The first ever Pascack Valley College Essay Blitz was hosted in the Media Center on Oct. 10, 2023 to help seniors with all aspects of their college personal statement essays.
“I think that it’s been actually super positive for the students,” PV Supervisor of English, Art and Libraries Valerie Mattessich said.
The idea came to be at the beginning of the year when Mattessich noticed that the majority of students who went to the Writing Center wanted help with their college essays. She also saw junior and senior English teachers being “inundated” with requests to help students on various days during lunch. As a result, Mattessich decided to do a full day of college essay counseling.
“We thought it would really serve the students better,” Mattessich said.
According to Mattessich, this concept allowed students and teachers to have longer, one-on-one sessions, rather than “trying to cram 20 [students] in at one lunch.” Additionally, she saw it as an opportunity to publicize the revived Writing Center “after being on an almost 10-year hiatus.”
Valley’s College Essay Blitz day was staffed by the three Writing Center English teachers: Tina Marchiano-Rauscher, Tracy Recine, and Daniel Phillips, plus English Teacher and Writing Center substitute Kate Overgaard. During the event, they helped 23 students with different aspects of their college essays, as documented in the Google Form that students were required to fill out beforehand.
“Some put intro, some put conclusion, some said ‘can you just give it one more read through?’ some said word choice,” Mattessich said. “So really, I saw a wide variety of requests on the Google Form.”
PV Senior Koichi Tazaki sought help with the conclusion of his essay. After a 20-minute session with Marchiano-Rauscher, he walked away with a “more concrete structure”, better flow, and a newfound clarity.
“I got kind of lost in what I was writing,” Tazaki said. “So she [Marchiano-Rauscher] helped me find the purpose behind everything that I was trying to write. Now I can go forward with a better understanding of how I should go about writing my essay.”
Mattessich staffed the College Blitz Day every period, including lunch. She was pleasantly surprised by the smaller turnout and believes it held more positive results with “a lot of sustained attention.”
“I actually thought we [would’ve] had more like 100 [students], but I’m glad that we didn’t because actually, those kids got a ton of attention and a lot of privacy because there were only a few [students] each period,” Mattessich said.
Tazaki appreciated the personalized time he received during the blitz and the way Marchiano-Rauscher went about helping him.
“I had my essay open and then she [Marchiano-Rauscher] was commenting on the parts she was talking about,” Tazaki said. “So then I also was able to look at it afterwards, which was really helpful.”
Mattessich expressed the great value in taking advantage of the Writing Center’s services, comparing it to free essay coaching.
“People are paying outside of school to have someone help with essays, so this is really like a free service that we’re providing to the students,” Mattessich said.
Looking to next year, Mattessich hopes to host the College Essay Blitz again, but with slight changes. She plans to run it earlier, possibly at the end of September, to better accommodate students with deadlines on Oct. 15. Additionally, she hopes to better publicize the event and have the guidance counselors promote it, as that is how Pascack Hills boosted its attendance. The day before the PH event on Oct. 12, 33 students had signed up.
About 15 years ago, PV and PH hosted a similar event to help students with their college writing. Meanwhile, when looking out of the district, Mattessich has not seen other local schools execute this concept.
During Valley’s 2023 “Blitz Day”, Mattessich recognized students and teachers alike forming new or strengthening old relationships.
“I think for the teachers, they’re getting to know a lot of kids that they may or may not have [in class]. Or in March’s case, she’s seeing former students that she had in Lang [Advanced Placement English Language and Composition] come back,” Mattessich said. “Phillips didn’t have a lot of those [returning] kids because he tends to teach the seniors, so he just got to know a lot of different people.”
Tazaki was grateful for the expertise provided and recommended that current juniors attend next year.
“You always need another perspective on your writing, especially when the person who’s looking is that much better than you at writing, so it was really helpful and now I know what I should fix,” Tazaki said.
Aside from the College Essay Blitz, Mattessich has big plans for the future of the Writing Center.
“We have a lot of goals for the Writing Center moving forward, including going to Montclair State [University] and Bergen Community [College] to see how their writing centers are run, collaborating with Teaneck High School on their writing center, and then bringing in peer tutors,” Mattessich said.
Mattessich expressed hope that the experience of the College Essay Blitz will continue to help students when they enter college.
“I also think it provided more of a college experience of what a writing center is because almost every single college has [one],” Mattessich said. “So I think this shows that you have to advocate for yourself, take the initiative, and show up.”
