Student Worker Spotlight: W Center tutor Natasha Schweitzer

As a future teacher, Natasha Schweitzer knew that she someday wanted to help students improve their writing skills. And as a current member of the W Center’s tutoring team, Schweitzer has wasted no time working towards this goal even before she becomes a teacher.

“I joined the Writing Center staff last semester, as my love for the writing process and teaching motivated me to apply for the position,” Schweitzer said in an email. “After benefitting from the services of the center myself, I wanted to become a part of the team!”

A sixth-semester secondary English education and English double major, Schweitzer enjoys helping students who come into the W Center to improve their writing. Not only does this job allow her to practice the skills she’ll use with her future students, but Schweitzer’s position has also allowed her to meet many different students with different backgrounds and specialties and has given her something new to learn about every day. According to Schweitzer, one of the best aspects of being a W Center tutor is this interaction with her peers and the learning opportunities that come along with it.

“My favorite part about being a W Center tutor is having the opportunity to meet students from all over campus who each have their own unique set of interests,” Schweitzer said. “Sometimes, it feels like we can end up in our own little major-silos, so the [W] Center is a great place to meet people who I might have never met otherwise.”

The W Center’s philosophy connects deeply with Schweitzer’s goals as a future educator. In fact, Schweitzer says that the W Center’s mission to promote writing across various academic disciplines interested her and made her want to apply for the position. She liked the fact that the W Center supports writing from all subject areas and that the Center wants all students, not just those in majors where writing is a clear-cut requirement, to improve their composition skills.

“I really love our philosophy at the center: to create better writers, and not just better writing,” Schweitzer said.

In the future, Schweitzer would like to take that approach in her own classroom, encouraging her students to develop their writing skills and understanding of the writing process.

An educator at heart, Schweitzer says that she always appreciates the determination of the students who come into the W Center. Their pursuit of improved writing motivates Schweitzer to do her best for them. Some of the most rewarding moments she’s had are with students who have had a sort of break-through moment about their writing during her tutoring sessions, she says.

“It takes a lot of courage to share something as personal as writing—something that communicates our inner thoughts and ideas—with somebody else, so I really admire the writers who utilize us as a resource,” Schweitzer said. “I love those moments during a session when a writer gets so excited by an idea that they generated that they rush to put pencil to paper. It’s really wonderful to see students take such pride in their work.”

Stephanie Santillo is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at stephanie.santillo@uconn.edu.