Write Aid, the newest writing center at the Hill has officially opened its doors in room 012. The center was established by the members of the English Honor Society in order to help students write commendable essays for classes such as English and history. 

English teacher Caity Gladstone-Mueller is one of Write Aid’s co-sponsors. She sees the center as an all inclusive place for Cavaliers.

“Our goal is pretty much to do whatever people need help with,” Gladstone said. “It can be… general brainstorming,… picking [a] topic, [or even] writing the… essay itself.”

The participating members of the English Honors Society undergo training sessions in order to better advise writers on what they can fix, as well as review grammatical structures that students usually struggle with.

“We are going to do some reviews on commas [and] semicolons, [things] that most people tend to have trouble with,” Gladstone said. 

English teacher Jessica Fout co-sponsors Write Aid alongside Gladstone. Fout also sees the importance of reviewing grammatical structures with the English Honors Society students so that they are giving accurate feedback to writers.

“The tutors met… a couple of weeks before we opened the writing [center], just so we could do some review activities with them,” Fout said. 

The reviews, Fout says, can be very helpful in the event that a writer has trouble editing their own paper, and go to Write Aid for assistance. 

“When you have a fresh set of eyes,… it can be really helpful to help you really polish your paper,” Fout said. 

Fout says that she finds Write Aid particularly helpful if a student needs one-on-one help.

“Teachers have 100 to 150 students, [so] it’s hard to get a lot of one-on-one time with [students],” Fout said. “So the idea of Write Aid is that we’ll have English Honor Society [students] available… to help.” 

Junior Nithyasri Gopal, a Write Aid editor, is enthusiastic to be a member of the writing center staff. She advises writers who need help with writing to seek help from others, including Write Aid.

“Reach out to your classmates, your friends, and obviously, if you can’t get proper help… then [go to] your teachers,” Gopal said. “Everyone is willing to help you succeed in all your classes.” 

Gopal attributes her grammar and writing skills to reading books. 

“When it comes to me personally, I got better [at writing] by reading many books,” Gopal said. “You can’t really get better at writing if you don’t… read other people’s work.”

In order to go to room 012 for writing advice during their study hall, students must get a pass from the library before their first period.

For those students who do not have a first block, as well as those students affected by the ongoing transportation issues, Gladstone has come up with a solution in order to give everybody an equal opportunity to have their writing pieces edited at the center.

“If that’s the case and a student wants to see us, they can ask their [third block] teacher to email me and I will send a pass directly to that teacher,” Gladstone said. “We [want to] make sure that they’re not missing out on the opportunity because of transportation issues or their schedule.”

Write Aid is open during the first and fifth study hall blocks on even days in room 012. Room 012 is next to the forum in the downstairs main hallway. All students are asked to bring assignment requirements, put in place by their teacher, to the center.