The month has flown by here at SILCS. It’s been rainy and cool most of the month, which we like to refer to as “good studying weather”. For those students who have never been to New England before, we would like to point out that this is unusual June weather, even for us.
On June 8th, Dr. Sujata Iyengar from the University of Georgia came to talk about her work in English Renaissance Literature. She was followed on Tuesday by Dr. Betty Neal Crutcher from Wheaton College, who talked with the students about their goals for the future.
On Thursday, June 11th, Drs. Lena and Michael Hill from the University of Iowa came to talk to the students about their individual graduate school experiences and their experience of searching for a job together. They accompanied the students on Friday to Yale University to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, where Lena showed the students the materials she had worked with as a graduate student there.
That following Monday, June 15th, Dr. Valerie Lee from The Ohio State University spoke about why she became an English professor. On Wednesday, the students went into Boston to watch an exhilarating performance of The Color Purple. They next day, they listened to Dr. Patricia Chu from the SUNY University at Albany.
Friday was a trip to Boston College and Harvard University, and the weekend was spent working on their papers. This week has been GRE prep classes with Kaplan, as well as preparing for their final symposium on Saturday.
Everyone will be heading back home on Sunday, but there are still more events to come: this Friday, a number of graduate programs will be coming to our graduate recruitment fair, and last year’s SILCS graduates will be coming back for a reunion. We’re excited to see everyone again!
The last week started with a fun weekend. On Friday everyone went to the bowling alley, where we discovered a few students were secretly bowling pros. On Saturday evening, a bus took the students into Providence to see 
Sunday morning everyone headed out to Providence again, this time to the 
Saturday, the students had their symposium, where they presented their papers as if they were on a panel at a conference. This was the culmination of all of their work at the Institute and was an astounding success. Afterwards everyone met for a formal dinner on their final night together at the Institute, where they were presented with certificates marking their accomplishment.
The series of lectures continued with 
With the second week of the Summer Institute just about half over, the students are really settling in to the routine on campus. On Friday there was an exam, an engaging discussion with Dr. Betty Neal Crutcher, and Chinese food in the Multicultural Center on campus. Friday ended with ice cream and Scrabble, but the students had to get up early Saturday morning for their visit to Brown University.
On Sunday there was an optional trip to McCoy Stadium to see the Pawtucket Red Sox play against the Buffalo Bisons. The day was even hotter than the day before, with temperatures just under three digits, and many of the students opted to stay home with their homework instead. For those who did go, however, it was a fun day at the ball park, even though the home team lost.
This morning the students headed out to Harvard University to meet with the English department and visit the