Beth Fowler, A Fan Favourite
When you hear the explosion of children’s laughter in a classroom, you know you’re having a great workshop. When you hear an explosion of laughter from volunteers alongside those students, you know that something truly inspiring is happening. That’s how it feels every time November Volunteer of the Month, Beth Fowler, assists works with students. Her genuine enjoyment of seeing young writers come up with creative stories is enthralling to watch, and the students have even more fun when they have such an engaged and excited adult helping them.
A senior lecturer at Wayne State University in the History Department, Beth Fowler has been volunteering with Detroit programs since January 2015. She began working with our writing club at Golightly Education Center, and quickly expanded to help at any time she could. She has volunteered at many of our workshop roadshows, helped over the summer at drop-in writing at two library branches, copyedited for OMNIBUS VII, and now tutors multiple times a week in Detroit with various programs. Also, she invites us into her WSU classroom at the beginning of every semester to recruit honors students to volunteer with 826michigan. She is a true renaissance woman.
Beth is also a Canadian citizen, which means she gets to answer all of the silly questions Brandan and Tom have about Canada. Things we’ve learned about Canada from Beth so far:
– Pizza Pizza and Little Caesars are, in fact, two different businesses
– The Weeknd is from Canada
– They STILL have Dark Chocolate Twix Bars
– KFC biscuits were not well received
– They drive on the right side of the road
– Not everyone is obsessed with hockey
– Hotline Bling is not a common Canadian phrase, and Canadians are equally as confused by it.
We have been honoured to have a partner in Detroit like Beth Fowler. Thanks Beth, for being an inspiration to our students and a source of Canadian knowledge for our volunteers and staff. We salute you!