Wittenberg Writing Center
Application for Employment: 2013-2014

Applicants will be required to interview with a panel comprised of current Writing Center advisors and the Writing Center Director. Once we receive your application, an advisor will call or e-mail you to schedule the interview.

Name:____________________________________ Class:________________________

Student ID#:______________________________ Major:_______________________

Phone:____________________________________ GPA:________________________

Email:____________________________________ English 101 Grade: ____________

If you have not yet completed English 101, ask your professor for an estimated grade. If you did not take 101, let us know why. And, if you are a first-year student, put down your high school GPA.

1. Writing Sample:

Please include with your application a sample of your academic writing, ideally from a class here at Wittenberg (if you have not written many papers yet, you may submit one from a high school course). The sample should be analytical in nature—personal essays, fiction, or poetry are not as appropriate for our purposes (but if you feel an additional piece will showcase something about your abilities as a writer, then please include one). Limit your analytical sample to no more than ten pages. Also include a cover note explaining the prompt for your analytical essay and a brief description of why you chose to submit this paper.

2. Reference:

Please list a faculty member from Wittenberg who is familiar with your writing and verbal communication skills (be sure that this person is willing to speak about you and your abilities).

We will call the faculty member to ask for the recommendation.

Name Department Phone

______________________________________________________________________________

Your Signature: ____________________________________ Date: _____________________

Please note that advisors are usually required to work a minimum of five hours per week. RAs are not eligible to be advisors. Also, we have room for only a dozen or so new advisors next year, so we will be extremely rigorous in our analysis of the applications.

The Writing Center does not discriminate in its hiring practices on the basis of race, gender, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation. Please be aware that all application materials are reviewed by Writing Center advisors as well as the director and are kept confidential.

All applications are due by 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 16th

Be sure you have completed all four requirements.

3. Questions: Please answer the following questions. Include an addition sheet if necessary.

Why do you want to be an advisor?

What assets would you contribute to the Writing Center?

Describe a time when you had to overcome a difficulty. How did you do it?

How do you define “good writing”?

What do you see in the following image?

What’s a good caption for the following cartoon?

List the extracurricular activities you’re involved with (student government, Greek life, etc.):


4. Paper Response: The following is a personal narrative, written for an English 101 class. The prompt asked students to describe something that was important to them (an activity or an event) and to show/explain why it was important. Pretend that a student brought this essay into the Writing Center and wants to know if it makes sense and if it satisfies the assignment. What do you think is most important to focus on? How might you approach a conversation with the writer? Please limit your response to approximately one page.

Soccer More Than A Sport, Life.

For some people, soccer is just a sport, a hobby, or an after school activity. But for me soccer is friends, soccer is teamwork, soccer is the sound of the crowd growing louder and louder as I advance to the goal with a soccer ball glued to my feet, soccer is the wind blowing in my hair, the smell of blood and sweat on the players, soccer is basically life! I came to Syria when I was about twelve years old. I didn’t know anyone, in my neighborhood, I used to watch kids playing in the street with a white and black ball, kicking it around, using their heads and all parts of their bodies except their hands to try and put it between a rectangular looking goal, only one kid on each team can use his hands, and he shouldn’t let the ball go between the angles that formed this rectangle, that they chose as goal targets.I liked American football, but there was no way I can play it, or even know the score of the NFL finals. The channels will put all kinds of sports but not American Sports (except NBA scores).So one day I decided to go outside join these kids, and play that sport, that’s so called soccer. I asked if I could join, and they all agreed, I wasn’t that good, I could barely kick the ball, I was good at goal, but I didn’t like that position.The years passed and I got better and better at soccer, I made a lot of new friends, by simply playing a match or two of soccer I either won or I lost it didn’t really matter as long as I’m having fun.When I was in the seventh grade I joined a soccer club, called Homenmen (which is Armenian for “The New Generation”). I joined the club, they didn’t want me to play, they had this prejudice against Syrians, so if I’m not Armenian I can’t play, they didn’t tell it to my face but I sensed it during practice, during the game, I didn’t care, soccer was more important to me, and I decided to be the best that I could be, and within a year, I got to be the captain of this team, the best player. I played as a left wing I loved that position. I was a great striker I could score or almost score from every single shot I got on the goal. The kids on that team started to like me, I made friends with all of them. We got to be really close friends; we’d help each other on and off the field.In 1998, a club called Al-Majd ( “The Glory”). Hosted the Damascus Championship, where all the clubs in Damascus participated, to see who would win the Damascus Cup. On the first match, we had to play against a club called Al-Nidal. It was a strong team, but our coach, thought we could beat this team easily, so he didn’t put me on the field, told me that he didn’t want me to get injured in this match “we have a more important match against a stronger team next”, he said.So I sat on the bench drinking from my water bottle, while my teammates were on the field, I cheered them with my other teammates that were on the bench. The other team scored a goal against us. The first half was over, the second half started and we’re still down by a point. About ten minutes before the end of the game, the coach decided to put me back on the team. I got off the bench, took off my sweat pants that started to irritate me, I was never used to wearing them that long, stretched my feet a little and off to the field I went touched hands with my other teammate signaling to the referee that I’m in for that player and signaling to Al-Nidal that their worst nightmare had just arrived. And within a minute I scored a goal, therefore tied the game, one goal for each team, my teammates cheered louder and louder, the coach of the other team was really angry, he thought his team had won the game. On the last minute of the game, I assisted a nice high ball for my friend, that didn’t hesitate one minute to put it to the back of the net using a great header.All of our games went smoothly, we won all of the games we played. We reached the final game where we had to face the Al-Majd (The team that owns the field that we’re playing on).We put the best people to play in this game, this was a game that we never dreamt of reaching, we’re this close to being the champions of Damascus and weren’t about to blow it away.We got onto the field, we had confidence, a little scared of disappointing our fans, but we were about to give this game all we got, sweat blood strength whatever we got.

The first half ended goalless, with some really nice chances of scoring for both teams, I had a really nice shot, which passed the goalkeeper and on its way to the goal when one of the goal’s pillars stood in the way of the ball and balanced it off course.In the second half, we did our magic trio. Where me and two other teammates went full speed passing the ball to each other and I had the last touch on the ball and right through the wood and into the back of the net, it’s a goal!That goal gave us the championship, won us the title of “Champions of Damascus.” But most importantly got us close together as a team and as friends that love to play soccer.That was the best game I’ve played in my life, and the last one I played in Syria.I came to the USA; I played on the school varsity team. But we weren’t a close team. Everyone on that team wanted to score goals, forgetting that the importance of the game isn’t in scoring but in playing as a team, giving the game all you got to offer, never fearing the other team and showing no mercy on the field.I still play soccer but I don’t believe in teams anymore, unless it’s my old team. The team that I grew up with, the team where everyone playing was as important in the game as the other, the team that played the game for fun and loved the taste of glory which got stuck on to its tongue and doesn’t want to fade.