FSU's Sigma Tau Delta-International English Honor Society students present work at annual convention in New Orleans

By Addison Delgado

What begins on the page for an academic can sometimes find new life at a conference.

Beginning March 29, 12 Florida State University students who are members of Sigma Tau Delta take that monumental step and will present their original work at the honor society’s annual convention.

The 2026 convention is in New Orleans, and the theme is “Second Lines & New Beginnings.” According to the convention website, a second line is “a parade that embodies the soul of New Orleans. It traditionally consists of a brass band, the ‘first line’ of club members or a family hosting the parade, and then the ‘second line’—anyone and everyone who wants to join in the celebration.” 

Among the FSU students attending the convention is International English Honor Society President Aubrey Tangen, who helped organize the trip. She also attended last year’s event in Pittsburgh.

“Prior to attending the conference, I wasn't sure how my English degree would contribute to my professional aspirations,” says Tangen, a double major in English-Creative Writing and in religion & classics. “Presenting at the conference and contributing to the ongoing academic dialogue clarified my interest in pursuing further education in English literature, enabling me to continue researching and sharing what I have learned with my peers.”

IEHS is an FSU registered student organization, associated with the university’s Sigma Tau Delta’s Rho Epsilon chapter. Sigma Tau Delta is an international academic honor society with an estimated 35,000 members globally.

The annual conferences are beneficial for college students to move their research beyond their home campuses and to participate in a wider scholarly discussion. IEHS member Caitlin Hancock also attended the 2025 conference in Pittsburgh, and she says networking and connecting with fellow English students and faculty from across the country has prepared her to succeed academically and professionally at FSU and beyond.

“Attending the conference has allowed me to network with others with very similar and widely different research interests to my own and take those conversations back with me to FSU,” says Hancock, a double major in English Literature, Media, and Culture and in humanities. “Getting to engage academically with those from across the U.S. has helped me be more prepared for my continued experiences at FSU and beyond.”

Attendees and presenters also gain deeper knowledge of the English field. The convention’s speakers, workshops, and panel sessions allow students to engage with academic and industry professionals and learn about career opportunities in the English field.

Three keynote speakers are on the schedule: Maurice Carlos Ruffin, a New Orleans native and professor of creative writing at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge; Jesmyn Ward, the 2011 National Book Award winner and professor of English at Tulane University in New Orleans; and Aimee Nezhukumatathil, poetry editor of Sierra Magazine and professor of English in the University of Mississippi's Master of Fine Arts program.

The full schedule of events can be found on the convention’s website. The convention takes place from March 29 to April 1, and the FSU English Instagram page will be posting daily updates on what students are experiencing.

Addison Delgado is a double major in English-Literature, Media, and Culture and in Media/Communication studies. Note: She also is a member of FSU’s International English Honor Society.

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Here is the list of Sigma Tau Delta-International English Honor Society members attending and presenting their work at the convention.

Lillian Allen, double major in English-Literature, Media, and Culture and in public relations: “From Pious to Promiscuous: Rewriting the Final Girl.”

Kelsey Bonner, double major in English-Editing, Writing, and Media and in advertising: “The Tempest of Trauma: Unresolved Grief in Salvage the Bones” and “The Market for Sexualized Girls: Oryx and the Monetization of the Sexual Child.”

Addison Delgado, double major in English-Literature, Media, and Culture and in media/communication: “A Short History of the Censorship of Queer Literary Spaces.”

Caitlin Hancock, double major in English-Literature, Media, and Culture and in humanities: “Comparing Le Guin and Kubrick’s Cowboys: An Ecocritical Perspective on the American Cowboy in Vietnam.”

Kaysyn Jones, double major in English-Creative Writing and in African American Studies: “The Biomythography of Zora’s Eatonville” and “To Tie Glass and Stone with String.”

Sierra Marando, double major in English-Editing, Writing, and Media and in sociology: “Content and Connection: An Analysis of Interaction in Online Fandom.”

Adalyn Pickett, double major in English-Editing, Writing, and Media and in political science: “Film Adaptation as Translation in Arrival.”

Darby Shelton, double major in English-Creative Writing and in information communication technology: “Modern Medieval Dream Theory” and “Lost in Translation, Found in Transformation.”

Hannah Squires, double major in English-Literature, Media, and Culture and in humanities: “Mirrors. and Spaces: Foucauldian Theory in O’Connor’s The Violent Bear It Away.”

Julia Stephens, double major in English-Creative Writing and in studio art: “The Sea.”

Aubrey Tangen, double major in English-Creative Writing and in religion and classics: “A Cruel Mother: Nature as a Vessel for Gender in Jane Eyre.”

Bailey Underwood, major in English-Literature, Media, and Culture: “‘The Waste Land’: Eliot’s Exploration of Rape on the River Thames” and “The White Man’s Property: A Post-Slavery Re-memory in Salvage the Bones.”