Undergraduate students participate in literary conference

Students, from left, are Emily Kramer, Paige Erin Wealand, Gabrielle LeGrendre, Remy Babich, and Errick Pfuhl.

Accompanied by Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and English Composition Jen Hirt, five Penn State Harrisburg students participated in Susquehanna University’s ninth annual Undergraduate Literature and Creative Writing Conference “Freedom of Thought” on Feb. 18. At the full-day conference, students from around the country present their literary works on differing themes and cultural issues to an audience of fellow writers, teachers, and scholars. Discussion about the intellectual and creative challenges of literary study follows each presentation.

“Our Penn State Harrisburg students were so professional…,” Hirt said. “They engaged their audience of peers and handled questions from professors and students as if they did it every day, which is not always an easy thing to do.”

Penn State Harrisburg student participants, along with major, submission type, and hometown included:

• Remy Babich; Science (Honors Program); nature writing; Harrisburg, Pa.
• Emily Kramer; English; poetry; Harrisburg, Pa.
• Gabrielle LeGendre; Communications; creative nonfiction; East Stroudsburg, Pa.
• Errick Pfuhl; English; poetry; Mechanicsburg, Pa.
• Paige Erin Wealand; Education (Honors Program); religion; Enola, Pa.

Plans are underway for Penn State Harrisburg to be represented at next year’s conference on March 17, 2014. Students interested in participating should contact Jen Hirt (jlh73@psu.edu) for more information.