Author: lily roberti

SemDM Breaks Their Donation Goal Again!

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By Kim Nguyen ’23

Wyoming Seminary has always encouraged its students to give back to the community. Through community service, food/clothing drives, and dress down days supporting all different kinds of charities and organizations, Sem students have made an impact. The Sem Dance Marathon being a model example of this message by being such a successful event every year. It was started 11 years ago by Elizabeth Blaum ‘07 who returned to Sem in the Student Life office and as a coach. Inspired by the Dance Marathon at Ball State University, she had the idea to bring it to our campus, raising $12,678 in 2012.

SemDM is almost entirely run by students and all of the proceeds go to the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, PA. Everyone supports this huge event like students, alumni, families, and local businesses. The main way to donate is through the Donor Drive Website, and can even be a way to win points for Societies. There are many other fun and interactive ways that you can donate as well. You can get a sweet treat at Ritas or a yoga class at Melt Hot Yoga and money is donated. Tunes for Tots makes for an opportunity to play all your favorite songs at lunch. Also a Calendar Raffle with over $3,000 of prizes. Spirits are raised high through the “Week of Miracles”. Through poster parties, themed outfits, and a Just Dance battle between faculty, SemDM’s core values of friendship, outreach, service, and community are highlighted.

The event itself is held in the Blue Gym decorated with student-made posters, lights, and streamers. The main focus is on the Miracle Kids, those who have received treatment at Janet Weis. A video is shown describing their journey and are introduced on stage accompanied by their families. After, there are many fun and interactive activities, like the Morale Dance, Just Dance battles, and lip-sync battles. A very popular event is the auction to have a chance to pie a teacher in the face. Mrs. Stevenson, the faculty sponsor, says “My favorite part of the event was seeing the miracle kids have the time of their life at the event! They truly felt like they belonged at our event. I also enjoyed speaking with the parents of the miracle kids and hearing the stories of the journey they went through with their children as well as talking about how their children are doing right now.” For what drew her to be a sponsor of this event, it is for all of its positive messages and core values. She says that “It restores my faith in today’s youth. I have personally known children that needed specialized medical treatment at the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital and I have seen the strain that this puts on the child’s family.”

Since the event is mainly student run I have talked with student leaders of two different committees. Ama Reitsma ‘23 is an executive of the Families committee. Her group meets with the Miracle Kids and their families to make them comfortable and even incorporate their favorites into the event. Her favorite event is the Morale Dance saying, “It’s so amazing to watch everyone come together as a community and support such a deserving cause, but it’s even more amazing to watch how happy the Miracle Kids are to be a part of this event.” Paul Stevenson ‘24 is an executive of the Fundraising committee. His group deals with the numbers side of the event. All of the fundraising events that have been mentioned, his board deals with.

In the end, $46,565 was raised, beating their record beating amount last year by $52. Ama says “I think it’s safe to say we were all incredibly shocked by the amount we raised this year. All the execs and members of SemDM worked tirelessly to make this event as special as possible and we would’ve been so grateful for any amount, but I have to say beating last year’s amount felt especially amazing.” Paul ‘22 has similar sentiments saying “The 46,000 is just the icing on top to be honest… seeing their [Miracle Kids] reactions that day, the smiles and joy radiating from their faces, makes the months of work worth it. Even if we only fundraised a few dollars, it wouldn’t matter as the Miracle Kids are why we do it year after year and just having them there means the world to us!” Over the last 11 years, SemDM has raised $272,323.

Mr. Ris: A Passionate Educator

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By Rebecca Polgar ’24

One of the most influential teachers in Sem’s long history is Stephen Ris. He, along with a few other teachers, will be retiring at the end of the school year. When asked about how he felt about his retirement, he spoke about his bittersweet, mixed emotions. Exciting future plans are tainted by sadness of a long career of teaching he’s sad to leave behind.

After teaching for 44 years, Ris has obtained a unique skill to portray straightforward ideas to his students with a passion that means history never gets boring. One of the classes he’s most proud of is one of Sem’s most unique classes. AP Seminar, a combination of American Literature and U.S. History, offers a discussion based class that has a strong emphasis on a higher level of analysis and connects the two subjects to make understanding stronger. He told me he’s seen generations graduate from his classes and move onto bigger and better things.

With the encouragement of Mr. Chace, who teaches the English portion of Seminar, Ris hopes to start writing more poetry once he retires. He also has plans to travel and visit his kids and granddaughters in Seoul, South Korea and Alexandria, Virginia. Among more travel plans are a trip to the American Southwest and Myrtle Beach.

When asked about his impact on students, he said he hopes to help students think for themselves and enjoy the pursuit of discovery of knowledge. He urges students to not sacrifice passion for financial gain when saying, “Do what you love and do it with all your heart, the money will come.” Ris’s last remark, though a cliche one, he retorts, is nonetheless true: “Follow your passion.” Passion is what has driven Ris to do the work he loves, and he hopes students will find that spark that’s all their own, and nurture it.

Favorite Faculty Books

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By Helena Prusak ’23

Ms. Miller

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

“Tom Jones is a humorous novel written in the 1700s. It’s about an illegitimate son of a servant who is adopted by a squire. Everyone is convinced he is the legitimate son of the squire. Jones falls in love with his virtuous neighbor, Sarah. He goes on a variety of adventures that show the contrast between his naive nature, the virtue of Sarah, and the evil of his half brother. It’s my favorite book because everytime I read it, I get something new out of it.”

Mrs. Shafer

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

“I read it sophomore year in high school and it really opened my eyes to a whole new world. My teacher let me keep it, even though it was the school’s copy, and I still have it to this day! I’m actually going to reread it again after I finish Mad Honey.”

Ms. McLaughlin 

Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger

“Why is it my favorite? I guess because it’s interesting. Like most high school kids, I was assigned The Catcher in the Rye, and from there I became interested in the guy who invented Holden Caulfield. Salinger was a brilliant and eccentric man; he lived almost all his life as a recluse, and refused to let his works be commercialized or reinvented in any way—to the point where every single book cover was exactly the same. No art—nothing. He was intensely private, and he didn’t churn out a ton of work…but the work he did put out is so captivating. Much of it is about a family he imagined, the Glass family. If you’ve read “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” then you already know the fate of Seymour Glass. But the books are quirky and playful and also smart and illuminating. It’s not the kind of book I’d ever want to teach, but one that I’d highly recommend.”

Mr. Chace

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
“As I tell my Love Gone Wrong class every year (we read the book in this class), The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is my favorite book of all time. The writing is beautiful, subtle, haunting, and heartbreaking, and the story revolves around memory and missed opportunities, either due to personality clashes, conflicts between personal and professional lives, or societal constraints. The idea that two people who clearly love each other can never make it work, can never even fully express their love, and can’t ever change their past is devastating, and I guess I would much rather be devastated by art and literature. As a result, Ishiguro has also become my favorite author.”