On Wednesday September 20 in Virginia Weldon Park, a group of UTM students and professors could be seen gathered around several picnic tables talking animatedly about a variety of subjects.

With good food and good conversation, this picnic kicked off the year for both the English Society, and Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society. Many enjoyed the English Society’s atmosphere, as juniorLauren Rogers commented, “I like being around like-minded people because it’s nice to discuss intellectual things without the pressure of the classroom.”

Ashley Ragon serves as president of the student-run organization and Dr. Charles Bradshaw and Dr. Heidi Huse serve as co-faculty advisors for the English Society. The organization, though commonly thought to be open only to English majors, is open to those who are minoring in English or those who are merely interested in literature.

Dr. Huse described the English Society as “a chance for people who share an interest in reading and writing to get together and talk about course work and shared interests.”

For those interested in joining the English Society, there is a brown bag lunch on October 4 at 12:15 p.m. in the English lounge.

The English Society offers other activities aside from meetings; the society also has an English-themed film series. This year’s theme is revenge and tragedy. The group started off by viewing Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. The next movie in the series is the Johnny Depp version of Sleepy Hollow showing on October 10 at 7:00 p.m. in Watkins Auditorium.