By Khi Davis

It’s funny how OCCC’s Writing Center is available 24/7, but the majority of the college community strides right by it. 

Kaitlyn Bottoms is a TAT Tutor for the OCCC Writing Center. 

She began working this position “at the bare end of January 2019.” 

Bottoms has three years in as a tutor. She has also a fellow student during that time, earning two degrees in visual arts and media design. 

Although she has plans for pursuing an art career, she maintains her position assisting students with many issues revolving around writing projects. 

During her time at OCCC, Bottoms has met many delightful people, from interacting with coworkers as well as getting to know the student body. 

As she guides the minds of the students through the ups and downs of essays, along with tackling their obstacles, she’s helped students perfect their knowledge on different styles of writing. 

For instance, she once collaborated with a woman who struggled with formatting her essay. 

“I helped her out and I pretty much managed to get her all the way to the point of being almost finished with exploring everything about Chicago style paper,” Bottoms said. 

In terms of organization when it comes to her daily reading of essays, Bottoms likes to read narratives as well as the personal stories, as it gives her a glimpse of what students have encountered and how they season their writing. 

Overall, Bottoms enjoys her job by feeling supported along with “helping others out.”  

From the perspective of an experienced writer, Bottoms has an open eye for the errors as well as the gates of opportunities in essays. 

As she enters with her “own mental checklist” for what a student may need, she also investigates any provided assignment sheets. 

Anything the students bring to the table, she would check for grammar, its content, structure, along with the big factors. Such as a thesis or citing resources. Someone may overlook an extra comma, but thanks to Bottoms’s “automatic” insight, she has assisted students to see the red flags in writing. 

When it comes to Bottoms, writing has always been her type of thing. 

From journaling in her spare time, to story writing and poetry in mind, Bottoms takes pride in her writing. 

Starting in fifth grade, it began with a poem that left all of her teachers and the adults around her flabbergasted. 

With that under her belt, she succeeded in her English classes. As an experienced writer, she incorporates her strengths from her journey into her occupation. 

Nowadays, she journals her various thoughts on her college career and has also considered expanding her knowledge on poetry. When it comes to poems, her interests relate to Edgar Allen Poe as well as Eminem, “when it comes to general poetry, rhythm kinda thing.” 

After graduating in OCCC’s class of 2019, she’s “been wondering what to do next.” 

Although she may have great experience for an English teaching position, this specific subject “is not something I would consider” (Bottoms), clarifying it is not necessarily a priority. 

According to the OCCC Writing Center Webpage, she has considered pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma University in Visual Arts but she is unsure as of yet what the next step is. 

As she has expressed she is “pretty open to ideas”, the possibilities are endless.