By Rina Torchinsky
Students across majors gathered March 26 to commemorate poet Maya Angelou’s career through Jeopardy games and poetry activities as part of the English Undergraduate Association’s Writers Dead and Gone series.
The undergraduate association hosts monthly events to honor different authors, often marginalized, through tailored activities, said Liyanga de Silva, association president and junior English and women’s studies double major.
“Our goal as an organization is really for people across campus to be able to come and celebrate literature even without being an English major,” de Silva said.
The 13-person crowd divided into teams for the Angelou-themed Jeopardy game, led by junior history major Riley Hudson.
“She was a huge civil rights activist, a huge women’s rights activist,” Hudson said. ”She is the crowning achievement. She’s amazing.”
Hudson said they like quizzing the students on information that only they know.
“Everyone really likes competing, and competition breeds knowing things,” Hudson said. “It just makes them know things better.”
Matthew Sinnott, a junior computer science and electrical engineering double major and the club’s vice president, said he found himself “shooting in the dark” because he came in without much prior knowledge of Angelou. He said Jeopardy games have helped him become more educated on unfamiliar authors.
“I have learned a lot about various authors that I might have heard of but not actually engaged with,” Sinnott said.
Sinnott found the English Undergraduate Association while searching for a reading outlet in college, as his STEM majors — in his words — “can get kind of dry.” He said he had been involved in book clubs in the past and wanted to reconnect with literature.
The English Undergraduate Association requires only the president to be an English major. Other members and executive positions are open to all.
“A lot of the time, people think they need to be an English major to come to the event, but we’re trying to get rid of the misconception,” de Silva said.