Third-year students and English majors, Grace Guyer (She/her) and Emily Weseljak (She/her) are the current presidents of Sigma Tau Delta; the local chapter of the International English Honor Society at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
The honor society initially died off during the COVID-19 period. Still, Guyer sought ways to bring it back to life in the fall semester of her sophomore year, with the help of Weseljak and Christopher McCracken, UWL’s assistant professor in English and the club’s current advisor.
Outside of putting a request through MyOrgs and submitting the bylaws, Guyer also had to apply to the society and get its approval.
The whole process came with its challenges.
“One of them is not having another student officer to guide us on what we’re supposed to be doing,” said Guyer. “We don’t really know what events they held in previous years or what they did with member recruitment.”
Weseljak touched on some other problems. She said, “ Trying to get the word out and trying to gauge what people want out of it, so do they want more panels, do they want career-based things, scholarships, workshops or if they want to have it be a networking space where you can come and talk with like-minded people.”
Regardless of these challenges, Weseljak and Guyer believe that the English Honor Society is needed on campus.
Guyer said, “Many of the people that I know on campus, many of my friends, are STEM majors and have their own respective organizations about their majors or their tracks. Outside of Book club and The Racquet Press which you have to apply for, there wasn’t anything that was English-centric.”
Weseljak added that as students progressed in their major, they would see a lot of the same people so Sigma Tau Delta was a good way for members to stay connected with other people outside of their specific major track.
Currently, Sigma Tau Delta has hosted a variety of activities during its monthly meetings. These include; button-making, game nights, poetry challenges, study sessions, Q&A panels, book shopping and more.
Looking ahead, Guyer and Weseljak plan on rebranding it to Sigma Tau Delta International Society and English Club.
“The honor society name is intimidating. We want the English club part to make it seem less daunting and for people to be more willing to come and see what we’re about,” said Guyer.
Weseljak would like the honor society to be a source of opportunities for its members. She said, “We were invited to a lunch with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer who visited campus, and just the opportunity to be able to talk with a best-selling author, we wouldn’t have gotten that if we weren’t a part of this.”
“I was able to meet so many new people and get closer to so many people who are in different tracks than I am,” said Guyer. “It’s just been interesting learning about everything that has been encompassed within English.”
Weseljak also added that she would love to see Sigma Tau Delta grow beyond her and Guyer’s leadership.
“ English has always been something that I’ve really enjoyed doing throughout my academic career,” said Weseljak. “The way that it helps you see the world and understand it is really interesting to me and so it seems very fundamental to everything else that I want to be able to do or I could possibly do.”
The Sigma Tau Delta International Society can be contacted on their Instagram account @uwlsigmataudelta or their email at [email protected].
