History of the SHS Writing Center

Since the 2017-18 school year, Saline’s writing center has been used throughout the high school. The founder, Jen Denzin, and her colleague Madelyn Clark, started the Writing Center after Denzin learned about the Writing Lab at Ann Arbor Skyline High School. With the intent to promote writing and offer free peer-to-peer editing for students to review others’ writing, they, with the help of Jeff Austin (Skyline’s director), replicated a lot of what Skyline’s writing center did: a consultant in each class period, online and in-person consulting, and the format of the submission form. 

Once the structure was set up, the next step was finding a physical location for the consultants. The year before the SHS Writing Center was created, there were newly built Hornet Hubs in the commons for students to sit in after school and for clubs to meet. The Small Hornet Hub was used less than the Large Hornet Hub due to its size, and when looking for a location for the center, Denzin and Clark went to the administration about putting it in the small hub. The principal at the time, Mr. David Raft, approved the idea and had lettering written on the windows. Each year, the consultants make it home, adding drawings on the windows, decorating for different seasons, and including different features like a calendar or pictures from past years.

With their outreach established in Saline, they started to travel outside of the local community. In 2018, the center joined the Secondary School Writing Center Association (SSWCA). This organization hosted conferences for writing centers across the nation. For the November 2018 conference, four consultants traveled to Washington, D.C. for the center’s first conference. After the conferences were held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2023, eight more consultants returned to D.C.. Then, in 2024, the conference was held in Boston, Massachusetts, for the consultants to partake in.

For the most part, the writing center has functioned the same, although during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-21), the center had to get creative with the way it did in-person consultations. They used WC Online, which allowed them to do video chats with students, and they could pull up their documents to be edited. Although the online video chats weren’t used as frequently, the center still got online submissions through the submission form during this time.

While the pandemic challenged the center’s operations, it also reinforced the importance of writing as a tool for connection—both within and beyond the school. Outside of consulting other students’ writing, the center promoted writing throughout the community. From writing workshops and pen pal letters with the Saline Area Senior Center (SASC) Writers to contests promoted for Saline High School students, the center has taken a large role in the community’s participation with writing. They have also gone to the district’s elementary schools and the middle school to present and bring attention to writing. Since the center was created, they have had annual meetings with Skyline’s consultants and Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) Writing Center, where they give presentations to one another and talk about the art of tutoring. In 2023, consultants presented to an up-and-coming center at Hamtramck High School as an example for their writing center.

To sustain and expand these outreach efforts, the center relies on a student-led team structure that ensures its mission is supported. Each year, students lead four different teams of the writing center: Outside Opps (plans and coordinates events with our partners), Social Media (manages the social media pages and advertises events), Consultant Care (plans bonding opportunities and routine training sessions), and Administrative Assets (checks in on each team and conducts big-picture planning with advisors and coordinates promotion efforts or in-school events). Through these teams and the center’s efforts, the high school’s writing is reviewed, and writing is encouraged throughout communities around the high school, from the SASC to EMU.

Marking a generational shift in leadership, the 2025-26 school year welcomed Carl Spina and said goodbye to Denzin on the list of directors. If you would like to be a consultant and join Clark and Spina, go to the home page on this website and apply today!