Category: News

Students participate in a drive-by birthday

How Social Platforms Are Connecting Sem Through Challenges and Virtual Activities

By Shane Holcombe ’23 and Maddie Olshemski ’23

During a time of great uncertainty, the Wyoming Seminary community exemplified the True, the Beautiful, and the Good by reaching out to one another through social platforms. Through Zoom calls, lifestyle challenges, virtual school spirit, and appreciation for Sem staff, students and faculty thought out of the box to stay as connected as possible.

 Zoom chats revolutionized SEMs education and online interaction community. Teachers had to adapt their plans for their classes as well as how they present their course material to their students. After interviewing Mrs. Swaback, Dean of the Class of 2023, and Geometry teacher, one message was clear: students weren’t alone in navigating online learning issues. Mrs. Swaback said, “Teachers had minimal time to prepare for online classes, which led to lots of experimenting in learning strategies.” While experimenting with online learning, teachers used feedback from their students to expand on what was working and cut down on what wasn’t. Mrs. Mozeleski, Dean of the Class of 2021 and the Head Athletic Trainer, said in an interview that it is “traumatizing walking through campus without the usual energy.” 

Like the teachers, students adapted throughout the spring trimester. Some students have enjoyed the amount of free time online learning has provided, however many miss the excitement and structure of a normal school day. Freshman Alex Inhyuk Kang ‘23 in an interview said, “I liked that I had more time to do homework. However, it is really boring to study alone. My friends and I created a Zoom group chat and just talk about how we’re doing.” Friends have turned to Zoom to stay connected and to all be together with one another. The Sem community also used Zoom for movie nights together and the summer send-off assembly. Friends have not only interacted online but also got creative to see their peers in person. For example, drive-by birthday parties have brought friends together to celebrate a special day.

Athletic teams have bonded through online meetings and challenges. Athletes have made the best out of their situation with at-home workout videos with their teams and DIY gyms with objects as simple as water jugs. Football player Edwin Lora said in a text exchange, “I don’t have any weights in my house like many others do so I have to work with what I have.” Well deserved awards were still given out through coaches’ videos, which brought teams together. Sem athletes are training constantly to be ready when the time comes to resume their sports.  

MUN: What a Time To Be Alive

By Isabelle Polgar ‘21

The United Nations: in the real world, it is a careful place, working in national sovereignty and economic stability to make incremental changes to our world. So far this year, our Model United Nations Club had to deal with bringing our nation out of the Great Depression and using smart industrial solutions similar to the “New Deal.” 

Improving upon the actual United Nations, however, it had creative twists, like one delegate pushing for the legalization of all drugs for economic stimulation and an invasion of Germany ten years before World War II. However, this past winter, a new simulation occurred: a crisis! The Hong Kong protests are entangled with complex issues surrounding many groups around the world and at Sem. As one head delegate, Jess Kishbaugh stated, “We picked the Hong Kong protests for our winter simulation because it was really relevant at the time, and it combined a lot of people’s interests. We incorporated not just internationalism with members of the Hong Kong, U.S., and the Chinese government, but we also used basketball players to add another layer to it.” Delegates enjoyed the simulation, which had constant crisis updates like the double kidnapping of Carrie Lim (represented by Alvin Tuo) and the brutal murder of both protest leaders (represented by Isabelle Polgar and Max Liu). The U.S. government also had a significant role, with Donald Trump (represented by Max Krous and Amin Ali) giving the Hong Kong protesters a billion dollars in exchange for renaming Hong Kong “Trump Town.” 

Delegates learned and had a lot of fun. A portion of them was chosen to attend the highly acclaimed “Ivy League United Nations Conference” held annually by the University of Pennsylvania. Delegates came from six different continents and from committees such as Facebook, Brexit, and the Congress of Vienna. While there wasn’t as much murder at UPenn as in Sem’s practice simulation, delegates still had a lot of fun and learned a lot about present and historical foreign affairs. One delegate, Matt Kuloszewski ‘21, stated, “Our committee was tasked with solving the Israel Palestine conflict. Our chairs warned us that it was a very sensitive issue and that the Actual U.N. hasn’t been able to solve it in decades. Even though we put great effort into our working papers, every single resolution proposed failed. It taught me, though, that the issues of our world are often complex and multifaceted, requiring long-lasting cooperation among all parties involved.” Attendees also got delicious meals at the Reading Terminal Market and lots of boba tea. In fact, Nikka Gohrieshi set a Sem record for Boba consumption at a Model U.N. conference. Every delegate learned something new about the world and themselves while having a fun weekend meeting people from around the world.