Features – Page 13 – The Opinator

Sem’s “Fob”ulous Security

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Ivy Miller

By Ms. Miller’s Journalism Class

Security and safety has always been an issue in schools all across America. With more and more violence everyday it has never been a more pressing problem. The question remains are some schools being careful enough?

View of the outside of the KCCA, bordered by a public sidewalk. Photo courtesy of Alex Peck ‘17.

View of the outside of the KCCA, bordered by a public sidewalk. Photo courtesy of Alex Peck ‘17

As a school within a city, Wyoming Seminary (SEM) tries to take as many precautions as possible. With Security guards patrolling the ground day and night as well as a fob system of electronic access keys only given to students and faculty. Students also utilise a text program where they are alerted of possible security issues and lockdowns.

However, being in a city does have its consequences. Sprague Avenue, a street that goes directly through campus and although cars cannot access it, the street is technically public property. This allows anyone to walk on Sprague freely but not the rest of campus as it is private property.

Members of SEM’s faculty believe the school is safe right now, but previously, security was an issue. Mr. Randy Granger, Dean of Academics, said: “There was an issue before the Sprague doors were fob protected. People who shouldn’t be inside Sprague walked in the building sometimes. Faculty members immediately recognized that they shouldn’t be here so they escorted them outside of the building.” Since then preventive measures have been improved.

Cameras in the KCCA parking lot. Photo Courtesy of Connor Evans ‘17.

Cameras are a relatively new security addition that Mr. Jay Harvey ‘80, Upper School dean, insists are monitoring everything. He said: “Every entrance has one security camera so we can look who’s coming and going. The school is working on… [putting] more external cameras on campus.” Hopefully new cameras can be placed on some of the older buildings as well.

On the use of fobs, that are used to access every building on the SEM campus, there is mostly positive feedback. Granger states: “They’re annoying sometimes, but are a necessity in order to ensure safety.” The downsides of these keys is how they are easy to lose and how they must be shut off if lost.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked preventative measures at SEM is simple common sense. “I have been on campus for 13 years and I can just recognize some people that just don’t belong, ” says Jeff Sims, the head groundskeeper, “I report it to the security, and they take care of it.”

Despite all these measures, there are still occasional questions raised about the security of the campus. “Many people who live around Kingston walk around Sprague Ave at night,” said Quang Phan ‘17. “I didn’t know most of them.” This is because of the previously mentioned fact that the public sidewalks on Sprague Avenue are technically public property, enabling anyone who wants to to wander down them freely.

James Reilly ‘17 using SEM’s Fob System. Photo courtesy of Connor Evans ‘17.

However, most feel that the measures are enough to prevent any issues in campus safety. “I don’t think I have encountered any security issue,” said Sims. “ I have been living in the area for 13 years, and I feel really safe here.”

Sem Builds Community Through Service

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Ivy Miller

By Roy Phillips ’17
Last Friday, September 9, Wyoming Seminary Upper School students enjoyed a day free from school but not from hard work. Students were sent to volunteer in small groups to help give back to their community. Organized by Sem’s administration, Community Service Day is a new event that helps communicate and apply the school’s motto: “The True, The Beautiful, and The Good.”

Community Service Day also contributed volunteer hours towards each student’s requirement of forty hours. Service is required in order to graduate because, in the words of Mrs. Jane Slaff, “our core values are learning, leading, and serving.” She also says that the day of service is important to “appreciate giving back and to jump start making the community better.”

Community Service Day consisted of twenty-six different projects including ones dealing with animals, such as the trips to Blue Chip Animal Shelter, the SPCA, and Hillside Farms. Other outdoor trips were led to Camp Kresge, Camp Orchard Hill, the Wilkes Barre City Cemetery, and the JCC Camp.

Sem students unloading the van at JCC camp filled with wood after working hard all morning to collect it. (Photo courtesy of Jimmy Reilly ‘17)

Students helped out in a range of other activities, from assisting with projects at the Sem Lower School and visiting the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, to writing letters to deployed troops and making posters for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Elizabeth DePhillips, Associate Director of College Guidance, was a leader in organizing the events of the day. She said, “[community service] is part of our essential core values, so [the day allowed] for new students to experience options for how they can get involved in the community, but also for returning students who have been a part of the community to really highlight all the great things they are doing in the community and how they are learning outside the classroom.” Students also enjoyed the day, as Sam Sweitzer ‘18 stated: “It brought everyone together and gave us a chance to have an impact on others.”

Wyoming Seminary students at Blue Chip Farms where they helped to take care of animals looking for a permanent home. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Bartron)

Being able to choose from twenty-six different projects allowed individuals to give their time and effort to causes they feel passionate about. Nina Magnotta ‘17 told us about her choice: “I picked Hillside Farms because I wanted to give back to a nonprofit that gives so much to the community.

Wyoming Seminary students at Blue Chip Farms where they helped to take care of animals looking for a permanent home. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Bartron)

Upon returning back on campus students enjoyed lunch with their advisors and an assembly about the volunteer work done by members of our Sem community. Mr. Chris Pons, Wyoming Seminary math teacher, spoke about his time in the Peace Corps, encouraging the audience to also get involved in international service. Mr. Jay Harvey ‘80, Upper School Dean, spoke of a recent alumna, Emily Bruno ‘92, who chose a life of service and gave back to people all over the world from all walks of life. Alan Stout, a representative from the local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters, also spoke how volunteering can help make a lasting impact on less fortunate children from around the area.

