The Atoms Writing Center (AWC) opens today, 9/25, in room 274 after school; however, while the center will continue to tutor students this year, it will be under new leadership. Eleventh-grade English teacher Stephanie Hanson, the AWC’s previous head teacher sponsor, stepped down from the role this year after having her second child this past spring and because of the lack of an advanced composition elective course. Her co-sponsor, 10th grade English teacher Elizabeth Crowley, also stepped down.
“It was a tough decision and I thought about it for a long time. But ultimately, I decided that I was having a hard enough time balancing being a parent of two children and a teacher, let alone to do this extra responsibility that really is the equivalent of a part-time job,” Hanson said.
English 9 teacher Sasha Duran-Russell is now the current head teacher sponsor and runs the AWC with the help of English 12 teacher Kylie Vera, who is new to Annandale this year. Duran responded to Assistant Principal Sarah Eqab reaching out to the English department asking for volunteers.
“I thought about it for a long time and I kept thinking about it and was kind of waiting for someone else to step up. And then ultimately after talking with Ms. Hanneman, Ms. Hanson and Ms. Crowley, I just ended up deciding ‘I’m going to do it,” Duran said. “I thought that it’s too valuable a program to just go away if there’s no teacher willing to step up to help,” she added.
Managing tutors seniors Margot Tran and Safa Touri recommended that their English teacher Kylie Vera, who has previous writing center experience, be a co-sponsor with Duran.Duran and Vera have been working closely with Hanson, transferring documents and getting up to date on all things AWC.
“It’s pretty overwhelming because it is such a big program and I want to make sure that Miss Vera and I do this right. But we both are also just very excited. It’s just a lot to wrap our heads around right now,” Duran said.
Due to their experience with the AWC, Tran and Touri have been especially helpful in the process of bringing Duran and Vera in as teacher sponsors.
“It has [taken] a lot more leadership [from me] and I have to step up a lot more since I have more experience than like the teachers do, but I still feel like it is a really beneficial thing for me and I enjoy it a lot,” Tran said.
The new teacher sponsorship team will continue on the same schedule that the AWC followed while Hanson sponsored, with in-person after school tutoring sessions on Wednesdays and during PrideTime as well as online tutoring opportunities.They plan on hosting more writing workshops this year and even practice socratic seminars, among other events, to work on students’ communication skills.
Hanson would consider stepping into the sponsorship role again if the school offers the advanced composition course and managing teaching her IB English classes and her home life become easier.
“Knowing how much Ms. Hanson has worked on this program for so long, stepping into her role has shown me how much invisible work she did that went unpaid or unrecognized,” Duran said.
