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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; The pre-kindergarten crowd sang &#8220;the wheels of the bus,&#8221; and one kindergarten boy stood with an autumn-colored maple leaf next to his eye while a female classmate did a little jig.</p><p>But as nearly 1,000 students and faculty waited to line up for a photo celebrating Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s 175th anniversary, A.J. Innamorati had become a man in charge.</p><p>&#8220;I take it very seriously,&#8221; he grinned as he held up and waved a red &#8220;5&#8221; on a white sheet of paper showing both where the fifth-grade students were to be lined up and where to find them.</p><p>Next to him, Chloe Hedaya stood more subdued, her coat closed and hands firmly out of sight against the chill. &#8220;I like to stay in my coat and to take my hands out of my pockets,&#8221; she smiled.</p><p>Each grade in the pre-K through 12 school had gathered on Seminary&#8217;s upper campus to form two giant numbers only clear from the sky: 175, the number of years the school will be around next year, and 1844-2019, the dates covering those years.</p><p>It was an event more than a month in the making and another month in rain delay. Vice President of Advancement John Shafer said it had originally been planned for Sept. 25, but the rain was so heavy and frequent &#8220;We postponed it a week in advance.&#8221;</p><p>Despite having chalk markings on numerous sidewalks showing where each class should wait and various little colored pennants in the large field of the &#8220;back campus&#8221; along Maple Street showing where they would end up, it took more than an hour to get all those students set up for aerial shot taken with a quad-copter drone by Kevin Fonash of Fonash Studios. That left plenty of time for A.J. to wave that &#8220;5&#8221; around &#8212; actually two sheets of paper so, back to back, it showed a &#8220;5&#8221; in both directions.</p><p>It also gave Chloe time to warm up. And before they were marched to their spot at the bottom of the &#8220;7&#8221;, she started asking for one of the two &#8220;5&#8221;s, clearly no longer worried about keeping hands in warm pockets. A.J. obliged, and within minutes he came up with a plan, holding his &#8220;5&#8221; up and urging her to hit it with her &#8220;5.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We high-fived,&#8221; he giggled. &#8220;Get it.&#8221;</p><p>An appropriate visual pun for the moment, as they shortly marched off to their spot in Sem history.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary students and faculty from past and present met at the upper school in Kingston on Tuesday for a photo taken by a drone to celebrate the school&#8217;s upcoming 175th anniversary. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL102418SEM-Pic1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Seminary students and faculty from past and present met at the upper school in Kingston on Tuesday for a photo taken by a drone to celebrate the school&#8217;s upcoming 175th anniversary. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL102418SEM-Pic2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kevin Fonash, of Fonash Studios in Scranton, operates a drone to photograph Wyoming Seminary students and faculty from past and present at the upper school on Tuesday as they stood to form &#8216;175&#8217; and &#8216;1844-2019.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL102418SEM-Pic2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Kevin Fonash, of Fonash Studios in Scranton, operates a drone to photograph Wyoming Seminary students and faculty from past and present at the upper school on Tuesday as they stood to form &#8216;175&#8217; and &#8216;1844-2019.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>School celebrates 175th anniversary in human numbers</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Spelling it out: Sem celebrates 175th anniversary in human numbers