Staff Spotlight

                Drumroll please…the spotlight of the week goes to Kristen Scott. She is a first-year student here at Coe with some awesome and ambitious goals. Kristen is majoring in Elementary Education, but she is doing much more than that. She is also pursuing a K-8 Social Studies endorsement as well as a minor in Sociology. However these goals alone, while impressive, are not what make Kristen such an awesome person. It is the things she plans to do with her education that makes her admirable. Kristen has the “eventual goal to have [her] own nonprofit boarding school in South Sudan”. Wow! How amazing is that? It almost makes me feel like a bad person because I only want to teach here in America, while she wants to reach out to those without any schools at all. That is amazing! But until she ventures to Sudan, she is here at Coe and having a blast. She is a regular with Tuesday Tea and enjoys everything about “every single Sunday night meal” hosted by the Coe Writing Center. (In case you have yet to attend either a Tuesday Tea or Sunday night meal, you should make a point to come. They will start back up in January, so you have time to arrange your schedule accordingly.) As for Kristen, she continues to be a part of Coe while her ambitions continue to reach far beyond; that is was makes Kristen the great person that she has become and the staff spotlight this week.

-Margaret Gruhler

Weekly Wisdom

“Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.” - Robert Benchley

                Oh the joys of final week! I walked into the Writing Center this morning and there were more people present at 9:00 Monday morning than I have ever witnessed before. Although pulling an all-niter in the WC is common, I was still caught off guard. At this time most of those still working were finishing up things needing to be completed, but it does beg the question “were they really spending that much time on the assignment, or were they simply procrastinating with other matters until it became necessary to complete?” My guess is they were distracted by Facebook, other people in the Writing Center, The Princess Bride from yesterday’s movie afternoon, or a number of other little tasks that get inadvertently stretched to last an hour when in fact they should only take a matter of minutes. It is not that these people are being unproductive (because they are in fact accomplishing tasks) but rather, as this quote mentions, focusing their productivity towards less pressing matters. We all face this kind of procrastination from time to time and as finals draw closer the more stress befalls the minds of us all, but I urge you all to keep trudging. You can survive this final week of tests, and while I cannot guarantee your success I can reassure that if you study now and relax later you are more likely to succeed than cramming it all in at the end. I will end with this thought: I appreciate you taking the time to read the blog, but what are you supposed to be doing right now?

-Margaret Gruhler

Weekly Wisdom

“There is no harm in being afraid. The only harm is in doing what Fear tells you. Fear is not your master! Laugh in his face and he will run away.” - George McDonald.

                  This quote was a breath of fresh air for me this week. I am taking viola lessons this semester and therefore I must perform for a jury, the music lesion equivalent of a final. For people that have a lot of experience playing in front of people this process is no sweat because it is literally only five minutes of your life. For me however, I have an enormous amount of stage fright when it comes to performing in front of people—not to mention people that are evaluating me. For the past couple weeks I have become increasingly worried and stressed about my upcoming performance…until I saw this quote. For me it is my jury performance next week, for you it may be another test, an interview, or trying something new, but whatever it is this quote applies beautifully. So what if we are afraid? If you don’t show it, no one will know it, and you will get over it. In case this quote is not enough to help you with your fears, my viola instructor also told me something like this:

"Don’t be afraid of mistakes because they are bound to happen. If you don’t think about the mistakes you could make, you will make fewer mistakes."

I really appreciated hearing both of these quotes, because now I have the courage to walk into my lesson today and just play—no worries, no fears. This is what I hope all of you can be inspired to do as well. If you are stressed about a test I encourage you no to think about it so much. Study what you can; take frequent study breaks; and on the day of the test you shouldn’t stress because there is nothing left for you to do but take the test. If you have an interview you are fearful for, my words to you are to be yourself. No amount of preparation will prepare you for the moment you walk in the door, so if you forget everything about what to do in interviews just remember to be yourself. And I can’t forget about those of you who are just afraid to try something new. The more you think about it, the more you are going to say ‘forget about it’. If you try it and don’t like it, you never have to do it again; but if you try it and love it, you discover something new about yourself. Whatever your fears, whatever your reasons, you need to face fear. You need to “laugh in his face and he will run away”.

-Margaret Gruhler

Staff Spotlight

                This week’s spotlight goes to Ashley Collom. If you don’t know anything about Ashley you are about to find out. Aside from being an overall awesome person she is a junior here at Coe in pursuit of an English degree because as Ashley put it, “it is the $#!%”. Ashley is going to continue being a self-proclaimed rock star, but the opportunities she has been given in the Writing Center has only uncovered her true desire for the future—a career as an editor. Speaking of the Writing Center and all of its greatness, Ashley’s favorite moments in the Writing Center consist of her Friday afternoon shifts. Among other things, she absolutely loves the people she works with (shout-outs to Chloe, Hailley, and Spencer!). She loves how they “just talk about everything”.

                I may not know a whole lot about Ashley, but I can say that she is an asset to the Coe Writing Center. She may not remember, but she is the first person I ever had a conference with. It was at the staff retreat in the Amana Colonies my freshman year and it was because of that conference that I knew I would be able to survive as a writing consultant. Maybe it is her loud and boisterous voice that got me, because it made it seem like she was supper enthusiastic about my paper, but one thing that I can say for sure, whatever it was about that conference it gave me confidence. Thanks Ashley!

                I can also say that Ashley’s rock star talents are not simply confined to centaur work in the Writing Center. On top of being the Editor–in-Chief of Colere she is also the Co-President of V-Day. In case you don’t know what Colere is, it is a publication of “student’s poetry, fiction, and non-fiction dedicated to sharing ideas on cultural issues”( http://www.public.coe.edu/wac/publications.htm ). Given that we are the only Writing Center in the country with a publication I would say this is a huge accomplishment. Congratulations go out to Ashley, and make sure to check out the next edition of Colere coming out this spring.

Don’t forget, Ashley is the spotlight of the week so if you see her congratulate her because, after all, she is a rock star.

-Margaret Gruhler