The Elon American Studies Program asked students to address the relations between two of the most impactful events of recent history and the legacy of Thomas Jefferson. The three winners of the contest, endowed by the late Philip L. Carret, were recognized by �þ���’s English Department in the spring 2021 semester.

The Phillip L. Carret Thomas Jefferson Essay Competition is an endowed contest created in 1997. Carret, a longtime New York investor, fell in love with �þ��� after he visited the campus in 1996. The contest was created to encourage students to reflect on the ideals and principles embodied in Thomas Jefferson’s life and career.

In 2021, students were invited to respond to the following prompt in their essays, “The U.S. Capitol, Jefferson’s Legacy, and the 45th and 46th Presidents.”

First Place: Lucy Callicott ’22

Lucy Callicott won the $1,000 prize and an all-expenses-paid overnight trip to Thomas Jefferson’s home in Monticello, Virginia.

Second Place: Molly Logan ’21

Molly Logan received the $500 second-place award.

Third Place: Rebekah Maupin ’21

Rebekah Maupin won the $100 third-place award.

After being recognized, the three winners were invited to present their essays on Student Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF) Day on April 27, 2021. There, they participated in a virtual panel and shared their research findings with students, faculty and staff.

Submissions for the 23rd annual competition close Tuesday, March 29th and students are encouraged to submit a response to this year’s prompt – “COVID and Smallpox: Thomas Jefferson and the Politics of Vaccination” – by 11:59 p.m. for a chance to win one of three prizes. All submissions can be forwarded to Erin Pearson, coordinator of the American Studies Program (epearson7@elon.edu).

Winners will be announced at an event on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.

For more information on this year’s prompt, visit the American Studies Department website.

Youngsville, North Carolina is an attractive blend of old and new. It evokes a feeling of modernity inside a hub of Southern hospitality. Poet Tyree Daye grew up in Youngsville and has very fond memories of living up in the small town. He says, “Place is a big part of my poetry, Youngsville in particular. It always shows up in my work — maybe through a tobacco field or maybe through just the idea of being in a neighborhood — especially a small-town neighborhood, there’s a lot of connections between people because you’re in this small location.”

Daye is a “poet of memory,” as he puts it. He is an award-winning writer and the author of two poetry collections: “River Hymns” (2017) and “Cardinal” (2020).

Daye comes from a very close-knit family background. When asked about how they influenced him as a person and writer, Daye said, “my family is the reason that I write. I grew up in a family of storytellers, right? People who would retell memories as a story and by me listening to those memories—that was like my first creative writing course. Learning how to tell a story and how to move people, how to engage people.”

Daye writes from experience. He writes because of life-learned inspiration. He explained that because he is a poet of memory, he puts himself into memories as he writes, and he is still exploring his early adolescence.

Our ideas of space, as we grow up, are constantly changing. The larger changes in our perception of space due to COVID-19 are no exception. We are constantly having to readjust how we relate to people around us in any given space or place.

Writing, however, as Daye explains it, maintains its purpose regardless of outside changes. He said, “Writers and poets look at the world and attempt to make meaning of it. And whether that’s a poet, like me, who’s looking at memories, or a poet that’s looking at today, we attempt to make meaning of the world that we see and that is what we will continue to do.”

Daye is also a �þ��� assistant professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, and he said the massive changes in education due to the pandemic have definitely affected him and his students. Year to year, class to class, he tries to give his students a “writing toolbox” of sorts, providing them with a more general set of tools rather than instill one general piece of wisdom. He works with creative writing students specifically and finds that the classes are a lot less personable and connected because of COVID-19: “It’s definitely different being in a creative writing class where we need to kind of feed off each other’s energy and body language. My students really have to make sure they’re speaking up and really being vulnerable through such an impersonal space and it’s on me to help bring that out of them. I try to find other ways for them to be vulnerable and really that’s just a lot of sharing and me asking lots of questions to make sure they’re really considering their work.”

Daye will be speaking to the Elon community and reading some selections from his newest collection of poems, “Cardinal,” on Tuesday, Oct. 20. He says that he is very excited about his new work.

“I’ve really been thinking about that difference between ‘Cardinal’ and ‘River Hymns’ — ‘River Hymns’ is very much about this child who has learned all these superstitions and kind of has to decide what to do with them and how to move through the world with them. I think Cardinal is definitely an older speaker who is kind of moving in between worlds, and while that is happening, the book is exploring other narratives through the Great Migration—people leaving a place they’d called home to seek more, and sometimes being called back by family and other things… and sometimes not ever coming back.”

During his digital reading on Oct. 20, Daye will be debuting some new poems as well. For more information about how to attend the reading, please email Kevin Boyle at boylek@elon.edu.

President Leo M. Lambert delivered the keynote address as 24 new members were inducted into the �þ��� Xi Omicron chapter of the International English Honor Society of Sigma Tau Delta in the Isabella Cannon Room at the Center for the Arts on Oct. 30.

It was the 38th annual induction ceremony for the chapter. To be eligible for membership, students must meet be English majors or minors, have junior or senior standing, take four English courses beyond ENG 110, have a 3.0 overall GPA, and at least a 3.25 GPA in English.

Prudence Layne, associate professor of English and co-faculty advisor, introduced chapter president Annaliese Jaffe ’18 and her fellow officers David Patterson ’18 (vice president), Henry (Hank) Nooney ’18 (secretary) and Alexis Williams ’18 (historian). The officers then led all new initiates through the induction ritual. 

Prior to the induction ritual, Lambert spoke about the importance of higher education in the United States, saying that there was more to a college education than just what was learned in classes. He reminded the audience that "a university education is also about preparation for citizenship, the encouragement of the love of knowledge for its own sake, and an appreciation of what is beautiful, wonderfully complex or true.” 

The speech was brought to a close with words of encouragement and pride.  “I am convinced that the future belongs to the creative, to the courageous, to the communicator, to those who are immersed in the world of ideas," Lambert said.

Video of Lambert's address is available here:  

After the keynote address and induction ritual, there was a short presentation of gifts. Kathy Lyday, professor of English and previous faculty advisor for the Xi Omicron chapter, was given an award for 18 years of loyal service to the organization. Kevin Bourque, assistant professor, and Jennifer Zinchuk, assistant professor, were presented with gifts of appreciation for serving the organization during Lyday’s time abroad last year.

Finally, Sigma Tau Delta and the Elon English Department thanked Lambert for his support and promotion of the liberal arts and the Department of English with the Sigma Tau Delta medallion, a plaque, and a collection of books written by past graduates and current faculty.   

�þ���

Elizabeth Ainger

Ashley Andrews

Brittany Barker

Kendall Brewer

Lucy Chamberlain

Peter Connelly

Natalia Conte

Laura Dunbar

Nicole Galante

Ana Garcia

Madeline Gross

Emma Hill

Jennifer Kane

Elizabeth Kirkhorn

Chrysoula Kosti

Minnie Lane

Amanda McMahon

Sawyer Parker

Katherine Sieber

Carey Spence

Leah Vail

Mikki Warszawski

Meara Waxman 

Faculty

Margaret Chapman (Chapter Co-Advisor)

Heather Lindenman

Erin Pearson

Jeff Stein