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The focus at the Academy is education in preparation for a life of use in this world and in the spiritual life to come, but there are valuable things that high school students can do now.

The Purpose of Delta Mu

Community service is strongly encouraged, an attitude of charity is strongly encouraged, but community service is not required. It is hoped that every student will learn the importance of giving freely of themselves and that this will become a habit in their lives. Delta Mu is the largest club in the school.

Membership in Delta Mu entitles the student to a membership card and a handsome tee-shirt with the Delta Mu logo. Membership is also recorded on the student activity sheet, as part of the permanent record.

Delta Mu activities and projects vary from year to year depending on student interest, but favorites have developed:

• Highway cleanup – We are responsible for the maintenance of two miles of Huntingdon Pike.
• Philadelphia Cares Day – 15,000 volunteers from the surrounding area gather to clean up Philadelphia public schools.
• Visiting and playing with the toddlers and infants at Interim House- Interim House is a residential rehab for women and their children. We also sponsor a Christmas project which involves purchasing and wrapping gifts for all the children.
• Inglis House – a wheelchair community where we have helped with church services.
• Thanksgiving food collection for Hope Prison Ministries.
• Delta Mu trip to Camp Ladore – a work weekend at a Salvation Army camp in the Poconos. This is truly the highlight of the year.

In order to become a member of Delta Mu, a student must perform 25 hours of community service. All community service performed in grades 9 – 12 counts, and this includes activities during the summer and those done at other schools prior to attendance at the Academy. Hours can be accumulated in a variety of ways. Delta Mu sponsors specific activities and projects, and these are open to all students. Some students also choose to pursue individual interests, such as becoming a volunteer firefighter or volunteering at a hospital or nursing home or being an usher or chancel girl. The possibilities are endless.

**The presidents for this school year are Courtney Kuhl and Owen Frazier**

September 22   Highway cleanup

October 12, 13   Charter Day Balloon Selling

November 4    Ron. McD.House Breakfast

November 22   Thanksgiving Food Collection

December 2   Interim House Present Wrapping

December 8   Interim House Present Delivery

February 3   Ron. McD. House Breakfast

April 25-27   Delta Mu trip

EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS for 2007-2008

Ronald McDonald House Breakfast. On Sunday February 3rd, 9 ANC students led by their Delta Mu presidents, Courtney Kuhl and Owen Frazier, ventured into Philadelphia to make breakfast for the residents of the Ronald McDonald House.  This activity is a favorite among Academy students. In fact, minutes after the signup sheet was up, not only was it full, but there were at least 10 other students on the waiting list.  Those of us who did get to go arrived at Benade Hall at 7:45 in the morning. We then drove to Ronald McDonald House, where we served fruit salad, bagels, muffins, eggs, pancakes and sausages.  When the cooking was complete, the students got a chance to eat breakfast with the residents, hear their stories and play with some of the children.  The trip was quite a success and the students can't wait to go back.

 Emily Latta, Delta Mu Advisor

Interim House Christmas Project.  On Saturday, December 8th, 30 ANC students assembled in front of Benade Hall for an annual Delta Mu event, the Interim House Christmas Project.  Interim House is a home for mothers who are getting treatment for drug addiction and help with parenting.  Their children live with them in the home. The Delta Mu presidents, Courtney Kuhl and Owen Frazier, handed out slips of paper to each student that included the name of a child living in Interim House, as well as the child's age and gender.  The students then took off to Willow Grove to buy gifts for the children. 

It's an amazing thing to watch students so thoughtfully and carefully pick out and buy gifts for children that they've never met and probably never will.  When everyone had finished shopping, we met in Glenn Hall where we wrapped the presents and enjoyed snacks and holiday music.  Two students then drove all the gifts to Interim House.  The gifts are given to the mothers so that they have something to give to their children on Christmas morning.  The students never see how grateful the mothers are to have something to give their children, nor do they get recognition from the children to whom the gifts are given.  Yet, every year it's one of the most popular Delta Mu events and a very meaningful way to begin the Christmas season. 

Emily Latta, Delta Mu Advisor

Ronald McDonald House Breakfast  On Sunday November 4th, Delta Mu student presidents, Owen Frazier and Courtney Kuhl, along with me and Martha Pitcairn, led a group of nine ANC students to the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia.  The house is for families with children who are very ill, often with cancer or other life threatening diseases. We prepared a breakfast of eggs, sausages, and pancakes, as well as assorted bagels and muffins and then enjoyed the meal with the families. 

Some of the students were given a tour of the house, while others continued to visit and talk with the parents or play with the children.  After cleaning up the meal, we had a brief, but moving, discussion about our experiences that day.  Many of the students were touched by the strength of the parents, as well as the incredible amount of love the parents had for their children.  I received many compliments from the families about the maturity and kindness of our students.   The presidents and I hope to lead at least one more trip to Ronald McDonald House at some point during the school year.

Emily Latta,    Delta Mu Advisor

Highway Cleanup  On September 22nd, Courtney Kuhl and Owen Frazier, the 2007-2008 presidents of Delta Mu, led 10 ANC students in a highway cleanup. The Academy adopted the 2 mile stretch of Huntingdon Pike between Buck Road and County Line Road in 1990, thereby committing to keeping that area clean and beautiful. On a rainy Saturday morning, Courtney, Owen and I, along with the 10 students, set out along the Pike, equipped with vests, flags, gloves and trash bags.  We were shocked at the amount of trash that had piled up since May, when the students had helped with the last highway cleanup.  However, 2 hours and 20 full trash bags later, the cleanup was complete and we headed back to the school where hoagies and water awaited us. 

