Today@Sam Article

Graduate Students Present at Sigma Tau Delta Convention

April 23, 2025
SHSU Media Contact: Mikah Boyd

Three graduate students involved in the Sam Houston State University chapter of Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society recently presented their creative works at the group’s annual meeting in late March. Bleah Patterson, Brittany Bustos and Brianna Chapman flew together to the convention in Pittsburg to showcase the creative excellence of the students in SHSU’s Department of English.   

None of the student presenters were strangers to one another, having shared many classes together while pursuing their writing-centric master’s degrees. Though their meetings began in the classroom, they eventually began meeting outside of class and enjoyed one another’s company. 

“I would say we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well,” Chapman said. “We spend a lot of time together doing all of our night classes and everything.” 

Aside from their study sessions and casual hangouts, the students come together to attend writing conventions and festivals across the nation. Before presenting at the Sigma Tau Delta convention, they had attended the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference and Bookfair, the New Orleans Poetry Festival, the Texas Book Festival and the Louisiana Book Festival.  

Of all of their convention experiences, the one that stands out most in Patterson’s mind is last year’s AWP convention, where she was able to discuss her work on a panel. 

“AWP is the largest writing convention in the world, and presenting on a panel was a really fun experience,” Patterson said. “It was really nice to meet people and have time to talk about the creative writing projects and research that everyone was working on.” 

What made their Sigma Tau Delta presentations stand out from the rest was the opportunity to showcase their creative works. The trio was used to presenting their research and other academic works in class and at large conventions such as AWP’s and were all comfortable having their work critiqued in these settings. Despite these experiences, a bit of pre-presentation jitters made them realize that while the format was familiar, this experience would be something new. 

The students submitted presentation proposal packets to the honor society, which included about 8 to 10 poems that were then weighed against all the other members’ proposals by the convention’s judging panels. Those selected were asked to attend the event and perform a reading of their works. When done, they can roam about the convention, discuss projects and their presentation with other writers and grow their professional networks.   

“For me, I think the stakes are a little higher because instead of being surrounded by my peers or professors, for whatever conference it is, you have one to two professors or peers around you, then everyone else is a stranger,” Chapman said. “You don’t want to mess up in front of these people, then that’d be their first and only impression of you. At the same time, everyone is so kind and welcoming that it keeps the stakes from being too much higher than I’m used to.”  

Once their readings were done and they’d networked to their hearts’ content, the students took the opportunity engage in their favorite post-convention pastime, exploring the host city. Together they ate at some local hotspots, roamed the market square near their hotel and took a few mini adventures to iconic spots with some help from ride-share services.  

As the Sigma Tau Delta convention was wrapping up, the SHSU chapter was awarded second place in the convention-wide display competition where they had arranged photos and other items showcasing their most recent activities and initiatives. Patterson, Bustos and Chapman were all pleased their display stacked up against the competition, considering that the trio favored the display portion of the event the most. 

Looking back on the experience, Patterson found that one of the things that kept her grounded through it all was the confidence she gained from practicing in her courses and by having experience presenting at conventions throughout her college career.  

“I take validation in presenting because I know that this is different than doing a reading. When you go to a reading, someone just knows your name or they know somebody that you know, so they invite you to read, but they’ve never heard your work before,” Patterson said. “At the convention, they read your whole packet, liked it and picked it. You’re going to be reading from that packet, so it doesn’t feel intimidating to me because I try to remind myself, that they liked it and invited me here so as long as I read it well then, I’ll be fine.”  

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