The poet laureate program at Elizabethtown College aims to emphasize the key values of the College and the students it represents through the creative lenses that poems provide. This program is run through the Office of the Dean of Students as well as the Office of Academic Affairs and enables poets to voice their opinions surrounding a central theme related to the College.

This program is in its second year and the poet laureate for this school year is Delaney Peckham. Her role as the poet laureate is to, in Peckham’s words, “give voice to what people are feeling and encourage others to do the same.” Peckham is using her platform to incorporate the values of the Rotary Club and Etown’s motto ”educate for service” into a creative writing piece that students, faculty and staff can relate to and learn from. Peckham’s latest poem, which she is still in the process of writing, encapsulates the prominence of service within the Etown community. The title of her upcoming piece is “Educate for service, educate for community”. A snippet of Peckham’s latest work is as follows:

“Truth holds a candle
To the blind world
Education gives us
A way out of the growing Darkness”

This stanza of her poem follows one of the major ideologies of the Rotary Club—being truthful—and Peckham aims to explore how education is the foundation for truthful discussions, which in turn can “help other people expand their minds.” Peckham, as the face of the poet laureate program this school year, has the ability to read her poems at different events on campus throughout the year.
Through Peckham’s original poem readings, the creation of the poet laureate program, and the support of both the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Academic Affairs, students have the opportunity to be exposed to this wonderful type of media. This program is also challenging students to think on these themes of service and belonging all while encouraging the expansion of education through poetry.