First Years at SEM

We welcomed a several new faces to SEM this year. Get to know our new faculty in the library, art, athletic and language departments.

The Joy of Painting for Your Community: Ms. Butski

‚ By Elle Noecker 24

Last year, Buffalo Seminary said farewell to our highly respected school art teacher of eight years, Ms. Caitlin Cass. Although we wish Ms. Cass the best of luck on her artistic journey as an Assistant Studio Art Professor at the University of Nebraska at Oklahoma, SEM knew that there were some big shoes to fill in the art department.

And SEM found just the perfect person for the job.

This year, our school enthusiastically welcomed Ms. Tricia Butski to the SEM community. Growing up in Niagara Falls, Ms. Butski has lived in the Buffalo area her whole life.

Her teaching experience is nothing short of expertise. In the past, she was a college professor at University at Buffalo, Niagara Community College, Erie Community College, and SUNY Fredonia. Her first artistic inspiration came from her childhood when she would watch Bob Ross on his show, “The Joy of Painting.” Art became a passion for Ms. Butski in high school when she realized that she wanted to pursue a career with her creative interests in some way. Her top interests were artistic therapy and teaching.

At SEM, she teaches: Intro to Drawing, Basic Painting, Mixed Media, Foundations and Abstractions, and the freshman ArtsEye Class alongside Ms. Drozd, chair of the Fine Arts Department and theatre teacher. In the words of Ms. Butski, “Artseye is awesome, I’ve never had the opportunity to teach a class like that before, so that’s totally new to me.”

When she’s not in the art gallery, Ms. Butski loves to collect plants, crochet, hike and spend time outside. When she creates art outside of school, she enjoys using charcoal and graphite in her work. One of the many things she loves about art is how it contributes to connecting with the greater community. In fact, Ms. Butski actively paints murals throughout the city of Buffalo as a way to share what she loves with others. “The most important way that I connect with the community is through public art,” she said. “Public

Ms. Butski paints her public mural, “Equally Distant,” on display at Albright-Knox Northland.

“I WANT TO SHOW STUDENTS THAT THROUGH TIME AND PRACTICE ANYONE CAN BE GOOD AT ART AND ART IS A WAY TO EXPRESS YOURSELF”

art is an artist’s gift to their community, [a] way of telling the community that you care about them and that you see them and that they’re important. [Public] art is for everybody,” she exclaimed passionately. She also created several wall murals for the Albright Knox Art Gallery.

Ms. Butski feels that her mission is to help students to find their inner creativity and understand that “everybody is an artist.” She helps students to build confidence and find individuality in their work. “I want to show students that through time and practice anyone can be good at art and art is a way to express yourself,” she said. In the words of Fiona M. ’24, a student in Ms. Butski’s Intro to Drawing class, “Ms. Butski is a great teacher and she helps everyone improve upon the skills they already have.”

As a former student of a small private high school, which had a dynamic similar to that of SEM, Ms. Butski felt a sense of familiarity in Buffalo Seminary. “I am just so excited to be here. One of the most wonderful things about SEM is that it feels like home, and that’s what I was looking for.”

