Category: Opinions

What Are You Listening To?

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By Erica Zhu ’23

As the 2022-2023 year comes to a close, an important question remains: what are the cheerful dwellers of Wyoming Seminary listening to? Opinator interviewed both the students and faculty on Sprague Avenue to uncover their music tastes:

Christian DeBellis ‘24: Wildflower Wildfire – Lana Del Rey

Ari Froehlich ‘24: California Dreamin’ – The Mamas and The Papas

Mr. Logan Chace: “Sorry, too busy.” & the new album by The National

Andrew Tulo ‘24: All For You – Amaria and Destin Conrad

Peyton Popple ’23: “Sound of Dino crying.”

Kate Soreth ’20: I bet on Losing Dogs – Mitski 

Moira Poepperling ’25: Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Roll

Rita Kupstas ’23: “Yes.” 

Ms. Alexa Eidam: It Ain’t Over ‘Till It’s Over – Lenny Kravitz 

Xavier Tereska ’27: Becoming the Last Names – Will Wood 

Ben Carron ’23: “The Sweet sound of bus on pavement.”

Drew Mauriello ’23: “The lacrosse game and a Joji leak.” 

Ms. Rachel Bartron: Thank God For You – Kane Brown and his Wife: “Music changes the atmosphere all the time.”

Paul Stevenson ’24: I Fought the Law – Bill Jean and Shut Up and Drive – Rihanna 

Olivia Sekel ‘24: Illicit Affairs – Taylor Swift

Nicholas Shin ’23: Despacito – Luis Fonsi and Stay – Justin Beiber 

Molly Kopetchny ’24: Crosby Stills, Nash, Stevie Nicks, and Joe Cocker

Tommy Majkowski ’25: “Classical Hip Hop.” 

Alex Smulowitz(as Elvis) ‘25: “My own music of course.”

Mrs. Ellen Sherry: The Carpenters and other 70s music!

Ainsley Eidam ’23: Name of The Game – ABBA

Jacob Hamilton Nivert ’25: Me! – Taylor Swift x Brendon Urie and Hamilton Soundtrack

Helena Prusak ’23: “Beyonce.” 

Leaf Hancuff ’23: You Ain’t Nothin but a Hound Dog in French

Mr. Floyd Bussie: Losing my Religion in French

Arthur Wang ’26: Raincoat – Kieron Lee and Chloe Ho

McKayla Williams ’24: Angelina – Lizzie McAlpine

Lily Roberti ’24: Mine – Taylor Swift

Bao “Bow Toza” To ’26: It Started to Rain – Shook

Xavier Flory ’24: “Tyler the Creator.” 

Francesca Ramos ’23: “N-nothing?”

Gabe Rampp ’23: Dear Mr. Fantasy – Traffic 

Ethan Burns ’27: “I’m listening to Freaks by Surf Curse.”

Brad McGinty ’25: Through The Fire and The Flames

Ian Poole ’22: “A lot of Billy Joel!”

Paige Kenewell ’24: Audiobook of Project Hail Mary 

David Guetz ’24: Movies – Andromeda

Muriel Shaefer ’23: Don’t Stop The Music – Jaimie Cullum

Erica Zhu ‘23: Killshot(Slowed + Reverb) – Magdalena Bay

Sem students have good musical taste…or do they? As the summer rolls in, check out some of these hot songs and artists.

Favorite Faculty Books

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By Helena Prusak ’23

Ms. Miller

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

“Tom Jones is a humorous novel written in the 1700s. It’s about an illegitimate son of a servant who is adopted by a squire. Everyone is convinced he is the legitimate son of the squire. Jones falls in love with his virtuous neighbor, Sarah. He goes on a variety of adventures that show the contrast between his naive nature, the virtue of Sarah, and the evil of his half brother. It’s my favorite book because everytime I read it, I get something new out of it.”

Mrs. Shafer

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

“I read it sophomore year in high school and it really opened my eyes to a whole new world. My teacher let me keep it, even though it was the school’s copy, and I still have it to this day! I’m actually going to reread it again after I finish Mad Honey.”

Ms. McLaughlin 

Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger

“Why is it my favorite? I guess because it’s interesting. Like most high school kids, I was assigned The Catcher in the Rye, and from there I became interested in the guy who invented Holden Caulfield. Salinger was a brilliant and eccentric man; he lived almost all his life as a recluse, and refused to let his works be commercialized or reinvented in any way—to the point where every single book cover was exactly the same. No art—nothing. He was intensely private, and he didn’t churn out a ton of work…but the work he did put out is so captivating. Much of it is about a family he imagined, the Glass family. If you’ve read “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” then you already know the fate of Seymour Glass. But the books are quirky and playful and also smart and illuminating. It’s not the kind of book I’d ever want to teach, but one that I’d highly recommend.”

Mr. Chace

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
“As I tell my Love Gone Wrong class every year (we read the book in this class), The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is my favorite book of all time. The writing is beautiful, subtle, haunting, and heartbreaking, and the story revolves around memory and missed opportunities, either due to personality clashes, conflicts between personal and professional lives, or societal constraints. The idea that two people who clearly love each other can never make it work, can never even fully express their love, and can’t ever change their past is devastating, and I guess I would much rather be devastated by art and literature. As a result, Ishiguro has also become my favorite author.”

Dress Up Days Change at Sem

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by Hannah Johns ’23

Wyoming Seminary Upper School begins to address “dress-up days” differently nowadays. 


Wyoming Seminary Upper School is a college prep school with no uniform for the students who attend it. There is a dress code that isn’t very strict along with a dress code for “dress up days.” Dress up days have been a topic at Wyoming Seminary for a while, during which the boys wear suits and ties, while the girls wear a dress and nice shoes. Since the pandemic happened in 2020, dress up days weren’t seen very much during the school year until the 2022-23 school year. Dress up days are a time for the students of Wyoming Seminary to dress up for a certain event that is happening during the school day. 

As many may like dress up days, there are a certain amount of students who dislike them. Rosey Kelly, ’24, stated, “I don’t like them because it takes a lot longer for me to get ready in the morning and I feel as though they are not much different from regular days at school relating to the dress code.” As dress up days are beginning to come back more often during the school year, they face different challenges. More opportunities for students to express themselves are being given. Mx. Penland, a teacher at Wyoming Seminary and part of the LGBTQ+ community, is beginning to see a change for non binary students to express themselves. “I think there has been a lot less gender language being used.”

Guys wore suits and girls wore dresses, yet now girls are able to wear dresses or suits if they want. “A lot more options are being given and as long as you look presentable, it should be fine to wear what you want.”, said Mx. Penland. Over the years, the dress code for dress up days has changed and people have begun to learn to accept more ways that people may want to dress. Dress up days now, during the current school year, allow students to express and feel themselves by the way they dress. They don’t feel as restricted to wearing certain things, even though the dress code isn’t fully accepted yet, it has made its way to revolve around current situations.