Satanists In Delco Award 2 Students With $666 'Outsider' Scholarships

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Satanists in Delaware County have again awarded $666 scholarships to two "outsider" students.

Satanic Delco recently presented two students, one local and another from Virginia, with their Outsider Achievement Award scholarship, which seeks to recognize students "who buck the status quo and embrace individualism, empathy, free-thought, and skepticism."

This year's recipients are Mariah Lowery from Interboro High School and Akayla Galbreath from Warwick High School in Virginia.

Lowery and Galbreath can use $666 scholarships are available for whatever they choose, per Satanic Delco's scholarship guidelines.

Lowery submitted a poem and Galbreath paintings.

The two were chosen after the group, founded by Delaware County native Joseph Rose in 2020, narrowed down applicants to just fine finalists.

"This was the first year that one of our winners was from outside of Delco," Rose told Patch. "Our group, and philosophy of Outsider Satanism, has been spreading and connecting with people from all over the world, so it was nice to reach out and award a student from a little farther away for the first time."

This marks the third year of the scholarship, which has been awarded to Delaware County students only in the past.

In 2022, Lucas Sampson from Penncrest High School and Lisa Travis from Ridley High School earned the scholarship.

And in 2021, the group awarded Hannah Barnes, Charles Schiffer, and Tania Miller, all from Ridley High, the scholarship.

"I’m really proud that our group has been able to do this for several years now, and we plan to keep it going in order to give some recognition to students that might not get that attention otherwise," Rose said.

The scholarship is funded by Satanic Delco member donations.

Rose said his time in high school was less than enjoyable, being an anti-religious kid with a passion for heavy rock, grunge, and metal music in the 90s.

"My high school experience there stood out as nightmarish," he said. "So I wanted to find a kid who was in a position anywhere in the ballpark of where I felt and help them."

Rose and a fellow member, who is also a Ridley High School graduate, came up with the scholarship idea and began a funding campaign to raise the $666.

"The outsider doesn't always love the new popular song or wear the trendy fashion style," the group wrote on the funding page. "They're often on the receiving end of the bullying that goes overlooked by faculty. Sometimes they skip class, not because they're looking for trouble, but because they're overwhelmed by a crushing anxiety. Or maybe they're still alone, crying in the stairwell. They're not losing the popularity contest, it just never occurred to them to enter it in the first place."

For the unfamiliar, Satanic Delco is not actually a group of Satan's worshipers.

In fact, they aren't religious in any way and don't believe in a heaven or a hell, Satan or God.

Rather, they follow seven tenets — such as acting with compassion and empath, pursuing justice, and respecting others' freedoms — commonly followed among larger groups of Satanists.