St. Mark's School

St. Mark's cross country, field hockey, and girls' soccer programs all are looking strong at the halfway point of the 2019 fall season.

This year's St. Mark's Family Weekend was most successful, as parents and other family members of students flocked to campus for a series of special events.

In an annual tradition at St. Mark's, on Friday, October 4, student and faculty pets were welcomed at the morning Chapel service for the "Blessing of the Animals."

On Thursday, October 3, St. Mark's alumnus Michael Greenwald '02 visited campus to open the 2019-2020 Gray Colloquium series. The theme of this year's series is "Civil Discourse."

On Friday evening, September 27, members of a new St. Mark's student organization—the New Hampshire Primary Club—traveled north to Nashua, New Hampshire, to attend a meet-and-greet with democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

From September 23 through 27, St. Mark's is taking part in Ally Week, hosted by the School's Gender & Sexuality Alliance (GSA). The GSA is one of the student-directed Pathways affinity groups at St. Mark's, part of the SM Community and Equity program.

LEO, the St. Mark's online academic journal, is back for its seventh academic year of operation. Over that time it has had more than 210,000 online views.

On Tuesday, September 24, a faculty folk duo was the main event for the regular morning Chapel service. Jason and Sarah Eslick, who perform and record as the folk duo Old Horse, brought acoustic guitars and classic folk harmonies to Belmont Chapel.

On Saturday, September 21, Anishka Yerabothu '20 presented "A Kathak Showcase" in the Putnam Family Arts Center. The event was a fundraiser for Educate Lanka, a program providing support to Sri Lankan students, where Anishka volunteered this past summer.

This fall, St. Mark's welcomes five exchange students from Australia. They come from two of St. Mark's partner schools as part of the Global Citizenship program.

Dr. David Gleason, longtime consulting psychologist at Concord Academy and the author of At What Cost: Defending Adolescent Development in Fiercely Competitive Schools, will speak at St. Mark's on Friday, October 11, at 3:00 p.m. in the Putnam Family Arts Center's Class of 1945 Hall. The event, part of Family Weekend, is free and open to the public. Dr. Gleason will also meet with student, faculty, and administrative groups during the weekend. On Saturday evening, he will participate in the St. Mark's College Counseling program.

On Friday afternoon, September 20, the annual St. Mark's Club Fair was held at the Putnam Family Arts Center, in both the Class of 1951 Lobby and Taft Hall. Representatives of a wide range of student activities staffed tables and were available to answer questions about their respective programs and to sign up potential participants.

On Friday morning, September 20, some 200 members of the St. Mark's community joined hundreds of thousands of protesters around the world to raise awareness about climate change. While supporters of all ages turned out for the Global Climate Strike, the day was billed as a walkout by high school students to call on world leaders to step up their efforts against carbon emissions and other environmental issues.

For 99 summers, students from St. Mark's School have volunteered at Brantwood Camp in Peterborough, New Hampshire, working primarily with low-income youth. St. Mark's alumni and faculty are also involved with the camp in a variety of ways: as staff, trustees, supporters, and advocates to the greater community.

This past summer, Reina Wang '22, a boarding student from Shanghai, China, took the St. Mark's Robotics "Blue Suitcase" project to Pakistan. The "Blue Suitcase" is packed with Lego Mindstorm kits and is used to teach the local children how to perform simple assembling and programming.

On Tuesday evening, September 17, St. Mark's held its annual "Celebration of Education and Service of Installation" in Belmont Chapel. Eight new faculty were welcomed, the 2019-2020 St. Mark's choir made its debut, and the Rev. Barbara Talcott delivered a sermon entitled "The Religious Value of Human Reason."

Barely two weeks into the school year, St. Mark's teams are already off to a strong start as the 2019 fall athletic season gets underway. Girls' varsity soccer is already 2-0, while all four cross country teams—boys' varsity, girls' varsity, boys' JV, and girls' JV—are all unbeaten at 1-0.

On Friday evening, September 6, the 2019-2020 school year at St. Mark's was officially opened by the traditional Convocation ceremony in the Putnam Family Arts Center's Class of 1945 Hall.

The Global Citizenship program offers numerous opportunities for students to engage with partner schools and international organizations. This past summer, 10 St. Markers took advantage of those opportunities, spending time at schools and programs in Australia, Germany, Spain, Chile, and Sri Lanka.

On Friday evening, September 13, the Enrollment Management Association (EMA) will honor St. Mark's Director of Admission Anne Behnke with its prestigious Everett E. Gourley Award.

Lanruo (Lora) Xie, a VI Form student from Qingyang District, China, recently won a bronze medal in individual competition at the 17th International Linguistics Olympiad, held in Yongin, South Korea, from July 29 to August 2. Xie also won a silver medal in team competition. The jury awarded 60 medals (10 gold, 21 silver, and 29 bronze), as well as 31 honorable mentions, six team contest trophies, three team cups for highest average score, and seven "best solution" prizes.

On Tuesday morning, August 27, the 2019-2020 school year began with the opening gathering of faculty and staff in the Putnam Family Arts Center's Class of 1945 Hall. At that traditional event, three members of the St. Mark's adult community were honored as they began their 20th year of service to the School.

On Thursday evening, August 22, St. Mark's student Padma Mynampaty made her broadcast radio debut as a singer-songwriter. A rising IV Former from Southborough, Mynampaty performed three songs—a cover and two originals—live on WICN, Worcester Public Radio.

