Saucon Valley’s History Department is taking notes from adventures in modern media like “National Treasure” and “The da Vinci Code” to enhance student drive and involvement. The tradition first originated in Robert Mchugh’s A.P. U.S. History class about 9 years ago, where it coined its renowned name: The Acorn Quest.

As McHugh tries to outdo the previous year’s adventure, the Quest has gained quite a bit of notoriety. Now Saucon Valley’s students, faculty, and alumni alike all anticipate the date of the annual Acorn Quest. Its name is derived from the symbol for the college board exam, the acorn, and its accompanying proverb, “From acorns do mighty oaks grow.” This phrase embodies the idea that each student has an unlimited amount of potential, but Mchugh’s course demands lots of hard work and dedication in order for its participants to earn a spot in the upper echelon. McHugh strongly connects to this theme because enthusiastic teachers from his own schooling were not intimidated by trekking that extra mile.

This sparked his own passion for history, and in turn formulated his model for exceeding academic expectations. He believes that students will mirror the effort that teachers put into their lessons, and therefore Mchugh has tinkered with the acorn’s allegorical journey to accrue excitement and commitment in the student body. Since 2006, he has been putting up to 40 hours of extra time each year in constructing an historical quest for his A.P. students to interpret. During “Quest Week,” the class is broken up into two teams to solve historically based riddles that will test their wits and research skills. The team that does this correctly will find the sacred acorn and ultimately win the quest.

Each year the quest has a general theme from American history. For instance, this year students explored the inner workings of the American Revolution through clues and riddles that circled around Philadelphia and the Founding Fathers. The 2015 quest culminated in a full-day trip to the City of Brotherly Love, where the teams, escorted by Marines, investigated all of the historical sites that they were learning about in class. As if that weren’t enough, Mchugh topped the day off by hiring actors from the company called “Independence After Hours” to portray real revolutionary figures and guide the class around Philadelphia’s Old City.

Students were able to enjoy a realistic colonial dinner while John Dunlap, the first printer of the Declaration of Independence, shared his thoughts on Thomas Jefferson. After dinner, Dunlap lead them to Independence Hall where they met Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Keeping both teams on the edge of their seats, the actors executed an authentic debate on the wording for the Declaration of Independence. To finish the quest and emphasis the motif of American unity, Benjamin Franklin gave the Acorn Trophy to both teams for putting aside their differences and working towards one cause: solving the puzzle. For a whole week the class ate, drank, and slept with this sophistical scavenger hunt dominating their thought. Now, each member of McHugh’s 2015 A.P. U.S. History class will look fondly on their senior year, remembering that their history lessons gained a new profound meaning. This is just one example of how passionate teachers can inspire students and literally bring a subject like American history to life.