Sigma Tau Delta students win big

When Maia Elgin (‘09) wrote a poem honoring her grandmother’s death in the third grade, she never expected to surpass 132 other college poets to win a first prize award of $500 at an international convention. English majors Elgin, Laura Fuller (‘10) and Catherine Docken (‘09) received awards at an international convention in Minneapolis for Sigma Tau Delta, an international English honor society. The conference was hosted during Luther’s spring break, March 25-28.

Sigma Tau Delta hosts a convention each spring, providing an opportunity for students to submit and present literary work and meet with other English students, faculty and respected writers. More than 800 students and faculty sponsors attended the 2009 conference.

Peter Scholl, professor of English and sponsor of Luther’s Alpha Beta Xi chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, and Diane Scholl, professor of English, attended the convention with Luther students Elgin, Docken, Siri Carlson (‘09) and Linnea Graffunder (‘10). Fuller was unable to attend.

English professors with ties to the organization judged the applications blind prior to the convention, choosing the winners of various categories.

Elgin was awarded first prize and $500 in the best original poetry category for her collection of poems entitled “Hooks and Lines.”

“I was shocked,” Elgin said. “I really didn’t think that I was going to win. To be successful in poetry, you have to have an ego about it, so I feel good about the poetry I write, but I didn’t think Sigma Tau Delta liked them.”

Elgin has written poetry extensively for the past four years. She submitted eight poems from the 30 that compose her senior project, also entitled “Hooks and Lines.”

“My inspiration was a matter of movement and shapes throughout,” Elgin said. “I don’t really like the idea of themes. I liked the idea of movement, and one of the poems in particular uses fishing imagery, sex and religion.”

Elgin submitted the poems through an electronic application, then read them during a session with three other student poets at the convention.

“Some people read poetry in a really boring way and it comes off as really pretentious,” Elgin said. “Since I was going to be reading them out loud, I tried to make sure that the audience could actually hold onto something and that I didn’t come off as a poetry-reading English jerk.”

Fuller won a junior scholarship, which will contribute $1,500 toward her senior year studying English at Luther.

“I was really excited and surprised,” Fuller said. “I was proud of my work on the application and essay, and it was really nice to see that pay off. The applications were due early this fall, so it hadn’t been on my mind for a long time, so the news was surprising to me.”

Fuller serves as the Treasurer of Luther’s Sigma Tau Delta chapter.

Docken received a $150 third place award in the category of critical essays on American Literature and Film. Her paper, entitled “Guys Gone Girls Gone Wild,” compared the films “Some Like it Hot” and “Tootsie.”

Previously, the conventions have been held in Oregon, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The 2010 conference will be hosted in St. Louis, Mo.

“We had a really fun time at the conference,” Elgin said. “We went to different readings and listened to people read their papers or their stories. We enjoyed being in the Cities, too, and pretending to be on spring break.”