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Thursday, September 30, 1999 - Page 12 FEATURES Mark Honeycutt takes over WMC's Writing Center BY ERIN S, HOWARD A published writer himself, Honeycutt Senior Writer has written papers on AncientGreek philoso- Mark Honeycutt is a busy guy. Not only phy as it pertains to discourse and has been is the new Writing Center Director manag- published in The History of Rhetoric, The ing the always occupiedWritingCenter com- Gettysburg Times, and Tar River, an East puter lab, but he is also teaching a section of Carolina University literary journal. He re- Freshman Composition and making himself cently returned from a conference at Ferrum available to help all Western Maryland Col- College in Virginia where he read one ofhis lege students with their writing. papers. Also before coming to WMC, he Honeycutt, who has a Bachelor of Arts worked as a consultant for the Social Secu- degree in History and a Master's degree in rity Administration where he helped design Rhetoric from East Carolina University in a Kindergarten curriculum that would meet Greenville, NC, began working at WMC in state guidelines. early July and has been busy ever since. He "[Mark] has a lot of different kinds of estimates that he sees between six to ten stu- experiences," says EnglishDepartmentChair dents a day and spends between 15 minutes Dr. LeRoy Panek. "That helps anyone in an to an hour with each. educational surrounding." In fact, over the course of our one hour Panek was referring not only to interview, three students called to set up Honeycutt's vast background in teaching, times to discuss their writing, one student which ranges from high school to commu- stopped by his office, and a professor teach- nity college, and writing, but also to his per- ing in the Writing Center dropped in to ask, sonal interests. Honeycutt played Division I only half-jokingly,"You'll be around incase football for his alma mater ECU and was part anything blows up, won't you?" of the team the year they won the Rose Bowl Of course, Honeycutt accommodated all - an accomplishment for which he is still of them, even rearranging his schedule and quite proud. He has also spent time training offering to stay late to make sure one stu- with the U.S. Olympic weight lifting coach. dent would get the help she needed on an Recentlymarried, Honeycutt says he now essay. spends much of his free time with his wife, The man is just that passionate about Sherry, working on their new house. "Doing writing and helping other people improve handyman stuff which I don't really know their writing. A replica of Rodin's Thinker how to do," he says, laughing. resting on hisdesk isa reflectionof the philo- In the future, Honeycutt hopes to get his ERIN HOWARD sophical approach he takes to writing. Ph.D., but for now his focus is the Writing Mark Honeycutt, in a rare moment of relaxation, pauses to explain his views 011 writing. "Writing is a process; it's a growing ex- Center. perience where you learn more about your- "Right now the biggest plan is to make "He is offering students services that we severaloccasions. "He'l! take your work,and self and who you are," explains Honeycutt. the Writing Center a place where every stu- needed and really haven't been able to offer by just looking over it briefly, he'll be able Writing or discourse is a way to bring one- dent who needs help with their writing can until now." says Panek. to point out exactly what you need." self closer to truth or knowledge, he says. "I get the best one-on-one help possible," said . "It's amazing what he is able to accom- , Fortunately for WMC students Mark don't believe you can learn byjust listening; Honeycutt. "That's the mission of the Writ- plish," says first-year student Kate O'Neal, Honeycutt does not mind being such a busy you have to be an active participant." who has received help from Honeycutt .on guy - his door is always open. WMC Army ROTC student wins Honor Graduate title BY FRANCESC,," SAYLOR "Going to a later regiment, I had to be ComriblUingWr;ter self-motivated," says Gillam. He worked for While most people this summer were twelve hours a day on his farms doing things busy working on their tans, twelve WMC like loading straw and riding horses. Healso Army ROTC cadets were proving them- did some marching with a rucksack on his selves at Advanced Camp in Fort Lewis, back and boots on his feet in order to get his Washington. body acclimated to the physical strain he Whilethey all did their best, Cadetlarrod would have to endure at camp. Gillam earned the highest score in his regi- "What scared me was [that] I threw my ment of 236 cadets. For his efforts, Gillam back out three weeks before camp, and I was rewarded the coveted title of Honor couldn't do a push-up or sit-up for two Graduate. weeks," comments Gillam. However, he still The Association of the United States managed a high PT score which, combined Anny presented Gillam with a medal and with his completion of several obstacles and sabre, and the Reserve Officers Association a high score on basic rifle marksmanship, gave him a medal. In addition, he received earned Gillam the Recondo patch as well. an ROTC coin and two savings bonds total- He scored 99/100 on land navigation and ing $150. received four excellent ratings and one sat- The senior earned 983 points out of a to- ' isfactory rating on his leadership positions. tal of lOOQpossible during the five week An excellent is the highest rating one could training (July 2 -August 6). This was a tough receive on a leadership position. Doing so accomplishment since camp required the was verydifficultdue to the amount of physl- completionof severaldifficultevents, includ- cal and emotional stress cadets endured at ing a physical training test, a land naviga- camp. tiontest, and evaluations forleadership skills Because of Gillam's exemplary perfor- in three garrison environments and four field mance during training, he was assigned as environments. the commander of his battery for the last Gillam scored 300/300 points on the week of camp. physical training test, which consisted of Gillam attributes his success to "focus- push-ups, sit-ups, and a two mile run. His ing on the job at hand" and "gelling it done run time of 10:57 was the fastest time in his to standard" without letting himself be dis- regimentand was not even his personal best. tracted. Forthis, he received theAnny physical train- He ishoping these qualities will help him ing patch. get assigned to the branch he wants-Infan- Being able to maintain such excellent try. After all, his favorite part about camp COURTESY OFJERROO GILLAM physical stamina overthe summer took some was acting as a squad leader during a night Jerrod Gillam, left; unwinds with Big Brothe;' Paul-Charbonnier at a social gathering. hard work. ambush exercise.