The Xi Rho chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society held its annual “English Day” in conjunction with the English department. The event took place on Monday, Nov. 8, from 7:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. in D Vickers Hall.

According to Sigma Tau Delta’s Web site, the main objective of English Day is to enhance the teaching of English in high schools and to motivate students to attend Southeastern.

The day consisted of several events and activities, all with the common goal of giving these students the college experience.

“In the morning, they got to make their personal schedules for during the day,” said Mechelle Rouchon, president of the Xi Rho chapter. “I think it was exciting for them to get to choose where they wanted to go and to find the classes and have the freshman experience, and they really enjoyed that.”

Teachers from the high schools received Continuing Education Units for participating in presentations by Southeastern’s English faculty. The students were given the opportunity to participate in writing contests and visit higher-level English classes and presentations. A luncheon was also provided for the high school students and their teachers.

“They participated in writing contests with three categories – expository writing, creative writing and technical writing – and we gave out prizes to the top three winners in each of these contests,” said Rouchon.

Also, there was a college round table discussion, involving Southeastern students and Sigma Tau Delta members, who reviewed the differences between high school and college and offered some suggestions for making the transition from one to the next.

“The purpose is to give the students the college experience and hopefully it encourages them to come to Southeastern after getting a feel for our English program,” said Rouchon.

The presentations conveyed literary theories to the students but involved works that were more likely to be familiar to them.

“For every hour they had open classes to go to and presentations, some on popular literature topics like vampire’s literature and Harry Potter, so you’re getting a literary theory but in the context of a popular literature topic,” said Rouchon.

The Sigma Tau Delta Web site, www2.selu.edu/orgs/std, contains more information about the organization and its events.

More information about the English department, including a calendar of events, can be found by visiting the departemental Web site at www.selu.edu/acad_research/depts/engl.