Four years after welcoming its first group of freshman interns, the Writing Center continues to build foundational writing skills in Middle School and now Lower School.
The eighth-grade intern program began when Middle School English teacher Dr. Lauren Miskin and Lisa Fisher, former director of the Writing Center, launched a pilot program to offer additional support to the student body. After three years, the Form I intern program continues to thrive and be heavily involved in all aspects of the Writing Center and its duties such as helping Middle School students with writing all the way to the Lower School for math and English help.
As eighth grade interns last school year, the interns have now transitioned into the Upper School intern program and have carried with them their preparation and dedicated mindset.
“We were hoping that the eighth-grade interns would carry into high school knowledge of the writing process, but also confidence and how to share their opinions, how to assess their people’s writing, how to assess their own writing, and how to offer feedback,” Miskin said.
Current Writing Center Director Scott Bowman said being an intern takes more than writing skills; it also takes organization and leadership.
“It requires being a thoughtful guide to students who are younger than you,” Bowman said, adding that one also must know “how to help others reach their potential without doing the work for them, which I think is a core leadership quality.”
Now, as a freshman intern who has been working in the Writing Center for over a year, Deetya Dinesh confirms that the Writing Center offers a wide variety of benefits to all students.
“We’re working on expanding throughout the school, especially to Lower School. We work with Pre-Kers for Dictation Daisies, and we work with third and fourth graders developing both their math and writing skills. So, I think that it’s really exciting to bridge that gap between Upper School and Lower School,” Dinesh said. “I’ve just read with a third grader the other day, but even just letting them know that we’re there, they can really carry on the experience throughout Middle School and in Upper School.”
Dinesh said there are advantages to being on the Writing Center Schedule, rather than just taking drop-in appointments.
“I like the ninth-grade program, and that I can adjust it to my schedule,” Dinesh said. “I know when I’m free and when I’m going to be booked for an appointment, so that’s just helpful for me to plan out my day.”
Freshman intern Virginia Epperson said the training process focused on best practices.
“We had four sessions where all the eighth-grade interns came together as a group, and the directors talked to us about our best practices and our overall rules in the Writing Center, along with some practice scenarios where we could work together,” Epperson said. “And some readings where we learned how to start and how to direct a writing center appointment.”
Epperson said the opportunity to be an intern is a way to improve her own writing and help others become just as passionate about writing as she is.
“People between grades can develop a closer relationship to people,” Epperson said. “The people that are coming to be tutored can grow their writing skills, become more confident and be able to develop life skills for asking for help.”
Miskin said the Writing Center is a way to build community.
“We wanted to extend it to Middle School, so that it doesn’t feel so siloed with Upper School here,” Miskin said. “There’s a continuation of the same students, the same faces, right? So, you might work with a sixth grader that you worked with as a fifth grader, and forging those relationships is very important.”
Ultimately, when Miskin organized the intern program, she hoped for their impact to stretch beyond writing.
Miskin said, “I’d envision that the Writing Center goes beyond just writing assignments to kind of foster creativity and self-expression in all sorts of avenues.”