What is "Writing Zones"?

If you are a high school student, Writing Zones is a SPACE to talk about your writing and make it better—school papers to spoken word.  Trained university mentors will work with you one-on-one at your school, during free periods in our on-site Writing Zones centers, or in your class.

If you are a university student, Writing Zones is an OPPORTUNITY where you can give back to the community and gain hands-on professional experience. Core mentors are salaried; volunteers and service-learning mentors are prioritized for open jobs.   

If you teach or work in a high school or university,  Writing Zones is a cutting-edge college access PROJECT.  Writing Zones is a university-high school partnership program, designed to use high school writing centers as a gateway to provide resources and mentoring to encourage students of all backgrounds to consider, reach and succeed in higher education. 

Teachers in all disciplines can build individualized Writing Zones sessions into their curricula and/or request that tutors come into their classes and work with groups or individuals in a workshop setting. 

Writing Zones also provides school-wide workshops on applying to college, SAT/ACT prep, expectations of university writing, and more.

Why "Writers Always Under Construction"?

The WZ philosophy is that we work with writers to help them improve their own abilities as writers—we don’t think of the work as “fixing” individual papers.We believe that when given the opportunity to talk about their writing and thinking, most writers already know what they need and need the chance to experience mastery. At the Writing Zone, we work with students to help them learn skills that will improve their writing for the the future, as well as the present.

WZ Headlines

• At this writing, during 2007-2008, 324 different writers at East and Henderson worked with WCU mentors on research papers, essays, short stories, poetry, college applications and more, during 489 one-on-one sessions in the Writing Zones. Mentors assisted in 85 class periods, including biology, history, home economics, art, and of course English.
• Fourteen East and Henderson juniors who got "in the Zone" (came three or more times to work with a mentor one-on-one) will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with a WCU Admissions officer, for personal consultations.
• Three WCASD students were published in Daedelus, WCU’s literary magazine