Humans of St. Marks — The St. Marker

Katherine Garland ‘27 and Paige Mattson ‘27

For the St. Mark’s 2024-2025 school year, seven new faculty members including our head of school Dr. Ivory Hills have joined the pride.

Antonio Leonardis is honored to be a new member of the Classics Department. Mr. Leonardis will be teaching Latin IV and Greek II in the place of Dr. Harwood, who is currently on sabbatical.

Ethan Parks, a Farmer UPenn fellow, is a member of the Modern Language Department where he is teaching French II. He will be coaching Thirds Squash in the winter and JV Baseball in the spring. Mr. Parks found St. Mark’s to be the best fit for him because of the tight-knit community, sharing, “I really liked that when I visited, my tour guide knew everybody that passed in the hall!”. So far, he has enjoyed teaching and living in the Main Building. In college, he competed with his Quiz Bowl team against multiple major schools and won. If you are interested in trivia, be sure to reach out to Mr. Parks!

Jayven Brandt, another Farmer UPenn Fellow, is thrilled to be a member of the History and Social Sciences Department. Mr. Brandt played volleyball in college, and is now the GirlsGirls' Varsity Volleyball assistant coach. He decided to come to St. Mark’s because everyone was so welcoming that it made him feel at home. Currently, Mr. Brandt teaches Advanced Government and Politics. A fun fact about him is that he appeared on 90-day Fiance! While a couple from Omaha was trying on tuxedos at a bridal company, Mr. Brandt had a cameo in the shot folding suits!

Justine O’Connell is a new addition to the Modern Languages Department, teaching Spanish I and II. Ms. O’Connell is also coaching JV Girls Field Hockey in the fall and will join the Wellness Program in the winter. Ms. O’Connell is most excited to get to know new students outside of class. She appreciates the focus on global citizenship, as well as the cohesive and welcoming community at St. Mark’s. She noted that she was impressed with the community from her first visit: “People were really friendly and willing to answer questions and help out, and people are still like that,” she noted cheerfully. Ms. O’Connell loves taking walks outside and trying new foods, so let her know if you have any food or restaurant recommendations! She is always up for an adventure.

Mary Flanagan will be temporarily joining the Modern Languages Department teaching French III as she covers for Ms. Nicks during the first semester.

Stewart Tucker is joining the English Department this year! He is teaching Survey of Literary Genres and will be a rowing coach in the spring. Mr. Tucker decided to join St. Mark’s because of the welcoming community and the “exciting new era beginning with Dr. Hills.” Moreover, Mr. Tucker admired the mission statement: “St. Mark’s School educates young people for lives of leadership and service.” One fun fact about Mr. Tucker is he enjoys sculling and rowing on the Charles River between Cambridge and Boston!

Dr. Ivory Hills is taking on the role of Head of School, as well as teaching Integrated Science II. One of the many reasons that Dr. Hills made the decision to come to St. Mark’s is the unique character of our intentionally small community. He notes, “aA school that claims it is stronger together is interesting; teamwork over individual work, and discouraging self-interest is actually a unique concept that not many schools acknowledge”. One fun fact about Dr. Hills is that he enjoys playing the ukulele!

Make sure you give our new members of the St. Mark’s community a warm and cheerful welcome!

Lucas Jiang ‘26

Since Yolanda joined St. Mark’s four years ago, she has been a dedicated member of the robotics team. She has shaped the robotics team as much as the robotics team has shaped her, as she navigated through the ups and downs of the team. On the side, she loves to play the game League of Legends, which has been a source of her strength when overcoming difficulties in robotics.

She originally signed up to be a coder in the robotics team but was somehow placed into the CAD (computer-aided design) team, which focused mainly on designing the robot in computers before building it. Nonetheless, she eagerly learned all aspects of robotics from the juniors and seniors, from using CAD software such as Onshape to manufacturing parts, from robot design to wiring. The St. Mark’s robotics team advanced to the world championships that year, but the event was canceled due to COVID-19.

As a sophomore, Yolanda continued to invest much of her time in robotics, often staying till 7 or 8 pm after practice. Carl Guo (MIT ’26) and Jason Chen (Yale ’25) were the leaders of the robotics team at the time, and the three of them successfully deployed the first CNC (computer numerical control) machine on campus after many failed attempts and broken drillbits. The CNC machine allowed the team to manufacture parts based on CAD with amazing precision. Their combined efforts proved to be crucial for future years as both robots in 2023 and 2024 relied heavily on CNC manufactured parts. Same as the year before, the competition was canceled, but the team gained valuable experience for the year ahead.

Junior year was difficult for Yolanda. After two years of setbacks in the competition resulting from COVID-19, she yearned for a win. However, despite her experience and expertise, many team members rejected her robot designs. The team was divided, and some felt disrespected and ignored. Yolanda was deeply frustrated by her inability to impact the team and had even considered quitting robotics. She recalls, “I remember going to the lower center in the middle of practice and crying to Andria, the captain of robotics at the time.”

Around the same time, Yolanda began playing the video game League of Legends, which taught her important lessons about teamwork and perseverance. The game consists of five players on each team with only one goal: to destroy the enemy nexus. The players, usually strangers, had different roles, and thus, internal conflicts within the team were common. In other words, the game was more often a competition to see which team could cooperate and communicate better rather than a matchup of individual skills.

Moreover, Yolanda came across a legendary figure in League of Legends named Faker. He put forth all of his time and effort into the game and eventually had a chance to join the starting lineup of his team SKT T1. In the years to come, he became one of the best League of Legends in the world, having won four world championships. His achievements are unparalleled to this day. Another reason for his success is his dedication to the team. In esports, players often stayed only two or three years on a team, whereas Faker had spent over ten years in his team SKT T1. League of Legends and Faker became Yolanda’s salvation during those dark months. She believes the lessons she learned from League and Faker helped her regain her footing and reinvest herself into robotics.

As a senior, Yolanda quickly designed the robot in CAD within the first two weeks of the season. The team was in a superb state and everything proceeded as planned. After experiencing setbacks in the first regional competition due to wiring issues, the team quickly addressed the problems and ranked third among over thirty teams in the second competition.

After four years of robotics at St. Mark’s, Yolanda will pursue mechanical engineering at Cornell starting in September. She will carry on the lessons and values learned from robotics, and we all thank her for her contributions to the robotics team. We wish Yolanda all the best in her new chapter of life!