About Me – Dr. Paul Semendinger

Dr. Semendinger is available for motivational and religious talks, keynotes, book talks, and more!

Contact:  drpaulsemauthor (at) gmail (dot) com

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 Dr. Semendinger has been a passionate child-centered educator for over 32 years. He first enjoyed a successful career as a middle school history earning numerous awards including “Teacher of the Year” and the prestigious “A+For Kids” grant before moving on to administration. Dr. Semendinger has served as a high school vice principal, a middle school principal, and recently retired as the principal of the most wonderful elementary school in the whole world.  Currently Dr. Semendinger serves as an adjunct professor at Ramapo College and as an educational consultant.  

Dr. Semendinger has enjoyed working in various professional organizations including serving as the President of the New Jersey Middle School Association. In addition to the above, Dr. Semendinger has worked for the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and he has also served as an adjunct college professor at William Paterson University.

An enthusiastic presenter, Dr. Semendinger brings his passion for children and adults to his positive, happy, and engaging presentations.  As an accomplished public speaker, Dr. Semendinger has successfully presented workshops at many conferences including those run by the New England League of Middle Schools, STEMCON, the New Jersey Middle School Association, the Madison Institute, local ASCD Chapters, and many others.  An updated list of his recent and past speaking engagements is listed on his blog.  

Dr. Semendinger is also an accomplished writer.  Dr. Semendinger’s first novel, “Scattering the Ashes” was published in October 2019 by Artesmesia Publishers. This book of love, faith, family, memories, and more has been enthusiastically received.  His first book of motivational passages, “Impossible is an Illusion” was released in June 2017 by Ravenswood Publishing to outstanding reviews.  This book was re-released by Wipf and Stock in early 2019. 

Dr. Semendinger also writes picture books.  His first picture book for children “Principal Sam and the Calendar Confusion” has been released to excellent reviews!  The follow-up book in the Principal Sam series, “Principal Sam Gets Fit” was released in August 2017.  “Principal Sam and the Three Bears” was released in 2018.  Children and adults alike absolutely love Principal Sam!

In addition, Dr. Semendinger’s original and unique history of the New York Yankees “The Least Among Them,” was published by Artemesia Publishers in October 2021.

In April 2023, Artemesia Publishing released “From Compton To the Bronx,” the autobiography of Yankee great Roy White written with Dr. Semendinger.

Dr. Semendinger’s latest book, 365.2: Going The Distance, A Runner’s Journey details the year that he ran every single day for an entire year.

In additional to his published writing, Dr. Semendinger is the Editor-in-Chief of the very popular Yankees blog, Start Spreading the News which, since it was started in October 2017, has had millions of page views.  This Yankees blog produces original content daily with numerous posts throughout each day.  He is also the co-host of the “Start Spreading the News Show” and the “Dr. Sem’s Yankees Show” on the North East Streaming Sports Network.  

Dr. Semendinger is a frequent contributor on the Bronx Beat Podcast and has appeared on numerous radio programs across the country.  

Dr. Semendinger leads an active life. He enjoys running and, to date, has completed twenty five marathons including the New York City Marathon ten times.  Dr. Semendinger also plays competitive men’s baseball in two wood bat baseball leagues in New Jersey.  A pitcher, Dr. Semendinger helped his team win a tournament in Cooperstown, New York in the summer of 2021 by starting and winning the game that clinched a spot in the finals.  He also plays the saxophone and piano (but wishes his skills in those areas were much (much) better.)  (He’s working on it.)  In his free time, Dr. Semendinger enjoys reading and travel.  

Dr. Semendinger volunteers his time in many ways.  Dr. Semendinger was a three-sport coach (baseball, basketball, and soccer) for sixteen years as his children grew up and was also active in the Boy Scouts where he designed and led outings to historical sites that included Gettysburg, Washington’s Crossing, Valley Forge, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York’s Central Park.  Dr. Semendinger has also successfully led two Boy Scout crews through the two-week backpacking experience at Philmont Scout Ranch hiking treks of more than 90-miles.  

Dr. Semendinger also is a daily contributor to the Radio Home Visitor (88.5 FM – Wilkes-Barre, PA) broadcast through King’s College.  The Radio Home Visitor brings news to shut-ins in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley.  Each day Dr. Semendinger contributes an inspirational passage to the program.

Readers interested in the history of photography should note that Dr. Semendinger is also a student of wet plate photography.  A descendant of camera inventor August Semmendinger, Dr. Semendinger takes pride in maintaining a web page (www.semmendinger-camera.com) that focuses on August Semmendinger’s contributions to photographic history.  

More than all of this, a family man, Dr. Semendinger enjoys and greatly values the time he can spend as a husband and “Dad” with his wife and three sons.  There is nothing he is prouder of than the fact that he is a good dad and husband.