Study Abroad

“The Global Village” is a reality at St. Mark’s. Many of the faculty have studied or lived abroad, and this internationalism is embraced in the curriculum through numerous short- and long-term overseas study options.

School Year Abroad, for example, gives students the choice of a semester or year abroad with partner schools around the world.

Closer to home, students in the Vth Form are encouraged to participate in two approved off-campus academic programs, the Mountain School in Vermont and at Chewonki Semester School in Maine. St. Mark’s will award credit for courses at these two programs and the School will not award credit for participation in any other off-campus programs. These two schools allow students to use the natural surroundings as theirclassrooms. In Maine, students actively engage with the seacoast ecosystems in their daily classes. In Vermont, students work on the school’s farm which is an intimate part of the rigorous academic program.

Summer exchange programs — unique to St. Mark’s— include study at sister schools in France, Germany, and Spain. In the French program, students visit cultural sites in Paris and then travel to Loire Valley to stay with a host family and attend language school. The German program takes St. Markers to practice their language with host families in Munich and with students at the Wittelsbacher Gymnasium. In return, St. Markers host their French and German counterparts here in Southborough during the course of the year.

During school vacations, St. Markers travel around the world on faculty-led trips. There have been choir trips to Europe, Classics trips to Italy and Greece, and community service trips to the Dominican Republic, Romania, and Ecuador.

Through these exchanges, St. Markers are enriched by immersing themselves in another culture, and, in turn, they enrich the school by introducing students from other parts of the world to campus.