Category: News

New Clubs in the Sem Community

by Kyleigh O’Hara ’21

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Wyoming Seminary Community is the amount of extracurricular activities the school offers. Ranging from field hockey, to Medical Club, to Mock Trial, to tennis, a student can join any club that suits their interests. However, if a student finds that a club he would be interested in doesn’t exist,  he can create one, just as two students recently did in the Sem community.

Bridget Tost ‘21 has recently decided that “enough is enough” and is in the process of creating the regional group “NEPA Students Demand Action.”  The main purpose of this group is to raise awareness of gun violence and how it affects students everywhere. Some of the plans for the future of the group include working on writing letters to congress, arranging town hall meetings, and organizing community outreach. Bridget is hoping to incorporate the group into Sem. However, it has not yet completed the approval process.

Additionally, The SAFE (Students Allied For Equality) club is a brand new addition to the Sem community. Freshmen co-founders Vivian Wright ‘21, Jonah Pascal ‘21, Flynn Little ‘21, and Jenny Yao ‘21, as well as sophomore co-founder Grey Cimini ‘22 have taken part in making Sem a more accepting environment for differences in sexual orientation and gender identity. They plan on meeting monthly and using that time to initiate in fun activities to learn about each other’s differences and similarities. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to  join. They’re planning on continuing the club into the 2018-2019 school year, so if you’re not ready to join this year, there is still plenty of time to decide to become a part of the change in environment of this school.

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Haley Rudofker ‘18

The mother eagle fixes the nest as one of her eaglets watches in awe (photo courtesy of raptorresource.org).

Most people watch dramatic television shows like Riverdale and The Walking Dead, but Mrs. Casterline’s ornithology classes have taken a different approach to entertainment. During the course of the spring term, her two classes have continuously tuned into Iowa’s Decorah Eagle livestream to see what the parent bald eagles and their eaglets are up to. They started off in March, watching the parent eagles protecting their eggs and each other until they hatched in the beginning of April. All was calm until the father eagle disappeared after a snow storm in the middle of April, leaving his family to fend for themselves.

Nick Bauer ‘18 has become obsessed with watching the eaglets grow and learning about their species. “What I find interesting about the eagle project is how we can study the species without leaving the comfort of the classroom.” He checks on the livestream multiple times a week to see what has changed and if the father has returned, along with Danica Mits ‘18 and Jeremy Diaz ‘18. Like Nick, Jeremy has dedicated some time towards waiting for the father’s return. “It was sad to hear the father eagle disappeared. I checked everyday to see if he would come back. Danica, although concerned about the state of the father, has drifted her focus towards the rest of the family. “It was worrying because the mom now has to defend and feed herself and the chicks, so I’m pretty worried for the rest of the little family.”

The father will most likely not  return to his family, but luckily another male bald eagle has come into the picture to watch over the eaglets, so these ornithology students will probably be watching the livestream into the summer to see what happens on the next dramatic episode of the Decorah eagles.