Each week, they head out to Foster Elementary to work with students in kindergarten, second, and fourth grades on writing conventions. Interns stay with one teacher all year to build relationships with students and ensure they are building their confidence as writers. Teachers at Foster love having the Hockaday students assist in their classrooms, said Laura Laywell, Assistant Director of the Dr. William B. Dean Institute for Social Impact. And the extra effort produces results. “Last year, the STAAR testing at Foster went up 5%, which means they are on grade level for writing,” she said. “Obviously there are a lot of factors that go into that, but we hope the Writing Center interns play a small part!”