By Nick Collett
Joining the military is one way of giving back to our country, but coming back to the school you once roamed is another way of helping future generations.
Art teacher Mrs. Helen (Greenlee) Zacek was a 1997 Delta High School graduate. She is one of several current teachers and administrators who are Delta graduates.
Not too long after graduation, Zacek moved to the Centennial state, Colorado. After doing some living, she eventually moved back to her stomping grounds.
She first went to Ball State University for her visual arts education. Then, she joined the Army National Guard. For her basic training, she first went to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. After this, she went to Fort Gordon in Georgia to get her AIT (advanced individual training).
Knowing her passion was always for teaching. she decided to come back to Muncie and teach at Muncie Central after getting out of the military.
While at Central she also got her master’s degree at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind.
Zacek has helped many students in finding their creative potential. Pushing her students to their best capabilities, she waits for their art to blossom.
Some teachers didn’t wait as long to start teaching. English teacher and Delta graduate Mrs. Elizabeth (Marshall) Gilmore came back to her roots only one year after graduating from Indiana Wesleyan University.
With graduating high school in 2020 during the pandemic, her senior year was different then most. COVID was going on and a lot of construction was being done to the school.
Our school didn’t have the learning stairs, nor the current lockers we know.
Not only did the school change for her, but the environment did also. Some teachers aren’t here anymore, and even a new principal.
During her years as a student, the principal was Mr. Chris Conley. He was Delta’s longest serving principal, holding the job for 12 years before becoming superintendent at Cowan High sShool as of August 2024.
It’s not just the school but the kids that reside in it. Since Gilmore was a student, technology has become a lot bigger.
Much like everyone at Delta, Gilmore was a student who wanted to be the best at everything she did, whether that be academics or sports.
She said she spent countless nights with no sleep, studying for upcoming tests and doing assignments.
“I was definitely someone who was really intense,” Gilmore said.
Graduating only one year apart, they didn’t know they would both end up back in the same place.
Miss Zoe Ashcraft graduated in 2021, one year after Gilmore. Ashcraft came back to teach in the fall of 2023.
Ashcraft, much like Gilmore, took her academics seriously. She was in the top 10 of her class and always tried her best in every assignment she did.
She was heavily influenced by her dad, Mr. Paul Ashcraft, who is one of the middle school gym teachers.
Knowing how much she loved the culture built around Delta, she knew it was her first choice to teach here.
Another staff member tested different waters, but came where he knew his heart belonged. Assistant principal Mr. Chris Overholt graduated from Delta in 2001.
Mr. Overholt started his first semester of college at Ball State, studying business. He had intentions of moving to the southern United States and opening his own business.
But he knew he wanted to pursue teaching and to come back to what felt like home.
Overholt wanted to be there for kids just like his role models, retired middle school teacher Mr. Jim Thompson and retired high school U.S. History teacher Mr. Paul Orchard.
He wanted to interact with students and have the close bonds they shared, just like the people who he looked up to.
Before becoming the assistant principal, Overholt taught U.S. history then became the weight room teacher.
Overholt hasn’t always been the assistant principal we know. He was once spending time in the office he works in now. He wasn’t the best student in every class, having average grades.
“I wish I could say I was perfect,” Overholt said.
Learning from his youthful mistakes, Overholt wants to help the kids that make the same mistakes he once did.
The drive to make students better and Overholt’s sheer pride for Delta is what he says has gotten him to the position he is in today.
