By Karry Kim ‘25
On Friday evening, December 2nd, St. Mark’s hosted the annual Holiday Songfest and Tree Lighting celebration. Holiday Songfest is a significant tradition that adds to St. Mark’s school spirit. The whole school comes together and competes by dorm, singing and dancing to various Christmas songs. Each dorm’s performance is (strictly) judged by three judges selected from faculty, and the winning dorm is announced at the end of the celebration. The winning team is granted a dorm pizza party.
This year, Songfest was held in the Center. Sawyer started off this event with a festive carol and choreography, and the Center was soon filled with laughter and voices of the audience singing along. Other dorms followed along with their carols and choreographies, which they have come together to practice for the past week. The event ended with the performance of Gaccon. After a quick moment of discussion for the winners, this year’s winners were announced: Thayer and Scully 2, breaking the long held legacy of Pine Oak’s wins. Congratulations to Thayer and Scully 2!
After the Holiday Songfest, the Tree Lighting Celebration was held in the 6th form quad. After the lighting of the Christmas tree, all St. Markers enjoyed taking pictures with friends in front of the tree while enjoying hot chocolate and cookies that were served in the small dining hall. The tree was clearly a great photo spot, as everyone’s Instagram posts the next day were filled with pictures taken with friends in front of its bright, colorful lights.
The Holiday Songfest and Tree Lighting Celebration was a perfect way to bring a holiday spirit to St. Mark’s.