Neither homework, nor quizzes, nor exams, nor gloom of detention, will stay these Corpus Christi couriers from the quick completion of their appointed rounds.

Identify them by their hats adorned with a crimson "CC," they are the men and women of the Corpus Christi School and Mineola Post Office Wee Deliver program and these dedicated elementary school postal workers have two goals, one is to deliver the mail and the other is to learn the finer arts of writing.

Explained third grader Joseph Bittner, "It's going to help the school with punctuation, grammar sentence structure..."

"...and communication skills," added sixth grader Joseph Pisciotto.

"The children need to write," said Student Council advisor and teacher Jennifer Curtin, "The more you write the better you are at expressing yourself; verbally and written."

Curtin and fellow advisor Andrea Nordquist implemented this program not only as a way to reinforce grammatical skills but as a way to teach the children some very important life skills, something other than your standard school curriculum fare that will teach them such abstracts as cooperation and such practical knowledge as how to properly address an envelope.

For the students to participate as postal workers, they filled out applications and then they took a test, just as if they were applying for real jobs in the post office. The highest scorers were then assigned to one of the many positions in this program.

There are 12 carriers who will deliver the mail to the different addresses, 12 nixies who are responsible for correcting mistakes on the envelopes, four facers who will cancel stamps and make sure the envelopes are facing the right way, 11 stampers and three sorters.

Postmaster Joseph Pisciotto will oversee the operation with Postmaster Calvin Lambert and Assistant Postmaster Joseph Bittner.

The rest of the Corpus Christi student body participates as letter writers, each student being assigned a pen pal in a different grade. The coinciding goal is to create an experience shared by everyone from kindergarten to eighth grade.

The "community" serviced by the Wee Deliver program is segmented into three different towns, Roosevelt Field, Disneyworld and Joyville, one for each hall in Corpus Christi School. Each classroom is represented by different street names within each town such as Disneyworld's Pooh Boulevard and Fantasia Skyway.

For a student to contact a person through the Wee Deliver system, they must fill out envelopes with the proper Corpus Christi related information and a special stamp created for the program.

The "stamps" used by the Corpus Christi Post Office will come in two versions, both of which were designed by Corpus Christi students. The cost is $.10 per stamp and the money raised will go to Holy Child.

Postmaster Stuart Cohen, accompanied by Supervisor Anthony Bencivenga, appeared at the school recently to swear in postmasters. Helping set up for the ceremony were Wee Deliver participants such as Andrew Martones, Patrick Dorime, Calvin Renfroe and Michael Poitevien.

Cohen donated to the school an historic postal carrier uniform and several mail bins which much surprised the advisors because all they expected was the basic start up package offered Wee Deliver participants.

"I wanted to see it successful," said Cohen as to the reason for his greater than expected involvement. His other goals included promoting the community, learning and of course promoting the post office.

Afterwards he took some questions from the members of the Corpus Christi student body. Everything from "How does the mail get to the post office?" to "Why does the dog chase the mailman?" (to which the audience erupted in laughter).

Through the assembly the children demonstrated a basic understanding of the Post Office, and through the program they will learn a great deal more.

Will the Wee Deliver program be successful in its goals, both educating in grammar and in life skills? Echoing the sentiments of the pledge given by every mail carrier, sixth grader Timothy Warnecke vowed, "Nobody will be disappointed."