gift certificate from Amazon.
Students also were encouraged to write memories and feedback to The Writing Center on Post-It Notes to fill a piece of 鈥�20,000鈥� artwork. Students contributed messages such as 鈥淧atient tutors,鈥� 鈥淕reat advice,鈥� and 鈥淰ery helpful.鈥�
Today the Writing Center continues to offer peer-tutoring services at all stages of the writing process, including brainstorming, developing and refining thesis statements, synthesizing sources, using correct academic citation styles, editing, and聽proofreading.聽Tutors help with conventional papers,聽multimodal and聽digital聽projects,聽and presentations for classes, as well as other professional writing documents, such as resumes and application letters.