LATROBE, PA – The Saint Vincent College English Department on Friday, Nov. 14, hosted its first Scriptorium literature conference at the Fred M. Rogers Center on campus.
In creating the inaugural event, Department leaders encouraged area high school sophomores, juniors and seniors to submit papers of literary analysis to be considered for oral presentation at the College’s Scriptorium conference. The analytic essays could focus on poetry, dramatic literature, novels, youth adult literature, short stories, film and song lyrics. Students whose papers were selected were then invited to present their work at the Rogers Center.
“The papers that students submitted were consistently strong,” said Dr. Dennis McDaniel, C’79, an English professor in Saint Vincent College’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. “Though most papers analyzed texts that are often studied in high schools, like ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ ‘Macbeth’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ we also received papers on nontraditional topics like the lyrics of Adele, and students read texts from the perspectives of theology, formalism, psychology and gender.”
McDaniel said he was surprised and heartened not only by the maturity of the students, but also with the enthusiasm they had for literary study.
“In books, they discovered answers to questions of faith, justice and identity,” McDaniel said. “One instructor wrote to me after the event and shared the joy that her students felt in sharing their work with others.”
Five SVC English majors served as session chairs for the Scriptorium conference: seniors Sophia Nelson, Vayda Pascarella and Kennedy Sheriff, junior Maxwell Gordon and sophomore Nikolas Guidos. More than 20 high school students from a variety of local schools including Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, North Catholic High School, Southmoreland High School and Winchester Thurston School participated in what organizers hope will become an annual event.
The idea for the Scriptorium conference developed at an English Department meeting, during which faculty were discussing ways to generate interest in literature in high schools and at the College.
“After some research, we noticed that while there are several creative writing conferences in Pennsylvania, there are no conferences on literary study, so we went ahead with our planning, and we are gratified by the Conference’s success,” McDaniel said. “Our long-term goal is to establish Scriptorium as a highly-anticipated event for high school students in the area—and beyond, perhaps—and to raise the profile of Saint Vincent College as a school that values literary study. If we maintain this level of success, we hope that our English program will grow.”
