{"id":797,"date":"2019-04-16T09:30:29","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T09:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/?p=797"},"modified":"2021-11-01T19:25:59","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T19:25:59","slug":"advice-from-a-maize-and-blue-scholar-youll-be-alright-just-dont-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/2019\/04\/16\/advice-from-a-maize-and-blue-scholar-youll-be-alright-just-dont-panic\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice from a Maize and Blue Scholar: “You’ll be alright. Just don’t panic.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Easy for Tyrice to say. He’s always cool under pressure! The Marian E. Wright Writing Center is ecstatically proud of Tyrice Denson\u2014if there is a stronger word than \u201cecstatic,\u201d include that too. Tyrice was selected as one of this year\u2019s 2019 graduating Maize and Blue Scholars. When I asked him how he felt about being selected, he said \u201cIt\u2019s a great honor. The old saying about: ‘integrity is what you do when no one is watching,’ is true. I didn\u2019t do it for the validation, but it means a lot.\u201d Tyrice went on to say he hadn\u2019t expected to be considered for the award since he was a transfer student. Even so, Tyrice is committed to serving and became heavily involved at the University of Michigan-Flint as a political science major, writing tutor, a member of student government, and many other campus activities in the two years he\u2019s been here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For those who don\u2019t know Tyrice, he is one of the most humble, dedicated, patient, kind individuals you could ever meet. Last semester, the Writing Center was trying to balance tutoring and preparing to host a state-wide conference. Many of the tutors and I were feeling very stressed, but Tyrice stayed calm and steady. He\u2019d look up from an e-tutoring appointment and simply say, \u201cIt\u2019s all good. We\u2019ve got this. Did you eat your lunch, yet?\u201d His gentle reminders kept us all positive and encouraged. He reminded us to \u201cbreath, don\u2019t panic.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyrice has served in several key leadership roles in the\nWriting Center, including trapper keeper, online coordinator, English 109 small\ngroup facilitator, and mentor to many new in-coming tutors. I asked him what\nit\u2019s like being a writing tutor. \u201cI don\u2019t think it matters whether you are an\nEnglish major or not. I initially felt some pressure about whether an English\nmajor might have more answers, but I realized it was more about being a reader\nand providing good feedback. It\u2019s about communicating.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyrice is an excellent listener, which makes him an\nespecially strong tutor. Students really appreciate his soft-spoken, relaxed\ntutoring style. He says to be a good tutor, \u201ca tutor needs to be open-minded\nand take the time to really understand what the writer is trying to say.\nUsually, this puts students at ease.\u201d He also adds that being a tutor was also\nhelpful for him as a student. \u201cSometimes, I realized that during the most\ndifficult times, it\u2019s important to take a deep breath. I also saw the value in\nusing the resources that are available and how to use them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Political Science major, he\u2019s proof you don\u2019t need to\nbe an English major to be a fantastic tutor and create change in Writing Center\nscholarship. He presented about the effects of \u201cwhite privilege\u201d in writing\ncenters and tutoring sessions at two major writing center conferences, the\nMiWCA and ECWCA. His sessions were very well attended by both writing center\nadministrators and tutors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said, \u201cPresenting at the MiWCA conference was one of my\nfavorite moments as a tutor. The room was full, and the amount of people that\ncame up to us after and thanked us for having the conversation about \u201cwhite\nprivilege\u201d in the Writing Center reinforced that writing centers can address\nthose issues and make positive changes for students and tutors.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyrice plans on graduating this semester, then moving on to\nlaw school where he plans to be an attorney, specializing in civil rights. He\nsays, \u201cThe small things you do can build up to larger things and have a bigger\nimpact.\u201d He\u2019s certainly made an impact here at UM-Flint, serving as the Foreign\nRelations Officer for Student Government and initiating the creation of the\n\u201cTri-Campus\u201d compact with Ann Arbor and Dearborn, which started out with a\nphone call from Tyrice about how the three campuses could support one another.\nAs a result, he says, \u201ca resolution was created\u201d that will ensure the three\ncampuses stay connected even after he graduates. He\u2019s thrilled to be\ngraduating, but has a few words of advice for success for students and tutors\nalike: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1.  Prioritize\nschool: no matter what other things you have going on, make sure school is the\nnumber one priority.
    1. Make connections. If those connections can\u2019t be\na direct source of help for you, they can at least make the experience better.\nConnect with everyone: students, faculty, and even administrators. <\/li><\/ol>
      1. Understand that there are going to be moments\nthat you struggle but that shouldn\u2019t invalidate you or make you feel that this\nisn\u2019t possible. <\/li><\/ol><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        And, lastly, \u201cJust breathe. It\u2019s all good.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Congratulations, Tyrice! We are so proud of you and we are really going to miss you, but your adventure continues! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"
        Tyrice Denson, a truly Maize and Blue Tutor!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Easy for Tyrice to say. He’s always cool under pressure! The Marian E. Wright Writing Center is ecstatically proud of Tyrice Denson\u2014if there is a stronger word than \u201cecstatic,\u201d include that too. Tyrice was selected as one of this year\u2019s 2019 graduating Maize and Blue Scholars. When I asked him how he felt about being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":800,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions\/800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}