BY ABIGAIL GLASER
There is a lingering idea that the Writers’ Studio only serves as a grammar and spell check tool for students’ works.
“There’s this huge misconception,” said Mary Mueller, forth-year writing major from Milwaukee, Wis., and undergraduate writing tutor. “They want to get rid of that myth.”
The Writers’ Studio stresses the idea of creating a writing community in Savannah. They want to establish an open network where writers can share their ideas and develop them, with feedback.
“A lot of students said they didn’t come because they didn’t feel they need it, which we think is some of that remedial, ‘well I’m a good writer, so I don’t have to come,’” said writing consultant Erin Christian, “but really we have a lot of fun with the workshops series, just talking about different students ideas and what they’re working on with their projects.”
The original workshops covered general writing topics that most majors could benefit from, such as character building and metaphors, but the studio also offers creative workshop series and academic writing workshops.
“This quarter we’ve been doing a lot of discussions with chairs, academic chairs, of the different departments, in terms of how we can meet their departmental needs,” said Christian.
In an effort to broaden its focus to meet more individuals’ needs, the writing center has a new workshop series, including Thursday Freewrites. Students can come into the Writers’ Studio and receive writing prompts to spark their imaginations and practice their writing skills. The next Thursday Freewrites session is scheduled for March 8 from 3–4:30p.m. at the Writers’ Studio.
The Writers’ Studio recently joined with the Learning Resource Hive in an effort to connect with more students. This led to a large increase in number of appointments.
In order to accommodate the increasing numbers, the Writers’ Studio has hired graduate and undergraduate tutors.
Students can make hour-long appointments with peer tutors on a weekly basis, as well as schedule weekend appointments.
“It’s really beneficial because, as fellow students, we’ve taken some of the same classes,” said Mueller.
“They’re helping sort of take some of the brunt of the appointments, which frees up a little of our time, as professionals, for planning workshops and other initiatives,” said Christian.
The Writers’ Studio hopes the changes this past quarter will inspire both students and faculty to take an interest.
“We hope to build a relationship with the WRITE Club and other organizations on campus, to really spread the word that we’re not just here for remedial work, but that we want to build sort of a writing community at SCAD,” said Christian.
Editor’s note: Mary Mueller is affiliated with Student Media and has written for District.
