Category: Features

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.

by Isabella Fox ’25

Climate Science and Sustainability program is a concentration here at Wyoming Seminary. The four-year program is created for students to study topics in climate science while gaining experience in the field. At the end of the program students will complete a capstone project. 

Together all students in the Climate Science and Sustainability program strive towards the game goal, spreading awareness on climate change. “Everything is connected and interlinked and we survive on this planet because it takes care of us, not because we take care of it. When you start to realize that our existence is based on how well the earth is taken care of, it becomes not an issue of nature but an issue of humanity in general.” Mr. McGlinn, the director of CSS,  says. 

In recent years numerous spaces around campus have been remodeled by students in the CSS program. The most recent spaces remodeled are the pollinator garden and the compost pile. 

Climate Science and Sustainability has partnered with Metz, the food service here at Sem, on the compost pile. Metz provides the fruit and vegetable scraps from daily meal preparation to the compost pile, which is located in the back of Maple lot.  

The pollinator garden is in the space behind the library & the SLRC. While the pollinator garden makes the space look beautiful- it increases the biodiversity on campus, increases pollination, and provides many learning opportunities for the Sem community. The pollinator garden was first formally announced to the Sem community in a Monday Memo in August of 2022. Since then, the space has hosted many informational sessions as well as fun activities. 

With climate change becoming a pressing issue, the importance of raising awareness has become crucial. Mr. McGlinn says  “Climate Science and Sustainability is extremely important because climate change and sustainability are the most important issues in the future because they touch so many different aspects of human life”.

This program allows students to not only raise awareness at the Upper School, but the Lower School as well. Mr. McGlinn followed up with “Overall, I’m seeing more and more young people become interested in this issue because they are realizing that it’s a problem that they are inheriting and didn’t necessarily come into the world creating, but they are the ones that are going to need to do something about it. They’re taking responsibility through action.” 

By Trinity Kong ’24

Wyoming Seminary’s Environmental Club held yet another Earth Week beginning Monday, April 17th until Earth Day, Saturday, April 22. Working hard throughout the winter and spring terms, the members of the Environmental Club hosted a variety of exciting activities and events during the week. Their goal was to promote sustainability and educate on environmental issues while encouraging all of Wyoming Seminary to join their efforts and do their part to combat climate change.

Starting off the week with Meatless Monday and poster-making, the Environmental Club, with the help of Metz Food Service, provided plant-based lunch options and held a poster-making party after classes. Eating plant-based is beneficial for the planet as it can severely decrease the number of greenhouse gases produced and the amount of habitat and biodiversity loss. The poster-making party allowed members of the Sem community to voice their concerns about climate change in writing, which would then be posted on the gates around campus to stimulate the local community to think about these issues.

On Tuesday, the Environmental Club distributed wildflower seeds native to the area to promote planting flowers that are native to the area but will also increase the area’s biodiversity.

Next up, on Wednesday, an Educational Walk for Water was led by Michele Schasberger to Toby’s Creek. Students who attended were taught about the importance of walk quality and shown how to test certain aspects of water quality.

Members of the Environmental Club organized a clothing donation and a trip to the local Salvation Army for Thursday of Earth Week. Buying clothes secondhand is very beneficial for the environment because making new clothes requires large amounts of water, pollutes water sources, and releases large quantities of greenhouse gases.

The club ended the school week with a dress-down day and a day of no plastic use. The dress-down day proceeds went towards Plastic Oceans International, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to end plastic pollution and promote sustainable living. And in conjunction with Metz Food Service and Caribou Coffee, the Environmental Club encouraged all of Sem to stop using plastic just for one day, offering incentives such as one dollar off of a purchase at Caribou Coffee for bringing a reusable cup. Plastic pollution is detrimental to the environment, the animals around us, and even human beings.

Finally, on Saturday, the club spent Earth Day with a Pollinator Garden Activity: planting succulents in pots reused from past ceramics classes. Along with the activity, a beekeeper came to speak to attendees about the importance of pollinators to the environment.

Taking all the amazing activities and initiatives into account, Earth Week 2023 was a success, and Environmental Club will continue to work to improve on Wyoming Seminary’s actions to combat climate change!