October 30, 2009
High school students participate in English Day
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Department of English at Southern Illinois University Carbondale recently hosted 120 prospective students for English Day.
Students came from Anna, Carterville, Christopher, Coulterville, West Frankfort, Goreville, Harrisburg, Jonesboro, Joppa, Murphysboro, Salem and Vienna. The students attended college English classes, toured the campus and Morris Library, and learned about University services available to SIUC students.
The students sat in on an English composition course, and then had a choice of attending a literature or creative writing course. English department faculty took time to address the students directly about some of their special interests, with Allison Joseph representing the creative writing option and Dan Wiley the literature approach to English.
In addition to students, nearly 20 high school English teachers and administrators attended English Day. English department faculty members Anna Jackson and Ronda Dively hosted luncheons at Old Main for them, and discussed ways SIUC can best address the needs of students interested in English, and how the University can reach out to the surrounding community.
Other presentations included College of Liberal Arts Dean Alan Vaux; Mark Amos, co-coordinator of Saluki First Year; and representatives from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
“I’m thrilled so many students and teachers could attend,” Mary Bogumil, who co-coordinated the event with Jackie McFadden, said. “English Day and activities like this give high school students a chance to sample a little bit of University life and to ask questions of faculty and staff before they become students here. Both the students and their teachers brought an infectious enthusiasm to their visit.”
“I cannot say enough about the willingness of English department faculty and graduate students to contribute their time and energy to promote SIUC,” Michael Molino, chair of the department, said. “Many of these visiting high school students expressed an eagerness to become Salukis after they graduate from high school.”