Editor’s note: This post features a lovely throwback to previous staff members and treasured memories.
On February 24, 2017, I attended the quarterly event, Dandelions in the Concrete, hosted by a branch of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department. The event is a space for fun activities, self-care, and de-stressing, with multiple organizations and departments present.
There was a table with the strange acronym that I knew represented DePaul’s Writing Center, but I still wasn’t entirely sure what it all meant. I had been considering applying to be a peer writing tutor, but I had not yet started the process. As I meandered through the event, I stopped by the UCWbL table because the folks behind it seemed so welcoming. I chatted with Jen and Katie for a while they could not have been more delightful or kind. They warmly encouraged me to apply for the job, and I got started on my application essay that very night! (And learned that UCWbL stood for University Center for Writing-based Learning!)
Jen Finstrom is an UCWbL part-time professional staff member and Outreach coordinator, and Katie is a fellow peer writing tutor. Little did I know I would be in Outreach meetings alongside them in a year’s time!
That’s my UCWbL origin story!
Upon reflecting on my first year at the Writing Center, I was inspired to learn the origin stories of my fellow UCWbLers. I loved collecting these origin stories — it was such a great way to know a little more about my peers and colleagues, and appreciate how and why we have the amazing UCWbLers that we do!
With that, let’s get back to our UCWbL roots!
Kaitlyn M.
Hometown: Bartlett, IL
2nd year at the UCWbL
Undergraduate student in Communication and Media & Public Relations and Advertising
“I was talking to a fellow UCWbLer, Michael K., about a new on-campus job that I applied to from the online on-campus job board, thinking it was the Writing Center position. He was excited because he said he applied to the UCWbL too, and he asked me who wrote my letter of recommendation. I told him that the application did not require one, which is when I found out that I actually applied to a different job at DePaul — not the UCWbL.
Through our conversation, I learned that the UCWbL application was due the NEXT DAY, so I scrambled to gather (and polish) my application materials, in addition to finding a professor who I had made a connection with that would be able to write me a letter of recommendation—for the correct job— on short notice.
Fortunately, as events unfolded, I applied, had an interview, and began working at the UCWbL the following quarter. My experience as a writer, as well as a DePaul student, has positively and completely been changed due to the opportunities that the UCWbL has brought to my life.”
Live, laugh, UCWbL!
Susie M.
Hometown: Waukegan, IL
4th year at the UCWbL
Graduate student in Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse
“Jenny Staben, the director of the Writing Center that I worked at before, knows Lauri Dietz, current director of the UCWbL, and helped me get a peer tutor position here. I am forever grateful to Jenny for sending that email, and forever grateful to Lauri for listening to Jenny’s request to hire me!”
Bella J.
Hometown: Burr Ridge, IL
1st year at the UCWbL
Graduate student in Communication and Media
“My parents made me visit DePaul in the fall of my senior year of high school. I huffed and puffed and acted like a total brat—DePaul is less than thirty minutes from my hometown and I was horrified by the idea of going to college so close to my parents. During the prospective student fair, I walked between tables with an appropriately angsty attitude, acting deeply uninterested in everything around me.
Then came the UCWbL table! A girl who was tabling for Outreach totally knew that I was being a brat and used her stellar communication skills to break down the walls around me. A few minutes later, we were chatting and laughing and having a great time! From that conversation onward, I began to seriously consider DePaul, and eventually committed.
I am so happy that things have come full circle with me now working as part of the Outreach team to connect with other apathetic teens.”
Kate M.
Hometown: Portland, OR
1st year at the UCWbL
Undergraduate student in Philosophy
“Initially I got an email saying that they were hiring and I decided I wanted to apply! My application process was pretty bland until I came in for my interview.
I was sitting on the famous orange couches nervously waiting to go in and Jen and a couple other UCWbLers were sitting right by me. I remember how stylish and kind Jen and the others were right before I went into my interview and I immediately thought, “WOW! I gotta work here!” It was such a fun first impression and now I get to hang out with all of these wonderful, nice people almost every day!”
Elizabeth G.
Hometown: Evergreen Park, IL
1st year at the UCWbL
Undergraduate student in Economics
“I heard about the UCWbL from Katie Martin’s WRD 103 class. This class was such an unconventional, relaxed atmosphere compared to English classes I had taken in the past (I mean, she let us call her Katie!). She was the coolest professor I’d ever had, so I knew that if she was recommending the UCWbL, I had to check it out.”
Tyler N.
Hometown: Joliet, IL
3rd year at the UCWbL
Undergraduate student in English
“I learned about the UCWbL when I came to my orientation the summer before I started at DePaul. I saw a table at the Student Center about the UCWbL and I fell in love with the idea of being a writing tutor.
I asked if they were hiring (I had romanticized the idea of an on-campus job in my head) and I was promptly told that the UCWbL does not hire freshmen. I was dismayed. But, in the spring of the following year, I saw that the UCWbL was hiring and I immediately applied (and was hired!) It was great.”
Shelby M.
Hometown: Aurora, IL
1st year at the UCWbL
Undergraduate student in Psychology
“I was actually an EDGEtern at the UCWbL my freshman year! So I would come to the Writing Center every week and knew I wanted to apply there the moment I met everyone! Chris A. (who is no longer with us—he now has a real adult job!) was my EDGE mentor and he really impacted my time here and made sure I was on the right track in applying to be a tutor when the time came.”