Our Philosophy

The WZ philosophy is that we work with writers to help them improve their own abilities as writers -- we don't think of the work as "fixing" individual papers. We believe that when given the opportunity to talk about their writing and thinking, most writers already know what they need and need the chance to experience mastery. At the Writing Zone, we work with students to help them learn skills that will improve their writing for the future, as well as the present.

Our Mission

Writing Zones 12.5 aims to help bridge the gap between high school and college writing, as well as, more broadly, between high school students and university communities by:

(1) helping all students in target schools become more skilled and enthusiastic writers;

(2) providing students of diverse economic and cultural backgrounds, especially, with responsive local college tutor-mentors, in order to support their aspirations toward higher education;

(3) providing hands-on professional experience and opportunities to contribute and give back to local communities for university students involved in the program.

Our History

Writing Zones 12.5 was started by a then-WCU Master's student, Lisa Shafer, and faculty member Dr. Hannah Ashley in the spring semester of 2005 at Downingtown High School West. Shafer came up with the idea for establishing a writing center at DHSW when she learned that West Chester English professors were teaching English Composition courses at DHSW to honors students. It only seemed fair that the DHSW students, who were taking the same first-year writing courses offered on WCU's campus, taught by WCU professors, and getting college credits, should have access to a writing center just like the WCU students have.

Over the past six years, the program has served several schools, including all three high schools in the West Chester Area School District. WZ continues to serve all students in our current partner school, Kennett High School, while increasing its focus on serving first generation, low-income and minority students. Writing Zones is a unique project, nationally, in that it explicitly ties together writing center philosophy and practice with college access and preparation.

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