Sigma Tau Delta is a national honor society for English majors and Park University has its very own Sigma Tau Delta chapter.

If you plan on joining there are a few requirements that must be fulfilled. You need to have a major or minor in English with a 3.0 GPA in all English courses taken and an additional accumulated GPA of 3.0. If these requirements are met then all that is left to do is fill out the application with a one-time $40 submission fee. Since it is an international honor society there is a fee but the acceptance into the society is for life.

There is no application deadline to join Sigma Tau Delta. You can join at the start of your freshman year to the end of your senior year. Although you can join at any time, there is an initiation held for all new members at the honors convocation in the spring.

“Sigma Tau Delta is unique in that it’s a club based around a major,” said Rees Purdom, Park University chapter vice president. “It is a fun and interesting environment for academically-minded majors.”

Acceptance into the club warrants a Sigma Tau Delta seal on your diploma and a chord at graduation.

“It looks good on transcripts and applications,” Purdom said.

Purdom said the English conference held every spring is the best experience Sigma Tau Delta offers. Those who are in the club submit a piece of writing for the conference. If the piece is approved, they are qualified to attend the conference and read their piece in front of an audience while also making professional connections.

“It gives a taste for life beyond a bachelor’s degree,” Purdom said.

The conference is a fundamental part of Sigma Tau Delta. The meetings often discuss funding and transportation for the conference. As Vice President, Purdom said he mostly helps to facilitate what the club is working on and recruits future members.

“This year we are heading to Albuquerque,” he said.

The conference has a variety of categories to submit work ranging from academic essays on modern feminism to creative works of poetry. Original poetry is the category in which Purdom submitted his piece. The submission deadline is in October and students don’t find out if they qualify until the end of December. The conference is usually held in March.

Sigma Tau Delta is most known for its Scrabble-A-Thon event it holds every year on campus. The Scrabble-A-Thon is a fund-raiser for the club. There is a small cost for admission to watch faculty members take part in one big scrabble game. The event is interactive because students can buy letters or set up obstacles for a professor in order to increase or decrease their chances of winning.

Currently, Sigma Tau Delta is looking for prospective students to join the club. Some of the members will be graduating this spring, including Purdom. For more information, contact [email protected].