On the day of the Big Event, I was getting ready in my dorm room when I was hit with this overwhelming pain. I could not move or even hardly breathe. It brought tears to my eyes, and my boyfriend insisted I go to the emergency room. We got to the emergency room, and I was sitting there waiting for hours before I was seen my a doctor. The doctor sent me for an renal ultrasound, on the kidneys and bladder. After receiving the ultrasound, I was sent into a room and given pain IV meds that would help relieve some of my discomfort. While waiting, they diagnosed me with kidney stones (three to be exact). I was given an oral pain medication and was sent home at 7pm. Unfortunately, this meant that I missed the Big Event. However, I was texting Erica and a friend I had encouraged to go the whole time the event was taking place. My friend told me she was impressed with how wonderfully it went, and her favorite part was the poem. Erica told me she was so pleased. The performances went wonderfully and there was a large turnout so she was pleased she got as many cupcakes as she did. She told me the set up went smoothly, and the take down was equally as smooth with the help of Katie’s boyfriend, Chris, and Andy adding to the group. While I could not be there, you can ask my boyfriend how worried I was about it going smoothly. I think my dedication was shown through how I kept texting people at the event to make sure everything was going well.

My group met one last time before the Big Event. This meeting was to discuss last minute things. We decided we needed to email several different people to ensure that the Big Event went smoothly. We emailed Katie to ask about food and stuff and if the museum would pay for it. Once we received a response from her, we would email Chris at the museum in hopes that we could get a conclusion drawn up. However, we did not have to email Chris because Katie responded to our email saying she would do it for us. (YAY!). Next, we emailed one more group asking what they needed for the event. We received a very detailed response that was a lot to take in. We forwarded the email to Katie because we felt she would be better equipped to get the items than we would. She, of course, came through and was able to get the items the group needed. Lastly, we emailed the group in charge of the presentations asking what exactly they were doing (what the presentations were and whose profiles were being used) because Chris wanted to know. They responded, but not with what we asked. The only response we received was what the presentations were and that was it. While it was stressful going to the dress rehearsal not knowing what to expect, it went smoother than I expected. The dress rehearsal was the day before the Big Event, and the Logistics group decided where we wanted to place things while the other groups practiced their presentations. I was confident in what my group was doing so I was very happy with our decisions.

In our next class after our meeting with Chris, Erica and I made sure to relay what was discussed with the entire class. I have to say I was a bit upset and annoyed because we wanted to address the BIG issue of how the transition from presentations would go into actually writing about Winston. Only one classmate gave an idea before it was regarded as what seemed to be an unimportant issue in my mind. Unfortunately, I left class mad because I felt as if we were being ignored even though we were the only group to go and actually meet with Chris. Another thing mentioned in class was that a couple of the groups wanted to test things out before the dress rehearsal day. Erica and I (Lidia was absent) informed them they needed to get in touch with Chris because that was out of our control. We were only able to relay the information to them that we had gotten in our meeting with Chris. To be completely honest, I was scared of how the event was going to go because no one really seemed to know what was going on and I did not want to have to stress over the event along with everything else that was going on in my other classes. After class, our group collaborated on other things we could do to help better prepare the class for the upcoming event. We spoke with marketing, who decided to make a program and the event Facebook page was created by them as well.

My group, consisting of Lidia, Erica, and myself, went to the New Winston Museum for a meeting with Chris. In this meeting, we asked what items the museum had available to us in terms of tables, chairs, and things of the like. Upon talking to Chris, we realized that the class did not have a clear picture on what exactly was going to happen, and that worried us. Chris also wanted to know what was going on in terms of the marketing group. I feel as if Logistics was having to relay a lot of information between the museum and the groups in the class, which was okay if the groups would have communicated with us better. However, before our meeting, we emailed the individual groups asking what they needed. One group responded with tech things and needing a stage. All of the other groups either needed nothing or did not respond, so we went into the meeting with a blindness towards the others. After this meeting, I was worried about how close the event date was coming and also how this was going to go since no one seemed to know what was happening. We went to Katie’s office directly after the museum and told her what our meeting with Chris was like. She got in touch with marketing to get in touch with Chris so that it was no longer in our hands. After these two meetings, we put what we were doing on hold until we could talk to the class as a whole because there was a lot of things to address to everyone in the class.

After the entire Writing Ambassador project, I think back to everything Erica and I did for the project. We started off not completely aware of what we were going to do, who we were going to reach out to, and how we were going to go about it. After much time, we created a long list of teachers we could request to speak to their classes and we created a strict game plan. I am extremely confident in the things we did do (the classes we spoke to). I feel as if we might have motivated some people to go to the Writing Center to receive brainstorming and writing help. This project taught me not only how underestimated the Writing Center is, but also how unaware people are of it on campus. After creating a flyer and promoting it via email to professors, I think the number of people aware of the Writing Center has increased. Even if it is a slight increase, it is still there. Also, the more times this project is executed, the more people will know about the treasure sitting underneath the history wing. I hope in the future, the more times this project happens, the more the higher ups of the college will see how unique and helpful the Writing Center is, and will work harder to ensure it receives the proper space and funding it deserves. One last thing I would like to note about the Writing Ambassador project and the Public Relations group is the amount of time it made me reach out to my fellow Salem sisters about how wonderful the Writing Center is. I am happy to have been a part of this influential group.

The last few weeks of the Writing Ambassador project have been stressful and hectic due to having overlapping projects and other things. However, my partner, Erica Pratt, went and spoke to a couple of classes about the Writing Center. The two classes were very attentive according to what she told me, They seemed to enjoy hearing her talk and she was extremely pleased because they asked several questions. One thing she said to me, that I can agree with after speaking to class on my own, is how stressful it was. While standing up and speaking in front of a class, you realize how self-conscious you are all of a sudden. It is nerve wrecking, but once you start speaking, the words start to come out pretty easily. It is also easier with the script Katie gave to us. I know one of the classes spoken to was required to make two appointments to the Writing Center so they were very interested in what was being said, but the other classes did not seem to care as much. I can understand this because they were not required to make an appointment, and the Writing Center seems like a “weird” place. I can understand this because I felt this way before I knew exactly what the center was. I just hope that by speaking to the several classes we did, we were able to convince some fellow Salem sisters that the Writing Center is important and helpful to anyone with almost any type of assignment or project.

I really liked the way Bergmann started off explaining the Writing Center in this chapter. She focused on the way that Writing Centers are seen as departmentalized with lack of funding, leading the Writing Centers to experiment in new ways so they can remain relevant in an ever-changing academic society. After this the main focus of the chapter she wrote became focused around an idea of “engagement” within the community between Writing Centers and students. She then discusses the different projects that were started throughout the new semester at Purdue under the direction of the new president. The Writing Across the Curriculum assignment was tied to the Writing Center in hopes students would seek out help on the assignment by going to the Writing Center to receive the help they needed. The Writing Center then received a grant to make the place more visible. Bergmann and graduate students sought to make the Writing Center more known to the public. I think the steps that Bergmann took at Purdue University to make her Writing Center more known and visible to the student population is very important. Writing Centers have basically fallen off the radar of most people. Even I was unaware of the services offered by the Writing Center at Salem College. The Writing Center as a Site of Engagement is a step by step process of how the Writing Center became known as a place of engagement and a helping hand on a college campus. By following this model, and gaining some funding from grants and other areas, the Salem College Writing Center can also be a place known to every student around campus.