Program History

The Writing Ambassadors program began in 2000 as a joint project of UCD’s English department, which at that time included the Writing Program; the School/University Partnership program; and the School of Education’s CRESS Center’s Reading and Writing in the Content Areas program (RWICA). Writing Program instructor Pamela Major worked closely with RWICA’s co-directors, Peggy Watterson, a science teacher, and Kristi Kraemer, a language arts and social studies teacher, in developing the Writing Ambassadors program. The original Writing Ambassadors’ focus was on elementary classrooms in Woodland. When the Partnership program and RWICA were cut for budgetary reasons, Writing Ambassadors continued and expanded the scope of its work to include all K-12 schools. Since that time Writing Ambassadors have interned in schools from the Bay Area to the Foothills and from Stockton to Yuba City.