May 2014 Data (Better Late than Never!)

Best. Month. Ever.

April 2014 Data

"Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Hiram McDaniels

“I think I want to go home,” I muttered.

“What?”

“I changed my mind! I want to go home!”

It was a little late to have a change of heart now, with only open air separating me from a long drop into the blue below. From this height it would be like hitting concrete.

My sweaty fingers were wedged into a crevasse in the rock face. I squinted up at Dan, once my climbing instructor, now a dark smudge edging out the light. He was so far away. A wave of vertigo surged up through my ribs and I nearly lost my grip.

He rappelled down to meet me. “You’re nearly there,” he tried to encourage me, checking the line connecting my harness to his, but all I could hear was my heartbeat thundering inside my skull as I tried not to look down. What ever had convinced me to scale this cliff? Mankind was meant to keep its feet on solid, flat earth. It was pure hubris to climb above one’s station. I would be struck down and fall to Earth for daring to get so close to the sun.

“You’re not going to fall,” Dan said, and I realized I had said that last bit out loud. He gave a long-suffering sigh, easily clambering sideways and up again, hardly looking at the rock as his chalked hands and feet expertly found each gap. I, on the other hand, was quaking in place. Any movement could be the one that sent me tumbling to my fate.

Finally I could hold on no longer. A bead of sweat dripped from my temple and I instinctively moved my hand to wipe my forehead; too late, I reached back for the rock face and met nothing. There was a half-second where I dangled, suspended over the abyss. Then came free-fall, the ground rushing up to meet me, air whipping my hair back from my face, the horrifying swooping in my gut that told me this was it, this was where it would end--

The line went taut and the breath was punched from me as I came to a halt. The harness had caught me, inches from death, the tips of my shoes brushing across the bottom. I felt a profound appreciation for the tenacity of life.

Then Don was back at my side, descending swiftly with the whirring of the harness mechanisms at his beck and call. He landed firmly on the blue mat and unclipped me.

“Maybe indoor rock climbing isn’t for you,” Don said dryly.

“I think I’d like to take up golf,” I breathed, and tried to keep my legs from crumpling.

February/March 2014 Data

The HWC went into hibernation for a brief time during February and March this year, but we still managed to get a lot done. Thanks to HWC tutor Sam C. for designing our fancy new data sheet!

January 2014 Statistics Report

"The Perfect Equation" by Victoria Lemmings

To my dearest,

Today in math, I saw a sine,

A sine that said we were meant to b(squared) together.

Because, darling,

If you were a triangle, your angles would be less than 90 degrees

Because you are totally acute.

I don’t want us to be like asymptotes,

Coming so close, but never touching.

We were destined to cross paths,

Like two perpendicular lines

Floating on our graph of love.

Baby,
If we were an equation,

Our domain would go to infinity.

I can’t function (F(x))

Without you.

Be the cosine to my sine,

Be the cosecant to my secant,

Be the cotangent to my tangent.

In class we solve problems daily,

But my only problem is that you’re not mine.

I don’t care about finding x and y,

As long as I can find u.

Forget about Pythagoras 

The only equation I care about
Is U + Me = <3

Yours Truly,

December 2013 Statistics Report

December was yet another record-breaking month for the HWC!

"Senior Year in Comparison" by Lola Lane

Senior year is such a strange time. It’s prefaced by every other student who has experienced it as “the best year of your life”, or, more accurately stated, the best year of high school. Although I have yet to experience the totality of the famous senior year, I think I have already picked out a strong contending metaphor for it. Senior year is like Disney World. I think everyone who has been to Disney World cannot deny that Disney World is awesome. There’s this magic to it that’s pretty much unparalleled by any other place in the world. It’s the place where dreams come true- well at least that’s what they tell me. So, just like senior year, Disney world is hyped up like no other. You’re so excited to go to Disney World because it’s so great, and all, but once you get there your energy goes from a 500 hundred on the excited scale to about a 50. There are lines everywhere. Turns out that everyone loves Disney world, too, and they all decided to come on the same hot day you’re here. But you aren’t going to let that stop you because Disney World is awesome, and you don’t want to be that guy who hates Disney World. So here you are, it’s you’re Senior year, and you have tons of stuff to do- keeping up the grades, writing the prize-winning essays, studying for the final SAT, finding time to play a sport, and lastly  scrounging up time to hang out with your friends. Senior year is waiting in the line at Disney World to go on the great ride that everyone who has ever been there knows about and went on at least ten times. It’s hot, it gets frustrating, you wind up yelling at your parents, and asking how much more time until you’ll be at the front, or when you’ll finally be accepted into college. The line does funny things to you. The crowds create unpleasantness. It’s inevitable. You get in line and your face automatically becomes a shade of disdain and extreme discomfort.  The same is true of senior year. Everyone is bogged down with early applications, stressful, higher-level AP courses, and the endless amounts of wondering about the future and how it’s going to turn out for you. The line drags on, as this weird part of senior year seems never-ending. Finally, it’s January 1^st and applications are due. A huge weight is lifted from your shoulders. You are about ten people away from being on the ride. Then it hits, an acceptance or a denial, but you’ve made it to the end nonetheless. Whether the ride was good or bad, at least it’s over. Graduation, and the next ride eagerly calls your name. Of course, this is only how I assume senior year plays out. I haven’t completed the year yet, but I’m fairly certain it would one thousand times better if senior year took place at Disney World. 

HWC November 2013 Statistics Report

We had our busiest month EVER!

Writing Center Bros

HWC Tutor Danny V. (Junior) worked with his brother Patrick V. (Freshman) today in the HWC after school. 

HWC October 2013 Statistics Report

Now that November is nearly over, we decided it was time for us to finally share our October data! ;)

October 2013 was the busiest opening month we have ever had. We opened on October 7, and by October 31, we had conducted over 120 tutoring sessions!

Thanks for helping us to kick off the year, Herndon!