A Delian dilemma: an exposé of our honor society

Sam Reamer and Emma GardnerEIC and ColumnistTimes must be tough when our honor society no longer requires honor.Upon entering high school, we thought Delians Honor Society was an impressive organization. We were naïve, like the eight-year-old who believes in Santa Claus. Each of us was encouraged to believe in Delians, filled with the lies of our elders. We were told that being a Delian was an honor – it meant that not only was one academically accomplished, but also civically conscious.Coming from middle school, we mistakenly equated Delians with reputable and active honor societies like National Junior Honor Society. We expected that Delians would be even more satisfying. But like all children who grow up, we discovered that our Kris Kringle of honor societies was little more than an unrealized ideal.Then came the day we received an email from Dan Delian himself – your Hogwarts letter had nothing on us, Harry Potter. We experienced remarkable feelings of accomplishmentBut over the years, we noticed an increasingly lax community service requirement – a devolution that would make Darwin go ape. Last semester was the final unmasking of the fat man in the Santa suit. Beginning this school year, Delians abolished its community service requirement. This left us with questions: does Delians no longer value the services of roughly 900 high school students (not including freshmen)? Or is Samo such a perfect school that these helping hands are not needed? Furthermore, who is the Delians board to make that call on behalf of our school?“The decision was a joint decision by the Delian advisors with input by Monica and me,” Delians Co-President David Shi (’14) said. It is interesting to note that the paying Delians members were not consulted.According to Samo’s website, “Delians aims to provide opportunities for Samohi students to give in service to the Samohi community and to be recognized for strong academic achievement.” But what is the explanation for Delians ignoring its stated goal of students serving the community?“I have faith in the altruism of the Delian member base as well as the greater Samohi community in performing honorable acts of service,” Shi said.The Delians page, however, has less faith in the altruism of high school students.“Community service hours will not be required to be a CSF Delian member. Although community service is not required, Delians will still be hosting events because we know how important it is on college applications,” according to the Delians page.If the only purpose of Delians events is to be “important on college applications,” is this really something the school should support? Aren’t we less superficial than that, Samo?“The main purpose of Delians, prior to this school year, was to encourage community service among its members, and now we’ve made it non-mandatory, so a lot of people don’t show up to events,” Delians Executive Board Member Angelina Huang (’14) said. “I’m against the change because Delians represents honor society members who work hard and get good grades, but also contribute to the community. By taking away that component, Delians has reduced the standards for being in an honor society.”In a school with dilapidated bathrooms, a pervasive trash problem and dozens of community service clubs, it astounds us that Delians would deprive Samo of much-needed volunteers. There is so much that can be done to improve our school, and so many willing students. We find many students still involved with community service — but very few at Samo.The community service requirement brings legitimacy to the organization, and to the honor of being a Delian itself — otherwise, it is just kids being rewarded for above average grades. Honor is not based solely on academic achievement. It is based on helping one’s community. As Ms. Mayoral reminds us, “We are a family,” and as such we should take care of our home.However, Delians does provide a different type of service to the school. Have you ever wondered about the fate of your ten dollar per semester registration fee?Delians uses (most of) its roughly $18,000 in annual collected fees to fund Delians Scholarships. According to the Samo Scholarships page, the prerequisites to obtain these are: “Active CSF Delian member, service to school and Delians and leadership and/or Active CSF/Delian officer."Delian officership in and of itself qualifies one for a scholarship, which max out at $2,500. According to Delians advisor Julia Honda, a majority of Delians officers consistently receive the scholarship, along with some other members who apply. However, with fewer members participating in Delians' community service events, how many members will be eligible for the scholarship?Though there are no community service requirements, Delians does have awards for community service, callused the "Delians Service Award." Interestingly, the rest of the country refers to them as Presidential Service Awards.What is the point of having Delians when we could just have the California Scholarship Federation? Without the community service requirement, Delians has lost its identity.This is not what we envision from what purports to be Samo's only official honor society. Delians has become a missed opportunity, an unfulfilled promise to motivate students to better their community. For this we are truly saddened.As seniors and "Delians" all four years, we still find ourselves with unanswered questions. We are kept awake at night by one of the great mysteries of Samo: what exactly is a Delian? So like all curious students we made the trek to Wikipedia, where we were informed that a Delian is either "a native or inhabitant of Delos" or "an association of Greek city-states."You may wonder: in light of all this, even without knowing what a Delian is, why do we continue to be members? To that we counter: why does any child feign belief in Santa Claus long after he knows the truth? Why, for the shiny presents, of course! Those gold stoles are just too fashionable to resist.eic@thesamohi.com