ASC Graduate: Veronica Wisnewski-Parks

The Academic Success Center (ASC) regularly hires tutors and academic peer mentors as well as writing consultants for its undergraduate and graduate writing centers. Both positions are on-campus, paid opportunities for students who enjoy helping their peers be academically successful.

To give a better idea of what it’s like being a student worker in the ASC, we spoke with some alumni who worked there during their time at NC State. Veronica Wisnewski-Parks, M.A. English, rhetoric and composition concentration ‘22 started working as a graduate writing consultant throughout her graduate degree. Veronica even continued working for the Graduate Writing Center the summer after graduating! In that role, she worked with graduate students across the NCSU Campus. She saw students with all different kinds of backgrounds and interests and worked with all different genres of writing. 

Here is what she had to say:

Can you tell us more about your role as a graduate writing consultant?

From personal narratives and CV/resumes to thesis and dissertations, I got to see it all! I helped people in all stages of graduate school feel more confident in their writing ability by helping them think through the writing choices that they had made to decide if they needed to make changes to help a reader understand their thoughts. I also spent a semester as a Linguistics tutor to an undergraduate student which was a cool experience.

What did you enjoy most and what did you gain from your experience with the ASC?

I tell my students in my ENGL-101 classes today that my favorite part of working in the writing center was getting to learn so much about the research that other disciplines were doing. I became interested in English because I loved that I could read a book and learn about scientific, philosophical and cultural advancements all at the same time. The Writing Center let me do that in a whole new way as many of the people I worked with were bringing in papers on advanced scientific research projects. I got to learn about chicken dietary concerns, cyber security, public health response theories and so much more. I got to utilize my growing expertise in writing and still learn about cutting edge research in STEM.

What are you doing now, and what transferable skills from your job with the ASC have helped you in your current work?

Now, I am an Instructor of English at Western Carolina University (I teach ENGL-101 and will soon start teaching ENGL-202!). I think back often on the skills that I learned in the GWC at NC State University. My student conferences look very similar to my Writing Center appointments where I try to work with students to identify the areas of their paper where they need support and help them rationalize the writing choices they make. I think working at the GWC gave me the framework to be a good teacher of writing but it also gave me useful job skills like talking and listening to people, giving feedback, working (responsibly) independently and time management. I am a Teaching Assistant (TA) mentor this semester and am drawing on a lot of those skills in helping my English MA student think through making decisions about designing a ENGL-101 course and developing a teacher ethos. In the years since I have left the ASC, I often think back to the professional development workshops that Dr. VanDellon led on things like managing different personalities in group projects or working with students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. These are things that very much have helped me as a teacher, but also as just a person working in a community.

What other perks or advantages did you enjoy from your work at the ASC?

I was a grad student immediately following the COVID lockdowns and the GWC was one of the places where I was able to form a community and get to know people while at NC State. I know that there were a few of us who also very much benefitted from informal writing center sessions of our own with Dr. VanDellon as we were writing our capstone papers before graduation. It was also really nice to have flexibility of scheduling since I commuted and worked other jobs. The GWC was really accommodating so that I could get this awesome experience!

What advice would you give students who are considering applying to work for the ASC?

Do it! Working in the Writing Center was one of the best parts of my NC State experience. It was the reason I didn’t drop out when classes were difficult and it is a large part of why I am a successful teacher today. You are getting to learn so much and having fun while doing it. You also don’t have to be in an English program or hoping to be a teacher to gain something from participating or offer something to the GWC and larger university community.

If you are a current student interested in working as a tutor, peer mentor or writing consultant within the Academic Success Center, please apply here.