Northwestern student tutors give presentation

Four Northwestern College students and a recent graduate gave a presentation on peer tutoring at the Midwest Writing Centers Association Conference in Madison, Wis., Oct. 20–22.

In “Thoughts From Our Isthmus: What We Really Learned as First-Year Writing Tutors,” the students discussed the discoveries they made while serving as tutors. They included lessons about academic discourse, second-language writing, public writing and collaboration. The students also discussed how their personal experiences and other support systems helped them navigate the challenges they faced.

The presenters included Westley Garcia, a 2011 graduate who is now an admissions counselor at Northwestern; Sarah Lichius, a junior literature major from Box Elder, S.D.; Emma Lundgren, a senior writing and rhetoric major from Essex, Iowa; Christine Roy, a senior English teaching major from Bahrain; and Holly Stewart, a junior from Mission, S.D., majoring in English teaching and sociology.

The students were accompanied to the conference by Tom Truesdell, Northwestern’s director of academic support. “The conference received a record number of presentation proposals this year,” said Truesdell, “so it was pretty impressive that their proposal was accepted.”