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A New Way to Write Emily Thibodeau CONTRIBUTOR
Have you ever found yourself struggling to write a paper? It takes a lot of time and effort choosing a topic, researching and then finally putting all your information together and passing it in. You might have questions that don’t get answered. Writing might not be your thing, or you might just need some extra help or advice. If you find
yourself struggling, or even if you just want a second opinion on what you’ve written, the writing center, located in South Hall on the UMPI campus, is a great resource. Derek Boudreau, a tutor at the writing center and UMPI student, says, “Everybody in the writing center is really friendly and helpful. The writing center is an important resource for anyone who is looking for a little extra help to polish work they’ve done on a paper. It gives students an opportunity to ask for advice from a peer and a second opinion on their work. It’s a great place to work, a great place to get involved and get the advice of a peer.” Having this resource on campus is very helpful in a lot of ways. There are many people who need extra help and
are not sure where to look. Some might not know where to turn or might be too shy to ask for help from a professor. Being able to come to the writing center and talk with a peer their age who is also a student on campus is a lot easier for many people. It’s also a great way to simply get a second opinion on a paper before you decide to turn it in for grading. Alexandra Johnson a 21-yearold UMPI student, said, “I wasn’t sure what to expect the first time I visited the writing center. I’ll admit that I came in at first because my teacher asked us to sign up, but I’m happy I did come in. It’s hard sharing your work with a stranger for the first time, but it ended up being a great experience. The writing center is a really good tool to have on campus. I found my visit to be really helpful and I
plan on going back again. It’s good to have someone to just talk to about what you’re working on and it helps a lot to get that second opinion when you’re not sure about something. Even if you’re just starting something and need someone to talk about it with, it’s a great help.” It can be hard and even scary to meet with someone you don’t know to ask for advice, but it can also help a lot. Seeing a tutor can open your eyes to new ideas and help you look at things in a different way. Once you share something with one person and get more confident, it starts to get a lot easier to share with other people and share inside the classroom. It’s a good way to focus, get questions answered faster and get one-on-one advice. It’s a great way to branch out and meet new people. Everyone has
a different way of learning. A one-on-one meeting in the writing center can give you help where you need it the most. A tutor can find out what you need help with, focus on that and give extra attention where it’s needed. The writing center offers a friendly and welcoming learning environment for everyone, whether you need help with ideas or formatting or just want someone to look work over before you turn in your final piece to a professor. The writing center is open Monday through Friday. Students can sign up for appointments in South Hall or online through the UMPI website. You can also drop in for a visit with the three helpful, friendly tutors available to students. Come visit the writing center and see all it has to offer.
Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Matthew Glover CONTRIBUTOR
On the night of April 10, 2014, resident assistant Amanda Larrabee briefly explained just how to defeat Cabin Fever. Although the weather may be getting warmer, it’s not quite summer yet, so staying informed on matters like this is still important and relevant. Larrabee explained a condition called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which depresses a person due to the weather. When it’s cold all the time and all we see is the snow, it can really de-
press some people. It affects a lot of people in one way or another. Ways to defeat it would be to do the things you enjoy doing and make you happy. Examples would be listening to music, doing activities, eating certain foods and spending time with others. Why be frozen alone? Winter can be nice, but we all get a little anxious when winter has been around for a little too long. After the explanation, Disney’s recent and popular movie “Frozen” played. “This event had gone better than expected. It was great to
see all sorts of different people come out to this event and to inform them on conditions like cabin fever.” Larrabee said. Cabin fever is a pretty common condition that effects many. “I really enjoyed the movie. I find ‘Frozen’ to be a very different kind of movie from the others in the Disney franchise just by how the conflicts are resolved and the characters were very interesting in this movie. It was certainly different but I liked it. I originally chose ‘Frozen’ because I felt the movie was appropriate for what
I was talking about. It’s almost one of my favorite movies. I feel like the people in the movie go through exactly what we do here at UMPI. In other words, try not to get frozen.” Larrabee said. Greg Smaligo, an UMPI sophomore, said, “I love the movie. It was honestly one of Disney’s best movies in my opinion. The event was a good idea and the advice given to avoid cabin fever was very informative. I feel like it could be put to good use and I will try to do some things different for the next winter. It’s just nice to fi-
nally see some spring weather now after this long winter.” Other people at the event enjoyed the movie as well. It seemed to be a pretty popular movie and appears to have been a great choice to play for the people here at UMPI. Next time you have cabin fever, try some new things. Go do your favorite activity, spend some times with friends or eat some food that makes you happy. Maybe you could even watch Disney’s “Frozen” to put you in a better mood.