By Anastasia Benstead, Assistant Editor-in-Chief
This semester has been full of Aquinas College Writing Center consultants presenting at conferences.
Seasoned consultant Sophia Lentine presented her workshop connecting art and writing at the Michigan Writing Centers Association on Oct. 4 this month.
Sophia Lentine and Odin during a successful workshop at MiWCA conference – Photo by Sophia Lentine
On Thursday-Friday Oct. 16-17, Writing Center Consultants Anastasia Benstead and Haris Sendijarevic led a 75 minute workshop and gave a 20 minute presentation respectively, at the International Writing Centers Association Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Wow,” Julie Bevins, director of the Writing Center, said. “Just wow. I never cease to be impressed by the professionalism of our consultants.”
The theme of the conference was Writing Centers as Spaces. Benstead’s Thursday workshop had participants design their idea writing center and then work within limitations as a way to practice creating spaces that best service consultants and their work.
“There was a smaller turn out than I was expecting,” Benstead said. “But it meant we got to have a far more personal session. I also had to be very flexible and work around unanticipated challenges which I actually think helped me in the long run.”
Benstead opens her workshop at IWCA – Photo by Haris Sendijarevic
“The biggest thing that I learned was just how unique and different our writing center is compared to others.” Sendijarecic said. “There are things that other WCs have to deal with or do that we don’t even have to think about, which was fascinating to hear about.”
Haris Sendijarevic smiles with Odin before his presentation on Data Analytics and schedule formation – Photo by Julie Bevins
Sendijarevic presented his findings at an earlier conference– the East Central Writing Center Association conference last spring. This presentation varied slightly in that he was able to discuss the effects of the changes he made based on the previous four semesters of data. His work has only begun to develop within the Writing Center as he continues to find places to quantify data from consultant and writer input.
“It was amazing being able to have another chance to showcase the work I have been doing at our writing center to a much bigger and diverse audience than the first time I presented at ECWCA,” Sendijarevic said.
The conference was a four day event, however Sendijarevic and Benstead, and their accompanying CORE leadership, Nisha van Laar, Julie Bevins and Caroline Jones only went for Thursday’s and Friday’s sessions.
The Writing Center’s trusted mascot also came along for the ride, and their social media even showed him driving the car during part of their journey to Ohio.
Odin the Otter drives to Ohio – Photo by Caroline Jones
The Saint 