One of three Senior Spotlights this week is about Seth Tickel, whom I am excited to write about since I was one of his first friends at RMA! Seth is friendly, athletic, and an outdoorsman–all characteristics that have made him a great addition to the Class of 2025.. He has been at RMA since his freshman year, beginning when his mother, Mrs. Wendy Tickel, started teaching RMA’s Lower School Exceptional Children’s Program.

To conclude his high school career, Seth is taking AP Environmental Science, Honors English 12, Honors Pre-Calculus, Ceramics II, Weightlifting, and Sports Management. He is a good student and has received awards for top grades in AFM and Most Improved in English 11, but his favorite class–Ceramics–isn’t traditionally academic. He has made many items this year, but his favorite piece is his current project: an impressively large hand-built box with a cityscape on top.

Seth also participates in several clubs and extracurricular activities. He is part of RMA’s Senior Beta Club and Conservation Club, which is a club that works to maintain RMA’s trails, build wood duck boxes to help preserve the population of waterfowl in the creek, and cut down trees (with chainsaws and supervision!) to line the walking paths and prevent erosion. After school, Seth has played on RMA’s baseball team throughout high school, usually playing third base or pitcher. For his talents on the field, Seth received All-Conference, Conference Player of the Year, and All-State in his junior year. 

In Seth’s free time, he is interested in fishing, hunting, off-roading, and trying to beat Upper School teacher Ms. Keel’s trivia team at Westridge Grill’s Tuesday Trivia Nights with a couple of his friends from RMA. It is safe to say that Seth’s “Defeating Deborah” team has never actually defeated Ms. Keel, but his team has accepted the defeat and enjoys hanging out with each other, occasionally arguing about what the right answer is.

Looking at the near future, Seth plans to major in Kinesthesiology and become a sports therapist or chiropractor. He applied to Wingate, Winthrop, Campbell, Liberty, and Wesleyan but committed to Wesleyan early on. Many schools–UCS Aiken, Robeson Community College, Pfeiffer College, and Lenoir Community College–offered him the opportunity to continue his baseball career, but he chose Wesleyan University because of the outstanding head baseball coach.

Get to know Seth Tickel!

What is a talent of yours that we may not know about? 

My ability to play Bocce ball

Where is your favorite place and why? 

Edisto Island is my favorite because I have been going there as long as I remember, and it is just beautiful. 

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

I would live In Kansas because the hunting is good. 

If you were trapped on a deserted island, what three things would you bring? 

Fishing rod with hooks, lighter, and a knife

What celebrity would you want to be for two days and why? 

Christopher Harper… because he is Batman 

What is one lesson you learned at RMA? 

Taking ownership for my actions 

What are you looking forward to in college? 

Playing baseball 

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

Living by a few impoundments in a farmhouse owning my own business or practice. 

What is one piece of advice you’d give to an incoming freshman or to your younger self about high school? 

Do your homework!

What is your favorite school event?

The college tour we took last year