Category: News

Mock Trial Participates in Invitationals

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by Anna Chong ’24

Mock Trial Team (Photos Courtesy of Wyoming Seminary Communications Department)

The Wyoming Seminary Mock Trial Teams just ended its invitationals for this year. They were divided into A and B teams. Each team consisted of two sides, prosecution and defense. Each side is supposed to have three attorneys and three witnesses when competing. Mock Trial is a competition that simulates real trials. Students are given a case that remained the same throughout the whole season. The process of preparing for the case required lots of time and hard work together as a team. The audition took place in early November. From then, both teams started writing and memorizing materials for the case. On January 15 and 16, both teams participated in the Blue & Gold Invitational hosted by La Salle University. On January 22 and 23, both teams took part at the University of Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Invitational. Each team held a total of eight trials in these two Invitationals, each trial lasting for three hours. Even though both tournaments were held virtually, both A and B teams have performed exceptionally well. Emily Aikens ‘22 received outstanding attorney awards at both events, while Abby Chong ‘24 and Paige Kenewell ‘24 won outstanding witness awards at the Blue & Gold Invitational. 

This year, the Sem Mock Trial Teams had welcomed a lot of new faces joining the team and spending a memorable time together. Every participant learned much from this amazing experience. Both teams would not be able to have such extraordinary performances without the coach, Dr. Peter Froehlich. As the A team just finished their district competition in mid February, Dr. Peter Froehlich, is invited to talk about his takeaways from this unforgettable event. According to Dr. Peter Froehlich, “We had a very successful season. At the invitationals, both teams scored well against a deep field of talented competition and several of our members received individual awards. In the district competition, sem had a perfect record of 3-0 and were judged the winners by a 14-1 ballots.” He said he was very impressed with Benjamin Zhao ‘22 and Emily Aikens ‘22 ‘s leadership and how independent students were turning material into the prepared statements. Witnesses embodied characters very well and there was much thinking involved on the feet. He stated that watching the B team competing was especially impressive since many of them were participating for the first time. It is great looking at them getting better and better after each trial. 

Wyoming Seminary Celebrates Lunar New Year

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by Maria Wang ’23

Wyoming Seminary celebrated Lunar New Year with an assembly at the Kirby Center for the Creative Arts (KCCA), where Asian students had the opportunity to showcase their culture and traditions to the entire school community. In addition, the school also provided kitchens to Asian students to cook food from their hometown to celebrate Lunar New Year.

Jennifer Brown, the organizer of the Lunar New Year assembly said, “As the international coordinator this year my role is to find ways to highlight and give the stage to our international students at different points. Lunar New Year is such a colorful and exciting festival, and it’s a great time to really display all those cultures.” When being asked how she organized the event she explained, “I might be the key person that’s driving the idea to this but it could never have happened without student leadership. They were absolutely essential!”

As impressed as many audiences are, Brown has other other unique opinions about the Lunar New Year assembly. “I am so impressed at how confident all the student presenters are,” she continued, “I have taught most of the presenters before.”

“When they first came to high school or first came to the states they tend to be a little more shy or quiet. Then, seeing some of those students get up on stage and just speak so eloquently, well, and proudly about their culture and heritage is just incredible.”

Allison Luo ’23 performed a wonderful piece of traditional Chinese dance, she explained, “I want to present to more students the traditional Chinese Culture.” When asked if she enjoyed the experience of performing, she answered, “Absolutely. As a Chinese, I am very proud of contributing to the celebration of Chinese New Year. Although choreographing and dancing this piece isn’t easy, when I heard the cheers from the audience, I knew it was worth it.”

Lio was not only a performer at the KCCA but also the main chef of Lunar New Year dinner. She said, “The experience of cooking and eating with other students reminds me of cooking with my family when I was home. I was so happy to see everyone put lots of effort into the dinner and it was excellent to see all the other students sitting together at one table, eating together, just like one big family!”

The Lunar New Year assembly demonstrates the diverse cultural environment and the involvement of students from different cultural backgrounds in the Wyoming Seminary School community. The efforts of all students and faculty put into this activity is incredible.


 

Fall Sports During Covid-19

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Fall Sports During Covid-19

By Maddie Olshemski ’23

 

2020 was anything but ordinary, and the fall sports season was no exception to this. Although the fall season looked a bit different than past years, Wyoming Seminary student-athletes made the season the best and safest that they could. Wyoming Seminary fall sports include Football, Field Hockey, Tennis, Golf, Soccer, and Cross Country. The student-athletes on these teams persevered and made the year more memorable than any year before, despite the circumstances and obstacles the Covid-19 pandemic threw their way. 

This fall season was like no other. Adjustments had to be made to fit Covid- 19 protocols and ensure everybody participating was safe as possible to have a season. This means masking at all times, except when playing, and social distancing during water breaks, drills, on the benches, and during bus rides. At a glance, it could be seen as a challenge, but sophomore soccer defender, Aiden Gilbert, talked about in an interview how these protocols brought the Boys Team together. He explained, “[W]e knew that wearing masks was our best chance at being able to keep the season going, so we made sure to keep that in the back of our minds when we felt like taking them off. And although we couldn’t go too close to each other, we all had to go through the same problems, so we were able to relate with each other on a greater scale and become closer as a team.” The Boy’s Soccer Team then came together at the end of their season and finished with a win in the PIAA AA District Championship. 

The student-athletes were not the only ones who had to adapt and make adjustments this fall season. Coaches played a massive role in making sure all student-athletes had the best experience possible playing their sports. Head Field Hockey coach, Coach Karen Klassner, touched on some of the difficulties she and her 3-peat defending PIAA Class A State Championship Team faced. The main challenge she talked about was “[T]he uncertainty of current and future situations, and not knowing from day to day if it would be your last game.” This uncertainty was not just surrounding cases on each respective team but throughout the entire state. The season could have been cut short by several things, including cases within other SEM teams, within the SEM community, other school teams throughout the area, and cases throughout the state. Any of these factors could have ended the season for SEM athletic teams and teams in the entire conference and in the PIAA. But even with this uncertainty, Coach Klassner commended her team for pushing through, “…our team was great, they knew what they had to do and handled every situation knowing they were lucky to be playing.” The Field Hockey Team finished off an already memorable season with a win in the PIAA Class A State Championship, making them the only Pennsylvania team ever to win three State Titles in a row. An unbelievable feat in an even more unbelievable time. 

To play a sport during a pandemic with so much uncertainty where the sport you love can be taken away at any given moment is a challenge. However, every Wyoming Seminary fall sport student-athlete knew how lucky they were to play while making memories and connections that will be cherished. No student-athlete will ever forget the year they overcame uncertainty and adversity in a global pandemic while playing the sport they loved in the blue and white.