Joining the Team: Alex Skomra

By Elle Noecker 24 ‚

Alex and Nurse Kim are SEM’s latest mother/daughter duo. Faith Wendel ’24

Alex Skomra was hired as the Summer At SEM Camp Director last year, but first had a connection to SEM as the school’s assistant track coach three years ago. Now, she is the beloved director of UGOSEM which is the in school fitness program for students who are not actively involved in a school sport. Many students would agree that UGOSEM with Alex is one of the highlights of simply being a student. From Just Dance (the popular favorite) to basketball, students (and Alex, of course) enjoy a variety of sports and games to be active during the day! But, how did Alex arrive at SEM? If you ask her, Alex will say, “My mom drew me to SEM.” Nurse Kim stated in an interview how she had always thought Alex would be a great fit to the SEM faculty, especially because she had always wanted to be a physical education teacher. It was just a matter of waiting for the “in.” That “in” ended up being the Summer at SEM Camp Director position, which Alex recalls as being “collectively really fun.” She specifically loved getting to witness and be one of the reasons why girls choose to come to SEM for high school. Alex is enthusiastic about being the Camp Director again this upcoming summer and seeing herself continue for many years to come. Alex was also highly drawn to SEM by knowing her love for the small, all girls school experience from attending Sacred Heart Academy. As soon as there was a need for a UGOSEM director, Kim and Alex immediately felt as though it was meant to be. Now working together, they have quickly become SEM’s most iconic mother-daughter faculty duo. As a multi-sport athlete, Alex had always had a particular passion for swimming. As if working together today is not endearing enough, Nurse Kim and Alex shared a significant portion of their swimming careers together, where Alex was coached by her mom from ages six to 18. Following in similar footsteps, Alex became a swim coach “right out of high school,” she said,“I got a job at the Y which is where I swam.” For a while she coached younger kids, but always had an interest in the higher level, more competitive world of high school swimming. For the past four years, Alex has been the coach of Nardin’s swim team. She described how she took the position after it was turned down by a friend who recommended Alex for the job. Slightly uncertain about coaching a rival team to that of SEM’s, the result was an easy transition. “The atmosphere coaching at Nardin is very similar (to SEM) with great kids,” Alex claims. While coaching for opposing teams, Alex and her mom have experienced a sense of friendly competition that is more fun and exciting than anything else. At SEM, Alex loves the familiarity of the school after attending a similar environment for high school. She enjoys working at the school and getting to share the fun of UGOSEM classes with the students. When asked what her favorite activity to do with her classes, she stated, “I love when we play Just Dance.” However, she is also always down for “a good game of Knock-Out if people want to play.” Additionally, she enjoys badminton, having played on a team in the past. Working together has undoubtedly been a unique and delightful experience for both SEM Skomra swimmers. Alex described working with her mom as “really cool.” The pair gets to eat lunch together everyday, visit one another, and help each other out often. Having a close relationship with her mom her whole life, Alex continued that, “we always got along so it is very fun.” Oftentimes, during her breaks, Alex will visit Nurse Kim in her office. And other times, Nurse Kim will visit Alex during her UGOSEM classes to say “hi.” SEM is so fortunate to have two such positive attributes to the community who are part of the reason students and faculty love coming to SEM. This mother-daughter duo is beyond appreciated at the school and simply fun to have around in the building. The story of SEM’s Skomra swimmers continues as they coach, work, and thrive side by side each day.

Learning to Love Language: Ms. Lyons

By Faith Wendel 24 ‚

We warmly welcomed Ms. Megan Lyons into the Buffalo Seminary community this year, and she has shared a few of her favorite aspects of working at SEM. “I love coming into a classroom full of students who want to learn and want to be here,” Ms Lyons said. She is grateful to all of the people who are a part of the community for creating such a “great team” of people who make the atmosphere of the building brighter each day.

“I learned about linguistics and found out I was absolutely in love with it,” Ms. Lyons said when asked about her history before coming to teach at SEM. Teaching Spanish wasn’t always the main goal of her academic career. Initially, she wanted to go to school for the fine arts, but soon changed her mind and her major to Spanish with a minor in linguistics at the University at Buffalo.

She was inspired by numerous teachers throughout high school and college including Shirley Melston, Linda Seitz, and Doctora Bárbara Ávila-Shah. Melston was a Spanish, French, and German teacher who first introduced Ms. Lyons to linguistics. Seitz was her German teacher that promoted language immersion in the classroom. Ávila-Shah was a Spanish professor who had a huge impact on Ms. Lyon’s teaching, not only because she taught how to teach a new language but also by “leading by example.” Ms. Lyons cited her professor’s classes as an excellent example of the impacts of immersion in the target language, and she mirrors this by practicing that in her own classroom.

Prior to SEM, she had many experiences teaching. While she studied abroad in Spain, she was a student teacher. She taught English as a second language to students in Costa Rica and online to students in China, and then went on to teach Spanish at UB.

Ms. Lyons shared her reasoning as to why she believes learning a second language is important, “it’s more authentic sharing.” There is a great deal of culture, humor, and nuance that are lost when the other person has to switch to your language, and conversation can be more fulfilling especially if both are bilingual. Learning Spanish, for example, can give an insight into Latin, which can be useful in math, sciences, and etymology of words. On top of the benefits in academics and social relationships, learning a new language can open up an entire world of new pop culture to enjoy. “It is more of an equal playing field,” Ms. Lyons said.

