Author: Ivy Miller

Christmas Chapel: A Timeless Celebration of Faith and Music

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By Apollonia Bruno ’27

In the heart of Wyoming Seminary, a tradition that continues to illuminate the holiday season, the Christmas Chapel is a cherished event. This annual event is the beginning of spiritual reflection and musical worship through the timeless message of the Nine Lessons and Carols, which has been around for over 140 years. The Christmas Chapel intertwines scripture and song, narrating the history of the Christian faith through a series of nine passages from the Bible. The story of Adam and Eve unveils humanity’s separation from God and the need for divine intervention.

Reverend Charles Carrick, Chaplain, Math Department Chair, and Assistant Boys Soccer Coach, said, “The passages reflect God’s actions to bring help in the story of Jesus.

It’s a story of love.” Along with biblical scriptures, this tradition also includes a lot of music. Songs like “Wonderful Peace,” “Silent Night,” The Word Was God,” and “Angels We Have Heard on High” echo through the church, filling the air with joy. “Silent Night” is my favorite piece.” Says Mrs. Christiane Appenheimer-Vaida teacher and Director of the String Program and Orchestra.

For many within the Wyoming Seminary community, the Christmas Chapel is not merely a tradition but anescape. “It’s a way to step away from studying and listen to scripture and music,” said Vaida.

This annual celebration highlights the collaborative performance between the Chorale, Madrigal Singers, and String Ensemble. Chapel unites us as a community, offering rejoicing through scripture and melodies.

Wyoming Seminary Welcomes Dance Theater of Wilkes-Barre

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by Grace Rushmer ’26

On Saturday, December 16th, The Kirby Center for the Creative Arts welcomed the Dance Theater of Wilkes-Barre to the stage for their annual production of the Nutcracker.

This traditional Christmas ballet demonstrates the magic of the holiday season as it follows Clara through her dreams of frolicking sweets and an array of dances that could be seen in many countries. The classical repertoire is performed by professionals and students alike, all throughout the world. This year, this production hosted many of Wyoming Seminary’s current students and alumni including Robert Zaloga ‘20  and Lucy Lew ‘24.

The studio’s Nutcracker and numerous other shows allow opportunities for young dancers as well as more advanced students to perform in front of an audience. “Having the opportunity to dance on the KCCA stage was such an incredible experience,” says Lew. Here at Sem, the performing arts department works incredibly hard behind the scenes of every performance.

With the help of Floyd Bussie, Wyoming Seminary Technical Director, the Nutcracker production was brought to life. “I am so thankful for all of the help we had here at Sem, especially from Mr. Bussie for all of his help with lighting and sound,” remarks Lew.

The arts are an extremely important part of life at Sem, and it is so amazing to see such a wonderful audience outcome coming to support this production. Putting on a dance show requires countless hours of rehearsals, costuming and logistical planning. The dedication and hard work of the staff and dancers at the Dance Theater of Wilkes-Barre didn’t go unnoticed. Dancing on the KCCA stage allowed this company to put on their production as well as demonstrate how important it is to celebrate the performing arts, especially during the holiday season.

Security Measures Keep Us All Safe

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by Brady Wood ’24

Wyoming Seminary Upper School has a recurring issue with students not having fobs and student cars not being registered to the school. The security office works very hard to keep all of the students and faculty members safe, students not having fobs is not only putting themselves in more danger. It puts students in danger because if there is ever a threat outside on campus and students seek for shelter, they will not get in without a fob. An emergency can be anything from weather, chemical spill, suspicious individuals and armed individuals.

Recently many public schools around the area have been getting bomb threats, luckily none came to Wyoming Seminary but security expresses that everyone knows the procedure just in case but students will be locked out of buildings without a fob.

The head of security and former state trooper Matthew Grebeck puts in a lot of work for the safety of faculty and students, he said, “Fobs also dictate who is allowed to access certain buildings through authorization.”

Fobs are not only for students to be able to enter the buildings but for people to not enter the building. If you ever see a suspicious person on campus and they try to act as if they belong in a building, don’t let them in! They can cause great danger to everyone in that specific building, thankfully due to the Security team, people are seen walking onto campus before potentially trying to do something they shouldn’t.

Another occurring issue for the security at Wyoming Seminary is day students registering their cars. Grebeck said, “vehicles parked on campus property need to be registered so the security department can identify  who the vehicle belongs to in case of an emergency.”

An emergency in this case would be somebody illegally parked, car broken into and damage to their vehicle. If there is not a sticker on the back of an illegally parked vehicle that says Wyoming Seminary, security will not know that they can save a student from getting their car towed.