In honor of Tutor Appreciation Week, get to know our tutors:
1. Tell us a little about yourself...
My name is Morgan Zepp. I'm from Catonsville and I'm a junior studying English Literature, Global Studies, Writing, and Spanish.
2. Tell us about how you are involved on campus.
Since I was a freshman living on the Shriver Living Learning Community, I've been deeply involved in doing service through UMBC's center for Civic Engagement, the Shriver Center. In particular, I've tutored at Arbutus Middle School for 2 years and now I help to coordinate the service site. I've also helped coordinate a program called the Reach Initiative, which brings high school girls from Baltimore who have an interest in STEM to UMBC to be mentored by female UMBC students. It has a specific focus on gender empowerment. As a result of this, I've gotten involved with SGA and am now an Assistant Director for Community and Service Outreach.
3. How and why did you get involved in being a Writing Center tutor?
I started my training to be a tutor last fall.
I decided to get involved with the Writing Center because I've always had a deep interest in academic writing. In high school, people told me that the comments I left on their papers were helpful, so I figured that I could use that skill to be even more helpful to people. I've also had a lot of experience with one-on-one tutoring, and I think that it's a very productive forum for learning.
4. What is your favorite thing about being a Writing Center tutor?
I enjoy having great conversations with people about their writing, especially when people are still in the "ideas" stage and they'd like someone to discuss preliminary arguments with-- that's such a dynamic stage in the writing process and a very interesting place to start a conversation.
5. Why should students utilize the Writing Center?
I think people underestimate how helpful it might be to talk through the structure of a paper and discuss the impact of its arguments. Even something as little as being asked to read a paper aloud could be very helpful in terms of getting an understanding of how it sounds and flows.
6. What advice would you give students about how to prepare for a Writing Center tutoring session?
Honestly, I don't really think that people need to prepare. Even if someone comes in with a prompt and a very general idea of what they'd like to do, we can still have a productive session, so I think that coming in to the Writing Center is all about the stage that the individual is at in the process.
7. When and where can someone work with you through the Writing Center?
I work on Mondays from 11-3:30!
Sign up for an appointment at https://umbc.mywconline.com/
