Cindy Liu

Riley Keltner gives out gummy bears as her valentines to her students. She has planned several holiday parties in the past, the previous one being Thanksgiving. “[My favorite part] is the excitement that I see from my seminar, when they buy into it, and when they want to get involved with it and do it,” Keltner said.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, history teacher Riley Keltner tasked her seminar students with bringing personal valentines and snacks to pass out Feb. 11. Keltner has planned several events like this for her seminar students in hopes of building community.

“A lot of [the activities] involve food, but I do feel like that’s a great way to bring people together,” Keltner said. “Typically for holidays, like Thanksgiving and Halloween, we’ll do little in-class seminar parties.”

Kira Cornell (12) brought snacks for her classmates, and helped spread the word through their seminar group chat. Throughout the four years she has spent with her peers in seminar, she feels that they’ve all become close through communication and celebrating special events like these. 

“[I like] the community, and I like having friends in my seminar that I can actually talk to and have fun with during seminar,” Cornell said. “We’re actually friends and we talk about things.” 

From making pancakes to commemorate the first week of school, to hosting a dip party for Friendsgiving, Keltner emphasizes wanting to make her seminar and classroom a safe space. 

“I definitely feel that my seminar is a place where the students here feel very comfortable, and this is their senior year now, so we’ve been together for four years,” Keltner said. “It’s a place where people hopefully enjoy being in, and are happy to say that they’re in my seminar.