English organizations come together to create bookmarks

Sigma Tau Delta (English honors society) and Blank Page collaborated to create bookmarks for a future club recruitment drive.

The event was held on Feb. 7 in Grubbs 422, and it will be held again on Feb. 14 at 3:30 p.m. in the same location.

“Sigma Tau Delta got some members together and some members of the English department to just create bookmarks to get our name out there and get the club out there,” said Ellie Davis, graduate student in English and vice president of Sigma Tau Delta. We want to get people in not just in the modern languages department, but across campus.

The bookmarks created at the meeting also had information about joining the organizations on the back. They are planning to distribute the bookmarks in the next couple of weeks.

 “We are trying to wait till after Valentine’s Day, just so we don’t overrun people buying candy or flowers,” Davis said. “I think we are going to go through the Overman Student Center out on campus, and just kind of leave them in buildings for people to take if they are interested.”

Anyone regardless of their membership in either organization were able to join in the event.

“We had a great time,” Davis said. “We had some unfamiliar faces show up and get to craft and it was really nice to have different people doing their creative spins on what they would want in a bookmark. There was a lot of fun and different methods of decorating with bookmarks. It was really fun and it’s fun to see everybody you know use their artistic interpretation or creation.”

One of the main goals from the event was to get the word out about both organizations.

“We’re just trying to get enrollment up in these (groups),” Davis said. We’d like people from other divisions to come, and spend time, hang out, do word games. On Thursdays we have Blank Page, which is a group of creative writers and a community. It’s just a space and time made of people who want to do creative writing. Whether it’s poetry or nonfiction, we would like for them to come in and get some writing in.”

Both organizations do a variety of different activities.

 “We’ve got meetings on Mondays at 3:30 p.m. for Sigma Tau Delta (and English Club),” Davis said. “If you are looking to join the English Club, we do games, little events. On Wednesdays, we have (meetings for) the Cow Creek Review, which is the literary magazine that’s on campus.”

           Although each group does do many things, it doesn’t mean that new or existing members have to do or attend all activities and meetings.

“We’d like to see some diversity among the meetings,” Davis said. “They’re not like ‘if you attend one you have to attend all of them.’ It’s more of a pick and chooses if you want to write, but if you don’t want to do anything with the magazine, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Any major is open to join either organization.

“It’s a good way to socialize and hang out with like-minded people who you might not run into every day during your own schedule,” Davis said. “Being in a place with other students and other people who have similar interests with you, even if you’re just creating a community of things that you like to do with other people, it really strengthens the college experience, especially in a time of Zoom and electronic meetings. Now that we’re able to meet face to face, it really strengthens the community.”

           Any information concerning Sigma Tau Delta and Blank Page can be found on Gorilla Engage.