Wyoming Seminary PA: Together We Stand
Wyoming Seminary PA: Together We Stand
By Bill X. Barron
Student-athletes who join a prep school community must embrace the multidimensional facets of their overall commitment. Founded in the pre-Civil War era (1844), the Kingston, PA school Wyoming Seminary “dares to teach our students to honor and strive for the true, the beautiful, and the good.”
Coach Scott Green joined Seminary’s faculty eleven years ago as an English teacher and admissions counselor, in addition to coaching and dormitory responsibilities. He enjoys “full involvement in a community where I can help young adults develop into future citizens of the world.”
Under Coach Green, the Pennsylvania school has returned to its traditional role atop the prep school wrestling world. The wrestling team won its first National Prep School Championship in 1937, as well as 1947, 1948, and 1952. But not until Scott’s arrival did they bring home the title again, both in 2014 and 2020.
The 2020 team had six individual champions and ten finalists, and it was proclaimed as the #1 overall high school team in the nation. Beau Bartlett, now a freshman at Penn State, was the school’s first four-time national prep champion after moving from Arizona to Pennsylvania to enroll as a 7th grader.
Faced in 2021 with the prospect of a delayed or nonexistent National Prep Championships, the team decided to focus on the RMN Rumble in Arizona. Team members include two former RMN Triple Crown winners, 6th grader Wyatt Fry who returns to his home state, as well as Ohio’s Andrew Donahue, a national prep champion at 170 pounds as a sophomore.
Green foresees this optional trip as a bonding opportunity for teammates separated by virtual learning; thus, they looked forward to seeing the Grand Canyon as much as competing with other top teams in the country. As an additional bonus, the trip coincided with the school’s spring break, meaning that participants could also quarantine afterward.
Green stresses that students who succeed at the Seminary must embrace a direction that will “alter the course of your life” in a place where, in the true meaning of seminary, the founders envisioned that “young people would come together from all over the world to celebrate fellowship.”
In the words of wrestler Donahue: “Coach Green says there’s wrestling, school, and citizenship. We have an obligation to focus equally on all three and to be great at everything.”
Green asks that his recruits “commit to values more global than winning and losing. Championships are a product of living and training to certain values, then won through focusing on the larger picture. We have a team-first mindset where everyone has each other’s best interests at heart.”
At the Seminary, there are no designated captains. “The qualities one sees in a captain, we should see in everyone. Through shared leadership, we are stakeholders of this team. There’s no pressure on one individual to do it all; everyone is accountable. We are all in this together.”
How would you recognize a Wyoming Seminary wrestler who was not wearing the team singlet? While during a match, “he will be calm and collected,” states Donahue. However, he believes it is shown “less in how a Seminary kid wrestles, and more in the person he is off the mat. He is articulate when talking with you and able to break down the match.”
Coach Green reflects that “our wrestlers carry themselves with a love of the sport, mirrored in the way they are competing with passion and commitment. On the mat, we are the best at getting to the corner and in taking advantage of opponents when they are on the bottom. We map out offensive positions so as to be in the most competitive position.”
Parent Michael Donahue comments on Coach Green’s “influence on the camaraderie of the whole team. He has established a unified direction fostered by an overall enthusiastic and supportive team network. He avoids politics with parents and devotes a hundred percent of his focus to the kids.”
Mr. Donahue notes that “in a cafeteria setting, Coach Green will sit with the kids, not the adults.” Son Andrew relishes Coach’s daily magic tricks that “keep the kids entertained. While making it fun, he’s working our brains.” Michael adds that while “Coach keeps a smile on everyone’s face, he’s also managing stress levels in between competition against the best kids in the country.”
Scott admits that the prep school path is “not for everyone. You have to ask for the school to be a partner in your education. The true pay-off is when a kid gets into the college of his choice. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I guided them in a journey that is reinforced when success at the higher level culminates in a college degree.”