Author: Ivy Miller

Sem Walk For Water 2024

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by Finn Ruderman ’25

Just for a second, put yourself in their shoes. You wake up and instead of a daily morning routine, you have to grab your empty five gallon water container—weighing over 40 pounds when full—and set out on your walk to a water reserve roughly five miles away. 

For almost everyone in rural Burkina Faso, this is their everyday lives. There is no running water, and the water obtained from these daily treks is almost always dirty and unsafe to drink. This, as you can probably imagine, causes a lot of problems for those in this situation. These problems are exactly what those involved in the recent Walk For Water conducted here at Sem sought to resolve.

For the past couple of years, Sem has partnered with the Barka Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of those without access to clean water in Burkina Faso through the implementation of water wells in different villages throughout the eastern part of the country. For this past walk, all of the funds generated went directly to the new well-building project in the village Fada-N’gourma. 

The walk, organized by the Upper and Lower Schools’ Environmental Clubs and myself, was a fully in person event for the first time since Sem has started doing them. 57 Sem students, faculty, and friends, along with five dogs, came together on April 21st to walk from back campus, to Kirby Park, and back for a total of around three miles all whilst carrying jugs and containers of water in an effort to simulate, even in a very small way, the journey that the residents of Fada need to make daily to get their water.

In total, the walk managed to raise over $2,000, roughly one-fifth of the total cost of the well—a fairly significant amount. As always, one of the main purposes of the Walk For Water, aside from raising money, is to call attention to certain aspects of life (in this case, having access to clean/fresh water) which you may unconsciously take for granted, all while others who go without are struggling.

For all those who helped in any way, I offer you a sincere thank you.  And to those who missed it this year, the Walk for Water will be an annual event, so there will be more opportunities to come.

The Champions

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By Michael DeMuro ’27

The Sem wrestling season has been phenomenal so far. The recent victory against Blair Academy has everyone feeling great and adds another win to their undefeated season.

Blair Academy is #2 in the country and is Sem’s biggest rival in most sports, particularly wrestling and football. Sem and Blair will wrestle again at national preps, which is sure to be as heated, if not more, as the recent match which was held here, on Sem turf on January 12th. Many are easger to see the national preps unfold.

Several people view this victory against Blair as revenge for the loss against them in the football game that occurred in the fall. Cornell Robinson, the wrestling coach for both the boys’ and girls’ teams, stated, “It’s been good for the first half of the season…, however, it’s what you do at the end of the season that counts.” The team has been working hard since late August, and it is clear that their work has been paying off. The season will not end until the completion of the spring term, so they still have many more matches to prove why they are number one in the country.

As Davis Motyka ‘24 said, “I think the team has been growing closer each day,… everyone brings each other upduring practice and school.” The wrestlers work very hard to keep their grades up and balance school withwrestling very well. Even though the team is undefeated, all the players still work to be even better than they already are. Robinson was hired in 2021 and filled the position seamlessly.

Following the influential mentorship of last year’s seniors, this year’s seniors have stepped up to the challenge and have continued a positive influence on their new freshmen teammates.  The team can be found almost every day practicing in the Great Hall,  which used to be a bank and still retains some of its original features such as the offices and the vaults, which are now used to store equipment.

On a personal note, I’d like to end by saying this; I have attended several matches and duels and have also gotten to know most of the wrestlers in social settings. I can say without a doubt that these athletes have some of the best work ethic I have ever seen. That, combined with their respect and friendship for each other on and off the mat, is the reason they are the champions of Wyoming Seminary.

Sem Mock Trial: Famously Determined

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By Clare Booe ’24

Wyoming Seminaary’s Mock Trial Teams, both historically and presently talented, worked through the winter term preparing their arguments for two highly selective invitational tournaments, and of course, the varsity districts tournament. This year, Mock Trial received such and influx of participants that three teams were made: varsity, junior varsity 1, and junior varsity 2.

The varsity team, full of highly experienced and highly talented seniors is still set to compete in the district competition for mock trial, where Wyoming Seminary’s teams have previously excelled, some making it to the state championship.

The Pennsylvania state bar association released this year’s case, and all three teams have been diligently working on it since. This year it was a murder case, involving a business rivalry that turned into violent crime.

This case being criminal and not civil sets it apart vastly from past cases, and with the coaching of Dr. Froelich, Mrs. Stevenson, and Atty. Kowalski, all three teams assembled their casting and cases in different ways.

Ella Magida ‘26, acting co-captain of the B-team, says that a criminal case is, “incredibly different than a civil case. The way it’s performed is much more dramatic and there’s a bigger emphasis on being scored on passion.” Ella is currently in the role of a prosecution attorney, tasked with convicting the defendant of murder in the first degree.

Sadly, Sem’s teams were unable to compete in either invitational tournament. The first tournament was set at LaSalle University and the second invitational was hosted by UPenn.

Several scrimmage brackets have been planned for the end of wenter term, allowing the three teams and both sides of each team (i.e. defense and prosecution) to practice their cases and performances.

First year mock trial team member, Josie Carpenter ‘26, explains how the scrimmages have run this far by saying, “We already had one in house scrimmage, and it was just really cool to see how everyone’s cases came together, and how people on the varsity team perform and act in a courtroom like environment.”

However, these home scrimmages aren’t the only ones to come. The teams will also have a more formal scrimmage against each other at the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre, where unlike an invitational tournament, more spectators are able to come support the team. Although this scrimmage’s date is still uncertain, the team knows that it is  going to set the varsity team on the track for success leading up to the district and state seasons.