The Bakersfield College Writing Center, located in room SS-133 of the Student Services Center, has numerous trained professionals to assist the high turnout of students utilizing services.

The center is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Fridays. Their number is (661) 395-4735.

In the Writing Center, students will find tools to assist them with anything that needs to be written. Students may also use the space to quietly study and write uninterrupted, and there are always at least three professional staffers ready to help and assist students who have appointments, which can be made by calling in advance.

“All of the consultants who work at the Writing Center are degreed professionals who have at least a bachelor’s degree. All five of us who work at the center right now are pursuing our master’s degrees,” said Joelle Milholm, the Writing Center liaison and a consultant at the center.

Milholm and Writing Center lead Kim Arbolante agree that the staff is knowledgeable, though the center is not fully staffed.

“Our biggest challenge is meeting the increase in demand for appointments,” Arbolante said.

Nearly every student who has received help from the center’s consultants in the Writing Center were pleasantly happy about the services received.

Cara Jean Johns, a sophomore at BC, recently used the center to prepare for a presentation for her English B53 class.

“I use the writing center for my term papers and the presentation that I am doing with my classmate,” she said.

“I am often here, doing homework and seeking help,” said Edgar Gonzalez, a sophomore who had gone to the Writing Center to revise a paper for his Philosophy B9 class.

There are pamphlets available at the center that give specific guidelines and lay out the certain formats that are used in classes taught at BC, as well as flash cards for commonly misspelled words and grammar cards to teach editing. There are approximately 20 computers available for writing papers in the lab portion of the center.

Students that have more than one class or need to juggle work and other commitments may find that the center frees up more time for quality paper writing.

“There are clear benefits; students that use our services tend to have better grades, or feedback, which means homework takes a little less time,” said Arbolante.

According to the mid-semester report, the Writing Center had seen 1,079 student appointments in the first two months of school, serving 1,342 students in total.

Drop-ins numbered 263 students, and there were only 131 no-shows.

Arbolante stressed that students should keep appointments they have made because missed appointments can cause a backlog.

“We have hired two new Instructional Assistants though, so it should be easy to get an appointment in the near future,” she said.

Milholm elaborated on that point.

“Writing an essay, or any type of writing assignment, can be very stressful and overwhelming. Our job at the Writing Center is to help guide students through the entire writing process.

From prewriting (which includes brainstorming), to outlining, to drafting, to revising, to editing, we employ a variety of methods that meet specific learning styles of each student and are most appropriate for his or her assignment.

“We also help with incorporating sources as well as reference or works cited pages in all formats (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

We foster writing independence, meaning that we hope to help students learn how to do each step efficiently and effectively in hopes that they will be able to do it all on their own at some point.”

In addition to the Writing Center’s services, they have an unofficial club, The Quills.

The club is organized by consultant Kristen Watts and usually meets on a Wednesday or a Thursday between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Writing Center.

The club decides what the topics of the Writing Center’s writing contests will be.

The winners of these contests are featured in BC’s online journal, the Roughneck Review.

The Writing Center’s webpage can be found at www.Bakersfieldcollegewritingcenter.weebly.com