If you want to be a better writer, then National English Honor Society (NEHS) has a new program for you.

To sweeten the deal, students don’t have to stay after school to get the help because NEHS is now open during Cougar Block.
The NEHS has taken advantage of Cougar Block to open its new Cougar Writing Center (CWC). The goal of the writing center, according to its website, is “to establish a fun and compassionate environment dedicated to discussing and helping students improve academic writing.”

Members of the NEHS have gone through extensive training to become tutors. They are prepared to help students with all writing assignments; from history and English papers to scholarship essays, these tutors can help.

Tutoring takes place in the library computer lab with the help of about 20 tutors. Joseph Golimowski, NEHS adviser, was the man with the plan for the CWC.

“The idea came about five years ago,” Golimowski said. “I took a class on writing centers at George Mason University and it sprouted from
there.”

Last term, members of the NEHS traveled to GMU for tutor training. Senior Katie Martins, NEHS vice president, is one of the tutors. Martins said she is very excited to have the Cougar Writing Center open to students.

“Cougar Block was the perfect opportunity to get [Cougar Writing Center] in,” Martins explained.

According to Martins, the majority of students she tutors need help with AP English essays.

“Sometimes, we’ll do group sessions where teachers will bring us [the tutors] into their classes to help students,” Martins said.

Senior Sang Dai also tutors students in the writing center. Although he thinks it’s easier to help students with rhetorical papers, Dai prefers to write creative pieces.

“[In] rhetorical [analyses] there is a formula, but creative [writing] is the author’s preference,” Dai explained.

Martins also thinks it’s easier to help students with rhetorical analyses.

“They’re pretty straightforward,” Martins said.

Junior Anna Cottrell attended the writing center for help with her AP English papers – two rhetorical papers and a persuasive essay. She highly recommends it.

“I was tutored by Nicole [Gray], Colleen [Pechin] and Alaycia [Smith],” Cottrell said. “I got help with the meat of my essay, how it’s organized, how it flows, and if
there’s [good] transitions.”

Cottrell appreciated how the tutors guided her through of process of writing and editing it herself, instead of taking it over and doing it for her.

“They asked me what I wanted to work on and what I wasn’t sure about,” Cottrell said.

Students can sign up for tutoring on the writing center’s website (cougarwriting.weebly.com). The website was created by Dai, who came up with the idea for the website then taught himself how to create it.

“It was self-taught while I was creating a website for Model UN,” Dai said.

Dai realized that signing up for CWC would be easier if there was an online registration, so he presented the idea to Golimowski who agreed and gave Dai the green light to create the site. Now, Dai runs the website, assigning tutees to tutors. He says the sign up process is easy, and after each session, tutees must complete an online survey about how their tutoring session went.
Dai hopes to use the survey responses to make the writing center better and meet the needs of all its users. No matter what the career path, Dai believes learning to write will be essential in all career fields.

“English is] one of the [subjects] that’s going to be more important in the future,” Dai said. “Learning how to express yourself is important…in the business world.”

Students who need help should sign up on the writing center website. There, available dates and times are posted. As soon as you sign up, Dai will match you with a tutor.