You Never Know Until You Try: The Story of an Undergraduate's First Conference Presentation

            Did I ever think that I, a mere junior year undergraduate student, would have a paper accepted at an international conference? Did I ever think I would be the recipient of an Otterbein University Student Research Fund to pay for my travel and living expenses at said conference? To answer those questions: a resounding no and no way!

            However, I think I proved the old adage true this year: “You never know until you try.” I submitted my paper entitled Jane Eyre: Racism and its Language in Mid-19^th Century England to the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society Conference judges. Sigma Tau Delta is the international honor society for English majors. I wrote the paper for one of my sophomore year English classes here at Otterbein, and according to my professor, it was one of the most brilliant pieces of critical work she had seen for a student at my academic level. Now, I am not one for bragging or stroking my ego (the people who do that infuriate me with their incompetence to be satisfied with their own pride in their accomplishments), but I do have to say, hearing that from one of Otterbein’s longest standing English faculty members sure did boost my confidence.  

            My paper explored the language, diction, and word choice in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre through the critical lenses of Marxist and psychoanalytic (Lacanian) criticisms. I explored how color-tinted language promoted racist undertones in mid-19^th century English writing and furthered the chasm of racial and ethnic separation among the classes, races, and ethnicities in Victorian England. Whether known to Bronte herself or not, her choice of diction did in fact promote these chasms of separation. All in all, her novel’s language was indicative of the time period in which she was raised and serves as a lens into the social and societal conditions surrounding her own development as a person, writer, and human being.

           So, I edited the paper one more time, made some major cuts, and with a deep breath, submitted the paper to the online link—the mysterious world of cyberspace that would transport hours of hard work and painstaking reading, writing, and thinking labor to some nondescript judge who would decide my conference fate. Nerves were on end as I clicked the submit button. And then, it was gone, whisked away into a world of computer programming language and funny circuit boards of which I only had a faint idea from what I had gathered from childhood cartoons; I think there was a Fairly Oddparents episode about computer programming. Maybe? Anyway... now, to wait.

            Then, lo and behold, I got an email in my inbox late February. I was working at the Writing Center (one of my on-campus jobs where I help fellow Otterbein students edit their papers) when I got the email from Sigma Tau Delta. I opened it, heart thumping, palms sweating. My paper had been accepted! I was henceforth cordially invited to attend the international conference in Pittsburgh, PA to present my paper in front of other student attendees, professors, and Sigma Tau Delta administrators. The conference would play host to over 5,000 attendees. I screamed! I leapt out of my chair! I danced around the Writing Center “fishbowl”—what we tutors ironically like to call the glass room in which we find ourselves enclosed. I made an utter fool of myself. Then, perfect timing, one of my best guy friends walked in the room to drop by and say hi and give me a cookie (he was working a bake sale on the first floor of the library at the time). I jumped on him, gave him a huge hug, and then explained to him the reason for my excitement. Several pats on the back and one ingested cookie later, I settled down. Cognition and recognition of my newly accomplished feat began. I was going to Pittsburgh, PA to be the first Otterbein student EVER to represent the university and its English program at this conference. Oh my gosh…

            So, the scramble to find money to fund my travel commenced. Luckily, Otterbein is very supportive of undergraduate research and conference presentation endeavors. I applied for the Otterbein Student Research Fund, and thanks to my wonderful EN professors who scrambled to put together letters of recommendation very last minute and close to the application deadline, I got $500 to pay for travel, hotel, and living expenses at the conference. Thank goodness. I am still quite grateful to Otterbein for funding my endeavors. Wow, I can’t thank them enough.

