MW
Melissa Walker
  • Class of 2012
  • Tewksbury, MA

Melissa Walker of Tewksbury named writing coach at Saint Michael's College

2011 Sep 16

Melissa Walker, daughter of Diane and Robert Walker of Tewksbury has been named a writing center coach at Saint Michael's College for the fall 2011 semester. Walker, a senior, biology major, was selected from nominees submitted by the college faculty to be one of 20 student coaches at the liberal arts, residential, Catholic college located in Burlington, Vermont, one of the top 10 college towns in the country. Walker graduated from Tewksbury Memorial High School before entering Saint Michael's.

"The coaches are a very elite group who do amazingly professional work-one-on-one with their peers at the college, diagnosing writing problems, designing strategies to help," said Professor of English Elizabeth Inness-Brown, their director. The coaches work with clients who seek guidance regarding writing assignments for their courses. They follow the premise, "Teach the writer, not the writing," and thereby don't just correct a given paper, but work with writers, so that they will have skills to improve their writing on their own in future assignments.

The carefully selected coaches are recommended by a professor and have to pass an entry test to get into a Writing Center Internship course which they must take prior to being named coaches. They are also are given special instructions for working with students with learning differences and working with non-native speakers of English. International students comprise a substantial portion of the visitors to the writing center.

Coaches are selected because of their language skills, patience, flexibility, good humor, and a good knowledge of written English. "Writing Center coaches render an essential service to the community," said center Director Inness-Brown, English literature professor and author of the acclaimed novel Burning Marguerite.

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. Identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nations Best 373 Colleges, and included in the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges, Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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