Watching the progress from the beginning of the year up until now, she is both impressed by and proud of her students as a whole. She is happy that students seem to be becoming more comfortable raising their hands to answer questions, as well as conversing in the target language to their peers in class. She hopes this trend will continue since practicing conversational skills will truly help in the long run.

As a final note of encouragement, Ms. Lyons said, “it gets easier.” She acknowledges that learning a new language can be stressful or seem utterly impossible, but it will get better. As with most things in life, getting there is hard, but the final result is very rewarding.

Faith discusses Ms. Lyons’ journey to SEM and her experience so far in the Spanish classroom. Katie Rooney ’24

“I LOVE COMING INTO A CLASSROOM FULL OF STUDENTS WHO WANT TO LEARN AND WANT TO BE HERE”

Hitting the Books: Mrs. Scott

By Faith Wendel 24 ‚

Faith interviews Mrs. Scott in front of the fireplace at SEM’s library. Fiona Murphy ’24

“I really want to build relationships with students, faculty, and staff at SEM,” says Mrs. Jackie Scott, the new librarian, when asked about her goals. Mrs. Scott started working at SEM in the beginning of the 2021-22 school year. She also works at SUNY Erie College on the days when she is not at SEM. She realizes that librarians are sometimes known for being serious and strict, but she welcomes students to ask questions. “It is our whole purpose for being here!”

Mrs. Scott explains that “helping people” is of great importance to her, and she tends to choose jobs that allow her to do so. Coming out of college, she helped people find jobs. After that, she had numerous jobs all revolving around helping others. For example, she helped people learn to make jewelry, and she was a veterinary technician. However, she reveals that she is happiest as a librarian.

Since she has such a profound love for books, she shows interest in all genres. However, after years of reading, her longest standing favorite is “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. She found a liking for the genre of magical realism but doesn’t think she has a favorite. Mrs. Scott said, “I’ll read anything.” She shared that she’s always open to book recommendations and suggestions for what students would like to see in the library.

Not only does she read books, but she also writes original short stories for fun, and wrote three novel length works of fanfiction. I think she gave a valuable life lesson when she disclosed that she won’t finish a book if it doesn’t spark her interest in the first fifty or so pages.

Mrs. Scott’s top priority at SEM is to make the library feel welcoming and inviting to students and staff. She describes the library as “the heart of the school.” She has successfully revived the Little Free Library where students can pick out a book (some are read in classes and others are simply for fun) to keep.

Her plans are to have students help her decide what books to get, help make displays, and help plan events in the library. Student input has already started to be collected through a survey, and she still would like to see more responses because she believes the library is for everyone.

She encourages students to help out in the library, participate in upcoming events, or just stop in and say hello! Book a trip to the library!

Annual All-School Picnic Friday, September 9 Don’t miss the annual allschool picnic presented by the Parent Association. Enjoy good food, pick up some new SEM gear, welcome new families, and catch up with old friends!

Open House Saturday, September 17 Thursday, September 29 It’s our opportunity to show off what makes SEM so special! If you have a future SEM girl in your life, refer them to Director of Day Admission, Alexandra Tramposch at admission@ buffaloseminary.org.

Fall Play October/November 2022 In Fall and Spring, family, friends, faculty, alumnae, and the public are invited to our all-girl production chosen and directed by SEM’s Theatre Director, Susan Drozd.

Grandparents Day Tuesday, November 22 Grandparents get in on the fun as their granddaughters are able to show how much they love their school. Enjoy a Morning Meeting, cookies & coffee, and a family photo!

Holiday Bazaar Saturday, December 3 A festive and fun holiday tradition with local merchants, artisans, and a spectacular basket raffle. Support SEM classes, clubs, and the Buffalo Seminary Alumnae Association when you stop by their booths as well!

Revel Friday, December 16 A holiday concert performance by our Glee Club, Ensemble, SEMachords, and Faculty Glee Club! All Alumnae are invited to attend the concert and a reception that follows in the Colby room with cookies and hot chocolate. Share memories with your former teachers and classmates!