The College Essay Workshop is offered at Arrowhead via Canvas from September 19 through October 21. It is offered to help seniors with their college essays and allows them to get help from teachers who can give feedback on their writing. 

Senior Shay Stemper says, “People post the link to their essays on a discussion board on Canvas. Various teachers and students are able to access the essays and provide feedback. Often they leave comments with suggestions, and they also leave compliments.”

Elizabeth Jorgensen, an AHS English teacher, is one of those teachers. “I am so glad we’ve had so many students sign up and participate.” She estimates about 150 seniors are currently enrolled.

Students like senior Sarah Larson say this course has been very helpful in the essay writing process. “It’s been going really well. I and a lot of other people I know who are part of the workshop feel a lot more confident in their essays now that teachers have read them in-depth. Personally, I needed help cutting down on the word count of my essay to fit a word limit requirement, and Ms. Jorgensen was able to get me to the word limit within a day,” Larson says.

The workshop is moderated by English Teachers Jorgensen, Terri Carnell and Rebecca McCann.

“I hope the workshop is what students need,” Jorgensen says. “I feel grateful Arrowhead allows us to offer this to our seniors, both in the summer and during the school year.” 

The College Essay Workshop has run in person and virtually over the years. During the past summer, the workshop was held via Zoom and a student in that section, Elizabeth Sowinski said, “It was much more difficult to navigate coming to the Zoom meetings and talking about the writing.” 

The current offering is asynchronous and allows students and teachers immediate access to posted documents and linked resources.

Larson said that, “Having teachers, who are professionals in this field, revise and critique my essay has made me feel a lot better about my essay’s grammar, the message I am trying to send, and word choice.” 

The College Essay Workshop runs through October 21. Any interested seniors can sign up using this URL: https://arrowhead.instructure.com/enroll/H7XCMB