Rising VI Former Wyatt Scotti played for Team Cape Cod this summer, which represented New England in the 2019 Senior Babe Ruth World Series. Scotti and the N.E. contingent battled their way into the national finals, before falling in the championship game to a team from Mobile, Alabama.

"Incredible!" declares Anu Akibu '20. "Amazing!" is how Libby Flathers '21 describes the experience. Both students are simply echoing the consensus opinion of all those involved in this summer's Theater Arts trip to the United Kingdom, where 14 St. Markers and two faculty members took part in the 72nd annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The New England Lacrosse Journal has named St. Mark's Channing Weymouth Warner as Prep Girls Coach of the Year for 2019.

This month, US Lacrosse released its annual list of high school All-Americans for girls' lacrosse. Three St. Markers— Bailey Horne '19, Shelby Howard '19, and Sophie Student '20—received All-American honors.

On Tuesday, July 16, the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 launch, St. Mark's faculty member Brady Loomer held a celebratory Rocket Day.

Over seven days in July, as many as 40 participants took part in the 6th Annual Global Citizenship Institute (GCI) at St. Mark's. A collaboration between St. Mark's School and Austria's Salzburg Global Seminar, the Global Citizenship Institute's mission is to educate and support faculty and students from public, private and international secondary schools as they learn ways to become engaged global citizens, actively working to solve problems of global and local significance.

This summer, 14 faculty members traveled to Asia as part of the St. Mark's Faculty Travel program. Together, Loris Adams, John Camp, Jeanna Cook, Marion Donovan, Jason Eslick, Caitlin Kosow, Daniel Mertsch, Elise Morgan, Barbara Putnam, Christopher Roche, Jordan Studevan, Barbara Talcott, Rick Umiker, and David Vachris, visited China and Korea.

On Saturday, June 8, 100 St. Markers received diplomas at the School's 154th Prize Day exercises. Diplomas with distinction were awarded to 57 graduates, 18 were members of the Cum Laude Society, and 10 earned Classics Diplomas, having mastered both Greek and Latin, entitling each to wear a laurel wreath at the ceremony. Alumnus Kevin Tang '85 delivered the keynote Prize Day address, while graduating VI Former Colin Capenito was the traditional Valedictorian.

On the Friday of Prize Day weekend, athletic honors were announced for the spring season and for the 2017-18 school year overall.

On Friday, June 7, on the eve of St. Mark's 154th Prize Day ceremony, the traditional Baccalaureate Service was held in Belmont Chapel. Jason Eslick—a longtime member of the St. Mark's English department—was this year's speaker, elected by vote of the VI Form.

Prize Day Week got underway on Wednesday, June 5.

In its third year, Lion Term continued to provide St. Markers with positive, enriching opportunities, outside of the traditional classroom and schedule. The two-week Form-based experience included team-building, community service, and experiential learning. Approaching a single topic through the lens of interdisciplinary and experiential education, students were able to take appropriate intellectual and academic risks, pursue and cultivate new interests, tap into resources within the local and global communities, and prepare to be active and engaged participants at the university level and beyond.

At the 2019 New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) Regatta on May 25, five St. Markers once again wore gold, as the SM girls' varsity crew 3rd boat came in first place. With a time of 6:18.351 over the Lake Quinsigamond course in Worcester, the Lions defeated Choate, Taft, Winsor, Nobles, and Deerfield in their Grand Final race. It was the sixth championship finish for St. Mark's girls' crew program in its 41 year history. That same day, the SM girls' varsity 4th boat placed second in their Grand Final race, earning the 18th medal in the history of the program.

For the third year in a row, all St. Markers are actively participating in Lion Term: a two-week Form-based experience. Each Form has its own theme and schedule of activities, with students getting involved in team-building, community service, and experiential learning. In addition, the Lions Roam program provides a global experience for its participants.

Next year, 23 members of the St. Mark's Class of 2019 will participate in college and university athletic programs. On Monday, May 20, these VI Formers were recognized in a ceremony hosted by Director of Athletics John Levandowski in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

The first-ever St. Mark's Arts Fair delighted a large crowd of students and adults on Saturday evening, May 18. The inaugural event was organized and hosted by the Monitors.

Daniela Martinez, a VI Former from Chicago, was recently named the recipient of a Chick Evans Scholarship grant. With her scholarship award, Martinez will be attending the University of Illinois tuition free for four years.

On Saturday, May 11, the St. Mark's community gathered to celebrate the public launch of Lives of Consequence: The Campaign for St. Mark's School. The spectacular event—held under a giant tent on Belmont Field—was part of Reunion weekend and drew alumni, trustees, parents, faculty and staff members, and friends from many generations.

Reunion classes from 1949 to 2014 gathered to celebrate and to rediscover the St. Mark's experience from May 9-11. This year's Reunion weekend was packed with opportunities for returning alumni. Usually held separately, the spring Trustee Weekend, the 50th Reunion, and the general Reunion events were combined, as St. Mark's celebrated the public launch of its Lives of Consequence campaign.

St. Mark's Women in STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) organization hosted a special event on Thursday evening, May 16. Alumnae Maeve McCuine '17 and Riya Shankar '18 returned to campus to help lead a discussion about their experiences studying STEM subjects in college.

Matthew Walsh '19, a day student from Southborough, was named a National Merit Scholar. Head of School John C. Warren '74 announced the honor at school meeting on May 15.