Thank You, Teachers!

We wanted to thank all of the teachers who used the writing center in their classes this quarter! There have been so many appointments and our program is really spreading. We look forward to third quarter and hope you continue to use us as a resource for your writing needs.

Writing Center Sorting Hat

This week, we polled our tutors on which house they would be sorted into at Hogwarts. The range of results shows how diverse the culture of our writing center is.

We have a lot of hard-working, kind Hufflepuffs. We have cunning, ambitious Slytherins. We have passionate, studious Ravenclaws. And we have bold, loyal Gryffindors.

Which house would you be sorted into?

How Would You Survive the Hunger Games?

This past week, we asked our tutors what their strategy for surviving the Huger Games would be: offensive or defensive? 

Here are the strategies from our offensive tutors:

"When I'm not on a sneaky, homicidal rampage I would hide in the forest and gather resources to aid my immediate survival. I would also attempt to utilize my powers of persuasion to seduce my enemies into forming allegiances with me; afterward, I would eliminate them one by one with no mercy." -Thomas Le, 12

"As for the actual killing part, I think I've played enough Assassin's Creed at my friends house to master jumping from trees and killing people." -Sydney Dolan, 10

"I would try to make as many friends as possible.  Then, I would fix them some food to show my friendship, but I would secretly poison their food so that they could die quietly." -Sarah Hudson, 11

"I would find a cave and make it look like I was living in it by putting some supplies and building a fire. When people went into the cave to "find me" I would barricade the entrance so they couldn't get out. If I thought they were strong enough to get out, I would put a lot of wood inside and light it on fire, so they would die from smoke inhalation." -Catherine Wiedmann, 10

"...staying on defense would never work... Going on offense would offer the greatest chance of survival." - Stephen Courtemanch, 11

"Give me a bow, an axe, a frying pan; I don't care, as long as it's effective in the "getting rid of the people trying to kill me" department. ...would you rather cower in a tree of be a ninja?" - Aleksey Ermolaev, 12

Some of our tutors have even formed their own career group: The Triple A Mafia

"Our members would be Aman Kapoor, Andy Fang, and I and we would be undefeatable. We would wreak havock across the lands and eventually it would just be the three of us, a fight to the death." - Andrew Dahbura, 11

"Everyone will disintegrate when I use my offensive pyro skills to burn entire forests and trees with scared, defensive fighters... I'd use my defensive skills to hide from these two [Andrew and Andy] and furtively sneak poison gas into their living environments... I will win." - Aman Kapoor, 12

"I can tell by Aman's sleep talking that he plans on poisoning me and Andrew when the three of us are the last ones in the Game. I have yet to decide whether or not I will allow him to proceed with such a backstabbing plan." - Andy Fang, 12

And here are some of our favorite quotes from a defensive standpoint:

"You will find me up in a tree; alive and as sane as can be." -Emily Clem, 11

"Since I’m a high school senior who borders on the lazy side, I would probably just sit back and let everybody kill each other for me if I was in the Hunger Games." -Anna Rhodes, 12

"I know the people in charge of the Games would create obstacles for me if I kept running away, but the only other option I'd have is to stealthily stay near the dangerous people and try to figure how to save myself without direct combat." -Shilpa Garg, 12

"I would be dead in like the first 20 minutes. Now assuming I was able to get past the cornicopia by running (Haha what is running? I dont even run.), I would probably climb a tree like Katniss did and stay up there the whole time." -Emma O'Brien, 12

"I would just crawl into a pathetic little ball and think happy thoughts." -Sarah Wills, 12

All in all, only nine out of thirty-two of our tutors chose a defensive strategy. What about you? How would you survive?

Visit from Former Wildcat Writing Center Tutors

This past Monday, the writing center was lucky enough to be visited by Daniela Medina and Mac Cassells. Both of them tutored here at Centreville High School while the writing center was just taking off. They talked about the college experience and gave some helpful tips.

Daniela, who is a sophomore at William and Mary, shared what it's like going to a smaller school. She is working as a tutor in their writing center. Meanwhile, Mac, a freshman at Virginia Tech, gave an idea of what college is like at a very big school. 

Their advice was really eye-opening. Because it came from people who could relate to us, the idea of college is much more real... and less scary. Thanks, Daniela and Mac, for taking the time to talk with us!