Emily Latta,    Delta Mu Advisor    

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2006-2007

Highway Cleanup October 8, 2006

On Sunday, October 8, the weather was absolutely glorious. What a wonderful day for highway cleanup! It is our responsibility to keep clean two miles of Huntingdon Pike, from Buck Rd. to County Line Rd., so we need to periodically pick up trash.This time, sixteen students showed up to participate. That's a larger than usual turnout -- and half of them were freshmen girls!. The young ladies in this class are proving themselves to be willing, able, and enthusiastic when it comes to community service. We split up into four teams in order to cover the area more efficiently. Altogether we collected approximately 26 bags of trash. The whole stretch of road looks so much better. We celebrated our good work with hoagies and bottled water, after which most students left to attend the Sigma chariot races.

Mary Beth Bergman & Brian Horigan, Advisors

Interim House West November 6     Monday, November 6, was a grading day for teachers, time for faculty to wrap up the first quarter and prepare for the beginning of the next.  It provided a wonderful opportunity for Delta Mu to plan a trip to Interim House West in Philadelphia. Interim House is a residential treatment center for women with addictions, and they are allowed to bring up to three of their children.  The women are in treatment programs during the day but are with their children in the evening and on weekends, and their anonymity is protected, so we can only visit there on weekdays.  Although the older children are in school, there is a nursery for the infants and a day care room for the pre-school and toddlers.  We went to visit and play with these children.

The maximum we could take was 15.  The signup sheet filled quickly.  We took a school van plus Sarah Elsing, mother of Ali and Kylie, agreed to drive her van.  The motivation for this trip must have been especially good for, on a day off from school, everyone showed up on time, which was 8:30 AM.

The visit was enormously successful because, as usual, our students were outstanding.  They jumped right in with both feet.  They took turns holding babies and spending time in the day care room.  At one point, a rising cacophony from the day care room caught my attention.  It turned out that a game of hide and go seek had been organized, and the children were squealing with delight.

After a snack of animal crackers and juice boxes had been served and devoured, we took the children out on the playground.  There's a large jungle gym plus we had balls and a Frisbee.  There was a lot of running!

The most difficult part was leaving.  Some of their kids cried; several of ours were close to tears.  It was definitely hard to say good-bye.  BUT - Stay tuned.  We'll be doing a special Christmas project for these special children.

Interim House Christmas Project

Volunteers were asked to meet in the Dining Hall parking lot on the afternoon of December 10 so we could go Christmas shopping for the children at Interim House in Philadelphia.  Twenty-seven students showed up, which was wonderful because this really is a busy time of year.  Each student was to bring $5 to purchase a gift.  Because of generous donations, we were able to give each student an extra $3. Each student was also given a slip of paper with the name of a child and his/her age.  We then piled into cars and went off to shop at a store called 5- and - Below.  Within an hour, everyone had made their selections, so we returned to the Dining Hall to wrap.  Paper and ribbon were flying everywhere and spirits were high.  Christmas music was playing, and refreshments were served, and some discovered how difficult it is to wrap a ball.  Soon there was a huge pile of wrapped gifts for 33 children who otherwise might receive nothing at all.. 

Meanwhile, two mothers in the community, Sarah Elsing and Megan Keegan, headed a committee to create gift bags for the 20 mothers at Interim House.

Graham Pitcairn, Boys School Delta Mu President, and  some friends delivered the gifts and gift bags to Interim House a few days later.  And here’s the really special part of this project:  The gifts were given to the moms to give to their children as if from them.

This has been an annual event for several years now because it is such fun and fills everyone with the warmth and love of the Christmas spirit.

Making Dinner at Ronald McDonald House

On Wednesday, March 14, a group of ten students plus Martha Pitcairn, Brian Horigan, and Mary Beth Bergman traveled to Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia to make dinner.  The students chose the menu and did the food shopping.  Upon arrival, all headed straight for the kitchen and started cooking.  They prepared vast quantities broccoli -chicken casserole and tossed salad.  The food was served buffet style, so, once it was ready, everyone could sit and visit with the families.  Many of their stories are very sad.  The bravery of the parents is impressive.  One of the ANC students remarked at departure time that he felt he had gained so much more from this experience than he had given.  This is the beauty of community service.

Camp Ladore 2007

The eight annual Delta Mu service trip to the Salvation Army Camp Ladore was another success, with more than 80 taking part. For a very nice write-up on what this trip is all about, see the April-May issue of the Academian.

Wood School 'County Fair'

On Sunday, a van load of us traveled to Wood School (Wood Services) in Langhorne to help with their "County Fair".   More students were originally scheduled to go, but many dropped out as they became overwhelmed with all the end-of-the-year deadlines and activities, and unfortunately the date conflicted with the Cappies award ceremony.  Those that did come were glad they did as it was a lot of fun.  (Wood School, by the way, is a residential facility for physically and mentally disabled individuals of all ages.)  Upon our arrival at the volunteer center, we were given tee shirts designating us as Wood Volunteers and a bottle of water.  Then we were shuttled out to our assigned areas.  It is a huge campus.  They served us a wonderful lunch of hamburgers and fried chicken, French fries, and cole slaw.  Sherbet, funnel cake, and cotton candy were available throughout the day. There were lots of carnival type games for the residents and their visitors to play.  Of course, everything was free.  A couple of us worked at the dunk tank. Others worked at the strikers (where you hit a block with a mallet and try to ring the bell).  Another was assigned to a station where they were decorating straw hats.  It was a beautiful day, and the atmosphere was festive.  This is definitely a do-again activity!  -- Mary Beth Bergman