By Faith Jarrell
Student Life Editor
The annual Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference is approaching, meaning that students both within and outside the honors society can start submitting papers to present at the conference.
The PAT Conference is held every year during the Spring semester. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference is held in Maryland and usually features work from around a dozen schools. This year, the conference is set for Saturday, April 6, and will be held at Bowie State University in Prince George’s County, Md.
“We hosted at Washington College last year, and this year is being held by Bowie State. It’s open to the whole campus, so I’m trying to get non-PAT members to join, but it’s really cool. You get to present your research. It’s sort of like a practice run for actual conferences,” PAT member senior Sophia Lennox said.
Interested students may submit their papers to be presented at the PAT conference in April through WC’s chapter of Phi Alpha Theta Honors Society, Nu Phi. While papers in their entirety are not due until Monday, March 4, the proposal form for presenting is due to Lennox or Associate Professor of History and faculty advisor Dr. Clayton Black by Monday, Feb. 5.
“I would recommend to students that they really consider participating because students who do take part always come away from it saying ‘Oh, that was a good experience. I’m glad I did it,’” Dr. Black said.
The proposal form includes questions about the historical issue touched on, the contents, the conclusion, and the sources used for the paper.
“Last year, we had tons of papers that you wouldn’t even think of, like one lady presented on the history of the postal service and it was so good. She got an award for it,” Lennox said. “But it’s a place where people can share their niche, historical interests, and places for history nerds to hang out.”
Those who present at the conference and are members of PAT Nu Phi can win awards for up to $500. According to PAT’s organizational website, six papers can win awards at each conference. The awards include a prize for the best paper by a graduate student, the best paper by an undergraduate student, and two undergraduate and two graduate awards for “superior papers” submitted by students.
“They really want people to submit papers because it’s a really cool conference to kind of showcase students’ work in history and research they’ve been working on,” PAT member junior Kaitlin Osucha said.
Anyone interested in presenting a paper should email Lennox at slennox2@washcoll.edu or Dr. Black at cblack2@washcoll.edu.