Scenes from the 2011 Induction Ceremony, April 10, 2011

Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society

The College of Saint Rose English Department is home to the Beta Phi Chapter of the International English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta. The purpose of the society is to recognize the accomplishments of undergraduates, graduates, and scholars in the academy and professional writers who have distinguished themselves in the study and creation of literature and linguistics in the English language.

Sigma Tau Delta affords exceptional students in the field of English an opportunity for furthering culture, for developing skills in creative and critical writing, and for fostering a spirit of collegiality. Membership in the Society also provides scholarship and internship opportunities. The Saint Rose chapter has recently won national acclaim for its activities. English and English 7-12 majors who have completed 18 credits of English at Saint Rose and have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and English graduate students who have completed 30 credit hours or are in the last semester of their degree program and who have GPA of 3.75 or higher, are invited to join the Honor Society during the Spring semester.

You may browse the national Sigma Tau Delta home page for more information at www.english.org.
 

Induction Ceremony, April 10, 2011

Twelve English students from Saint Rose were inducted into Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, on Sunday, April 10, in the Interfaith Sanctuary. The 2011 inductees included graduate students Paula Brehn and Sean Hagin as well as undergraduate students Emma Cohen, Abigail Foster, Barbara Hoenzsch, Nicole Melkun, Justin Murray, Kristen O'Toole, Arleny Pimentel, Kesha Robinson, Kaitlyn Rooney, Nicole Terribile, and Amie Walter.

President Juliet Barney and Secretary Nicole Stallman, working with faculty moderators Dr. May Chan and Dr. Kathryn Laity, prepared a lovely ceremony that included a musical salute by Mishelle Stapleton, a music major. An excerpt from Juliet's speech is included below:

"I needed to find an area of study that would fit my personality, my dreams, my goals, and everything I had ever dreamed of since I was 3 years old and refused to go to college without my mother, although this time, I was doing it for me.

I could be anything I wanted to be.

I started pondering the questions: What subjects do I like? What will I enjoy?
If I was going to be studying a subject for the next four years, I had better love it.

Math was suicidal. History was redundant. Science had a lot of math. Foreign languages were confusing. Business had a lot of math. English was….well….

I liked to read and I liked to write. It was the only thing on the list that I really enjoyed. So I chose it and I haven’t looked back.

Whenever I tell someone that I’m an English major, they ask ‘what can you do with a degree in English?’ in a speculative yet judgmental tone. My favorite response is, ‘what can’t you do with a degree in English?’

I tell them that I can be a teacher, a journalist, a publisher, a fiction writer, a memoir writer, a poet, a freelance writer. I can write a screenplay, I can continue the Sherlock Holmes series. I can work in a school and shape young minds. I can review novels for The New York Times and so can all the new inductees.

Their excellence in English has gotten them this far and if they have made it to this point, they are almost there. They are on the brink of achieving their childhood dreams, the goals that they have been working toward since you gave them their first pencils, their first books, their first words of wisdom.

“You can be anyone you want to be. You can do anything you want to do.”