New additions are coming to the J. Kenneth Nesbit Student Success Center in the near future. These new additions will help students maintain their literacy, finish writing assignments, utilize new software, and give international students their own social space. Emily Cook, a success coach at the SSC, is in charge of bringing these changes.

“Student development is growing in lots of exciting ways, we are going to be offering a writing lab, which is the newest thing that’s going to be rolled out,” Cook said. “It’ll be a place that will be staffed Monday through Friday where students can come get papers edited, have someone just help them with some basic writers’ workshop type topics, and also just to learn, based on whatever class they might be in, how to write the best paper.”

Students have been having a hard time keeping up with grammar and writing requirements recently. Designed to aid students, the new writing lab will be located downstairs in the SSC in the Spear Writing Lounge, directly across from the offices of the success coaches.

“I think that there are several students here at Quincy University who would benefit greatly from a writing lab,” Saadia Aschemann, a success coach, said. “Across the board, I think this would help. There are very few students that I see, in my academic writing class, that I feel that their writing is where it needs to be.”

Students can also use a tutoring program, WC Online, to find help, by creating an account on quincy.mywconline.com or by scanning QR Codes within the SSC. There is also the other addition called the International Student Social Space, where QU students from different countries can gather together and acclimate to the new surroundings.

“We really want, in the end, for them to not only feel like they are engaged in part of the community of Quincy University as a whole, but also, you know, to encourage them to further their language skills and ability to kind of navigate systems on campus and this country that’s foreign to them,” Cook said.

“I think many of us, as Americans, people who have grown up in this country don’t realize what an enormous move it is to leave not only your family, but your country and I think it would give them a place to connect,” Aschemann said. “I think it is a wonderful idea.”

“I think the new additions to the SSC are very good because, you know, there’s lot’s of kids out there that are struggling with reading or writing and they really need the help in those classes, to help prepare for life and help exceed in their courses,” Evan Conover, a junior, said.

The new writing lab is planned to be staffed with tutors on a regular basis, allowing students to be able to drop by at anytime within the specified hours for assistance. While plans are still underway, QU students can expect the new additions to accommodate their needs in the future.