Jake Rosner ‘17 holds a poster for the group helping Operation Gratitude where students made cards and bracelets for our nation’s military. (Photo courtesy of Patty Deviva)

Students on the Community Service Board spoke as well, including Rose Zheng ‘18 who believes that the activities of the day were “cultivating the habit of community service.”

The excitement of the day will hopefully encourage students to get involved with volunteering more often. Ariana Buffalino ‘18 enjoyed her day at the Lower School and said that it “absolutely makes [her] want to do more community service.”
With so much going on, it is good to take a day and reflect on the school’s mission. At Sem, the students strive for the True, the Beautiful, and the Good. After a day of helping out, making others happy, and simply improving the community, the Sem student body and faculty look forward to the next opportunity to bring that mission to life.

Faculty Highlight: Mrs. Slaff

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Ivy Miller

By Ryan Jackloski ’16

What are five facts about you?
I love to entertain. I wasn’t supposed to live past the age of two because I had a severe heart condition and had open-heart surgery when I was eighteen. I’m a great sports spectator but I was never allowed to play. I’m Southern and have deep Southern roots. My guilty pleasure is country music when I’m cooking or working. My mother was a church organist but also a recording artist and arranger for the pipe organ so I appreciate classical and religious music as well, but you can clean a house pretty well to a country song. I love helping students. It keeps me young, but I get so much back from trying to help students figure out things or relieve stress. I love my job. I really enjoy being a grandmother; I have four grandchildren: twenty, seven, four, and four.

How long have you worked at Sem?
Thirty years.

What positions have you held while here?
I’ve been a French teacher, Spanish teacher, English teacher, and ESL teacher. I ran the ESL Summer program for eighteen years. I served as chair of global language department. I’ve worked in college guidance for over twenty years and directed it for four. I’m also a mentor of new faculty, and I sit on a bunch of committees.

What is your favorite class you’ve taught?
As far as content, I’ve always loved French Honors. I’ve always held onto it because you’re introducing literature and history through the target language. When College Board stopped AP French Literature, I had a few years when I got to develop a capstone course after AP French Language, and we did sub-Saharan and Caribbean literature of negritude, which is black literature. It was literature that I had never studied, so I was learning it with this small group of students, and that was really cool.

This year you oversaw the submission of over 1,100 college applications and just the other day you had nine appointments to attend. How do you stay so calm and organized?
That’s a lesson I have learned through being a grandmother. And I don’t know that I stay calm, but I am able to be present. When I’m in a meeting, I’m just in that meeting, or when I’m talking to a student, I try to really just focus and listen to the student. I have learned that when you’re with three and four year olds, you have to be in the moment, so I try to remember that lesson and I give my full attention to whatever I’m doing, and then I move onto the next thing. I plan my day. I keep a list of what needs to be done, but then I try to focus on just one task at a time. I do think that sometimes we spend too much time worrying about what has happened that we can’t change and what we still have to get done. I just start plugging away. You have to know when to draw the line and just say, “That’s the best I can do right now,” and you move onto something else. It’s okay to fall short, to accept yourself as not perfect.

What college did you go to?
I went to Tulane University in New Orleans. I went as an informational engineer and math major when computers were a whole big room, and I fell in love with French literature because Tulane required language. I changed my major, graduated, and went on to do graduate work in medieval French.

What would you like to say to the overly eager freshman or sophomore with plans on applying to every Ivy, MIT, and Stanford?
The difference between having a dream and a goal is a plan. Having a plan is important as long as you understand that plans change. I think we get so wrapped up in where we go to school that we really don’t focus on how we go to school. There are so many ways to get a great education and get launched into a career that will make you feel fulfilled and happy. There are so many jobs that a seventeen year old doesn’t even know exist that could be marvelous careers. I really hope that high school kids keep an open mind of what’s out there. You can make so many college experiences great. I would rather students focus on the how and the why than on the where.

A lot of colleges have recently become test optional. Do you think with time the SAT and ACT will become totally obsolete?
No. Test optional is really a luxury of small to midsize schools. Really large institutions oftentimes use computers to at least go through the first round of selecting their classes. They need something to compare apples to apples because the grading scales and curricula at different schools are so varied. I don’t think standardized tests are going to go away unless we go to some type of national exam for graduation like the Baccalaureate in France. I think test optional and test flexible admission programs are important because we can’t quantify a student. They’ve proven that students who do not report their scores to test optional schools perform just as well during college as the students who chose to report their scores. There’s a lot of data that says those tests do not necessarily provide any sort of measure of success. I don’t think they’re going to go away because some kids are good at tests so they want to report their scores. Admission officers just want to know what your skills are entering college. I hope there will be options for students.

A lot of people know you as Snapple Cap because you know a ton of random facts. Can you give us one?
“Are you worth your salt” is an expression we use. Some say Roman soldiers were often paid in salt (which is sal in Latin), so your salary is your allotment of salt. So if you’re worth your salt, you’re worth your salary.