San Diego IWCA Conference

A few weeks ago, three to be exact, thirty-nine Writing Center consultants began their journey across the country to San Diego California. “Why?” might you ask? Well, for the annual IWCA (International Writing Centers Association) conference of course. Despite what we all would have liked this trip to be—a time to relax on the beach, explore San Diego and get to know our fellow centaurs a little better, we also had an obligation to attend sessions held by other Writing Centers form across America. And yes, I said also because many of us did get to relax on the beach and explore San Diego.  From the outside, attending the conference may seem like a boring way to spend your day, but let me give you the inside scoop; four reasons it was the best decision to go to San Diego.

1. Being a consultant we found out rather quickly that the sessions were actually interesting, relevant, and great conversation starters. Hailley Fargo’s favorite part of the trip to San Diego was being able to “[have] deep, intellectual discussions about writing” and that even when the sessions were over “that didn’t mean our discussions had to end”.

2. I think everyone who attended the conference would agree with what Greg Ponder said; “that Coe’s [Writing Center] is fricken amazing”. Many of the sessions focused on issues that many Writing Centers were facing and ideas for possible solutions, and while I won’t go as far to say that our Writing Center is perfect, I will say that we definitely do not face the same or nearly as many problems as some. Thank you Dr. Bob for making our Writing Center so awesome!

3. I already mentioned how awesome we are, but I also have to mention how awesome everybody else thinks we are as well. Apparently, when you have 39 undergraduates representing a small college it is pretty impressive. Most Writing Centers, even large universities, have only faculty or graduate student consultants and maybe only twenty consultants. In case you haven’t heard, Coe currently has seventy-two consultants, all of which are undergraduates. We are all the envy among Writing Centers.

4. And of course I cannot leave out the most obvious reasons for traveling to San Diego of all places; we got to leave cold and cloudy Cedar Rapids, IA for cloudless, warm San Diego, CA. Despite how much I love the cold weather winter summons, I got used to being able to walk out of the hotel room in the morning only wearing shorts and a tank top.

That being said, now we are back to reality in bone-chilling Cedar Rapids with only the memories to share. If you are a current staff member who didn’t get to go to San Diego you should really try to go on the next trip wherever it may be because it will be worth it. If you are prospective Coe students interested in possibly working in the Writing Center some day you should know that you will struggle to find a Writing Center better than us. And if you are Coe Alums you should know that we still have fun like I am sure we did when you were here.

-Margaret Gruhler