BY Jonathan Hernandez
St. Mark’s Prize Day is finally here, a day that has been long-awaited especially in the time of a pandemic. It is indeed wondrous that many activities and traditions from Prize Day’s past years and that several have been adapted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two-hour ceremony of Prize Day includes several events. Prizes are given for academic excellence by subject and for character (voted upon by faculty members), and prizes are awarded to adults as well. After the prizes are awarded, then there is a Prize day speaker and a a Valedictorian speaker from the student body. The diplomas are then distributed and the St. Mark’s,Valedictorian speaker chosen by the student body finishes the ceremony with reflections.
Within a traditional, non-pandemic year, there are also numerous other activities that are a part of St. Mark’s Prize Day. Typically, before Prize Day, events such as the Southbor Tea and the Gentelmen’s Society events take place. Later on the same day, a final year-end concert, and then the Athletic Awards Ceremony and Baccalaureate occur in the evening.
On the morning of Prize Day, the day starts with the Handshaking ceremony where sixth formers line up and fill the main hallway and underformers are able to walk through the hall and say farwell to the graduating class. The faculty follow the underformers and then the sixth formers are the last to walk through. Later on, the procession begins at the archway of the front cloisters.
While there are many traditions that are present during an abnormal year, there have been some changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly, not everyone will be able to attend Prize day, typically underformers and anyone will be able to attend Prize Day, however each graduate may only have six guests. Further, there will be no end of the year concert or lunchoem which typically follows Prize Day. In addition, many events such as Athletic-Awards (virtual), The Southborough Tea and Gentleman's social (both virtual and in-person) will occur earlier in the week.
Another change is that there will not be a hand-shaking ceremony due to no hand-shaking but there will be a goodbye line. Also, the Baccalaureate will not be in the Chapel as typically done but rather under the tent. In regards to the tent, the tent will be larger than previous years and ther will be tables for families and groups rather than seats. Another change is that this year, there will be the 2020 Diploma ceremony on Saturday, with Prize Day 2021 on Sunday, which is typically not the case.
