By Jude Saleh
While the sense of community that the Writing Center brings is amongst the most joyful parts of tutoring, it also carries a bittersweet truth: Every semester, we are forced to say goodbye to some of our most skilled tutors. The Writing Center is all too familiar with farewells, but this year was especially difficult as 15 of our tutors graduated, each taking with them semesters of experience, collaboration, and the memories of the tens—if not hundreds—of tutees whose writing they helped refine. But rather than dwell on the goodbyes, we take a moment to recognize the imprint that their passion has left on the ever-growing quilt of the Writing Center’s history.
This year’s graduating tutors come from 9 different majors in 3 different colleges: engineering; arts and sciences; and architecture, art, and design. However, the one thing that unites them—the stitching, if you will—is their love for reading, writing, and tutoring. In fact, this has been a sentiment expressed in all of our tutors’ bios published on the Writing Center website; for example, Manal had expressed that she is “excited to provide company and community to her peers wherever they’re at in their writing journeys.” Likewise, Rose said that she has been “passionate about helping her classmates with their writing since high school.” Similarly, Berra wrote that she “loves reading books, meeting new people, and helping others.” For this reason, many of our graduating tutors were involved in various other roles at the Writing Center, including the Write & Connect Club, delivering workshops, organizing events, and editing the previous issues of this journal.
So, it is easy to see that it is this very passion that has brought the many heartfelt thank-yous to fruition and upheld the Writing Center’s commitment to excellence. And if the impact of a tutor’s work is best seen in the voices of their tutees, then it would only be right to let the tutees speak for themselves. Below are a very few snippets of the kind feedback we received throughout this year:
- “The tutor can’t be funnier. Clear with explanation and advice.”
- “It was very helpful and [the tutor] helped me with exactly what I needed and more.”
- “Thank you sooo much [tutor]! Let it be known that the sessions benefitted me a lot.”
- “The tutors are extremely professional yet friendly which makes them really approachable.”
- “Absolutely amazing, [the tutor] was lovely and helped me throughout in bits and pieces at every stage answering all my questions.”
Finally, to our graduating tutors: thank you. Thank you for bringing your different academic backgrounds, different languages, different goals, and passion for writing and tutoring to the Writing Center. Because, in the end, it is the differences that make patchworks beautiful to look at, not the similarities.
This year, we proudly celebrate the graduation of 15 of our talented tutors: Jana Samy, graduate of Mass Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a minor in Theatre. Berra Sunnetcioglu, graduate of Psychology with a minor in Arabic Language and Literature, and Huda Imran, graduate of English Language and Literature. Muhammad Ahmer and Lodan Elmugamer, both graduates of Computer Science, with Lodan also earning double minors in Data Science and Biology. Nour Eltabakh, graduate of Architecture with a minor in Business Administration. Niveditha Parthasarathy, graduate of Physics, and Noha Eldib, graduate of Psychology. Nour Mohamed, graduate of Psychology with a minor in Philosophy, and, likewise, Aysha Bint Hashim, graduate of Psychology who also received a minor in Data Science. Yamna Azim and Jude Saleh, both graduates of Biology, with Jude also minoring in English Language. Last—but definitely not least—Manal Nadeem, graduate of International Studies, and Rose Falou and Rahaf Amasaib, both graduates of Industrial Engineering.
We wish you all the best and hope to see you again at the Writing Center! Keep an eye out for a potential alumni tutor gathering!