Over 175 Students Attend the Writing and Communication Center’s First BIOL Night Against Procrastination

Over 175 first-year biology students visited the NSU Writing and Communication Center (WCC) for its first BIOL Night Against Procrastination (BNAP) on Sunday, October 27th, 2019, from 6 – 10 p.m. Students received assistance on writing their major enzyme lab reports from WCC Biology Fellows and BIOL 1500 Lab Assistants. The event was part of a collaboration between the WCC and the Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography Department of Biological Sciences that provides course-embedded writing assistance to all sections of BIOL 1500: Biology I/Lab.

Over the course of four weeks each semester (from the time the report is assigned to when it is due), the WCC offers BIOL 1500 students course-specific one-on-one consultations and a series of open studio hours, which are times when students can visit the WCC to write and get quick feedback from trained BIOL Writing Fellows. This semester, the WCC offered BNAP on the Sunday night before the week final reports were due in order to provide students with an additional opportunity to visit the center; collaborate with peers, fellows, and lab assistants; and get their final reports completed.

The event opened with over 100 students visiting during the first hour. Students were offered pizza, while a DJ from Radio X played downtempo /ambient music students could work to while completing their reports. “It was eye opening to see 177 students show up for an academic event focused on writing. It was not just a social or happy hour, it was a chance to better their writing, and they all showed up! It was very fulfilling,” said Melissa Vaz-Ayes, junior Biology major and an undergraduate student coordinator in the NSU WCC.

The overall project is based on collaborative efforts of Dr. Kevin Dvorak, Executive Director of the NSU WCC; Dr. Kelly Concannon, Associate Professor in the CAHSS Department of Writing and Communication and Faculty Coordinator at the WCC; Dr. Aarti Raja, Associate Professor in the Halmos College Department of Biological Sciences; and Melissa Vaz-Ayes.

The WCC anticipates running the program and BNAP event for the coming semesters. For more information about the NSU Writing and Communication Center, please visit www.nova.edu/wcc or call 954-262-8108.