            Luckily, I didn't have to go to the conference alone! Three of the remaining four Sigma.T.D. Otterbein chapter officers were able to attend the conference with me (I myself am an officer; I serve as social chair). Our president founded Otterbein’s chapter of Sigma.T.D. just this academic year purely out of her own dedication and ingenuity, so she was quite excited to go and be rewarded for her painstaking efforts to get this honor society off the ground. And, I was very thankful that I didn’t have to go to the conference alone! Not only did three of the other four officers get to attend the conference with me with funds graciously provided by the EN department and the National Endowment for the Humanities, but our Sigma.T.D. advisor and the professor for whose class my paper was written was also able to attend. Then began a three hour car ride to Pittsburgh with four Sigma.T.D. officers and our professor singing as loud as our lungs could along to the Wicked soundtrack and Disney throwback tunes. That was probably a highlight of the trip. I swear my professor could have blackmailed us with recordings of our singing. We really did belt it out on that trip :]

Frivolities on the road trip. We are the Burger Queens!

            The conference began. We were in Pittsburgh March 23-26, 2011. Luckily, these dates were over our spring break. The conference was amazing! I have never been around so many academically, intellectually like-minded individuals. With jokes circulating around the conference hotel like, “No, I am riding this damn elevator because I have a blister on my foot the size of a James Joyce novel!” and, as the elevator made funny noises at us as we journeyed up floors, “Okay, everyone. The elevator is mad at us. Now everyone throw off your Tolstoy books,” I knew I was home with these folks. I love me some English major camaraderie. Haha!

            The majority of our time spent at the conference was spent in student sessions. Similarly themed student papers were grouped together into one session. For example, critical essays on Oscar Wilde’s works were grouped, Victorian literature critiques were grouped, nonfiction pieces were grouped together, etc. There were over 100 groupings at the conference. Then, there were student run information panels such as “How to fund raise” or, the very popular Harry Potter panel. I have never been around so many Harry Potter literature fans in my life. Wow...that was fun! It was standing room only at that panel.
            The conference also featured many well-respected, nationally-acclaimed speakers and offered many fun, social events for the students. Featured speakers included Jaqueline Woodson (winner of two Newbery Honors, a Caldecott Honor, the 2001 Coretta Scott King Award, and the 2006 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in young adult writing, Lorene Cary (author of the Common Reader--Sigma Tau Delta's chosen book of the year and honored book at the convention), Kay Ryan (U.S. Poet Laureate 2008-2010 [that's a huge deal!] and recipient of many other honors including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities [also a big, big deal]), and Dave Eggers (author and screenwriter best known for his screen play adaptation for the new movie, Where the Wild Things Are). Social events included a (dry) t-shirt (not what you think, I promise!) and skit competition/bad poetry contest, a wonderfully funny yet sometimes serious open mic night, and a close-out with a formal Red and Black Gala Dinner.

Fellow Otterbein Sigma.T.D. officers, myself, and our lovely advisor and professor all dressed up for the Gala Dinner

Me presenting my paper

            My paper was of course placed in one of many Victorian literature sessions. The paper presentation went off without a hitch! For a young woman who used to have terrible stage fright when speaking in front of crowds, not to faint or develop an embarrassingly shaky voice was quite the feat! The audience seemed to like my paper and had good questions after its completion, so I think I can confidently say that my first (hopefully of many) conference presentations wasn’t too shabby.

            But, what did I take from this experience? Besides learning a lot of academic knowledge from the panels and sessions I attended, I learned a lot about myself on this trip. I learned that I can indeed present a paper at a conference; stage fright version of Hannah is beginning to become a mere memory. I formed even faster friendships with my fellow Sigma.T.D. officers. I met some amazing fellow English majors from other universities. I was able to visit Pittsburgh and sight see places like the Andy Warhol Museum and the heart of Pitt's downtown. I was able to experience something few undergraduate students get to experience: having a paper accepted at an international conference and being able to present said paper. I sure do count my blessings daily for the honors and adventures I have been able to receive and partake in.

            Where do I go from here? Well, next year’s conference is going to be held in New Orleans, LA. New Orleans, anyone?! I think yes (pending paper acceptance again next year of course). Fingers crossed for that. Because if I get another paper accepted, New Orleans here we come!