Societies
Eighth through twelfth graders looking to connect over shared interests may join one of our emerging societies. These groups will meet multiple times over the course of a semester with a TIP mentor as guide to share common interests and explore skills within those interests more in depth. Meeting times and pursuits will be determined together as a group, and may be in person, although most will likely be online to facilitate access for all.
Baylor TIP Student Advisory Council
Cost: $25 Application Fee (Some fees may be charged to cover any costs associated with optional, in-person events, such as a leadership retreat, and for t-shirts.)
Application required: Yes. Due to the overwhelming response to this opportunity, we are requesting that everyone, even current members, reapply this year.
Applications for the 2026-27 school year are currently closed.
Parnassus Pen Society, grades 8-12
Instructor: Clint Von Gundy
Cost: $200
Application required: Applications are required for new members only.
Application fee: N/A
Registration closed September 4th.
Looking to improve as a poet, a storyteller, a columnist, or a scriptwriter? Craving new writing prompts or genuine feedback? Join the Baylor TIP writing community! Under the guidance of our writing coach, TIPsters will engage in monthly writing prompts and lessons to help them grow as writers. They will also receive support in preparing submissions for publications and awards.
Club members should plan to attend at least 75% of our monthly virtual meetings per semester. Students must apply to become members of this society, and the number of students accepted to this society will be kept small to allow for maximum support and feedback. Additionally, students can schedule one 15-minute 1:1 session per semester with the coach to get additional feedback on samples or discuss submissions. Parents are invited and encouraged to attend 1:1s.
Parnassus Pen Society will meet on the second Wednesday of the month 7:00-8:00 p.m. (Central U.S. Time Zone):
September 9th
October 14th
November 11th
December 9th
Stratford-on-Odeon Literary Society, grades 8-12
Instructor: Dr. Todd Kettler
Cost: $200
Application required: no
Application fee: N/A
Registration closed September 4th.
Shadows of the Mind:
Horror, Fear, and the Human Condition
The fall 2026 Stratford-on-Odeon Literary Society will explore one of our most enduring and entertaining literary genres, conundrums, classic and contemporary horror stories.
Guiding Question
How do Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King transform human fears of death, isolation, guilt, obsession, and the unknown into stories that reveal what it means to be human?
Horror is more than a genre of monsters and violence; it is a literary exploration of the fears that define human experience. Through the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King, students will examine how horror exposes the psychological, moral, and existential anxieties that shape individuals and societies.
This seminar investigates horror as a vehicle for exploring guilt, madness, grief, isolation, evil, mortality, and the unknown. Students will compare how Poe and King use setting, characterization, symbolism, and narrative voice to transform ordinary human fears into extraordinary literary experiences. They will also consider how horror changes across historical periods while continuing to address timeless questions about what it means to be human.
Students will explore:
- Why do people seek stories that frighten them?
- What is the relationship between fear and imagination?
- What kinds of fear are universal, and which are culturally shaped?
- How does guilt distort perception?
- What role does the unknown play in creating fear?
- What does horror reveal about the human condition that other genres cannot?
A Two-Author Study of Horror Short Fiction
Seminar 1: The Birth and Evolution of Psychological Horror
Is the greatest horror found in external monsters or within the human mind?
- The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe)
- The Black Cat (Poe)
- The Cat from Hell (King)
- Willa (King)
Seminar 2: Haunted Places and Dangerous Imagination
Why do certain places, objects, and works of art become sources of fear?
- The Fall of the House of Usher (Poe)
- The Oval Portrait (Poe)
- 1408 (King)
- The Road Virus Heads North (King)
Seminar 3: Death, Morality, and the Boundary Between Worlds
Why does death remain one of humanity’s greatest sources of fascination?
- The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (Poe)
- The Premature Burial (Poe)
- Autopsy Room Four (King)
- Riding the Bullet (King)
Seminar 4: Evil, Temptation, and Moral Responsibility
How do we recognize evil, and how do ordinary people become involved with it?
- The Cask of Amontillado (Poe)
- The Masque of the Red Death (Poe)
- The Man in the Black Suit (King)
- Everything’s Eventual (King)
Seminar 5: Fear in the Ordinary World
Why are the most frightening stories often rooted in everyday life?
- The Pit and the Pendulum (Poe)
- The Man in the Crowd (Poe)
- Lunch at the Gotham Café (King)
- That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French (King)
Required Texts:
- Complete Works (Tales and Poems) of Edgar Allan Poe
- Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King
- Just After Sunset by Stephen King
Guiding Seminar Questions to Explore
- Why are we drawn to stories that frighten us, and what do our fears reveal about what it means to be human?
- Is the greatest source of horror found in supernatural forces or in the darkness, desires, and contradictions within the human mind?
- How have Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King transformed ordinary experiences such as loneliness, grief, obsession, ambition, and uncertainty into extraordinary tales of terror?
- Why do certain places, objects, and memories become haunted, and what do they reveal about our deepest anxieties?
- How do Poe and King explore the fragile boundary between reality and illusion, sanity and madness, life and death?
- What can horror teach us about morality, temptation, guilt, and the consequences of human choices?
- How has Stephen King inherited, expanded, and reinvented the literary traditions established by Edgar Allan Poe?
- Are the most terrifying monsters the creatures that confront us or the parts of ourselves that we would rather not see?
Seminar Dates/Times (all times are 6:30-7:30 Central U.S. Time Zone)
- Seminar 1 – September 24
- Seminar 2 – October 8
- Seminar 3 – October 22
- Seminar 4 – November 12
- Seminar 5 – November 19