UMOJA: A Celebration of Unity and Identity

By Cathy Zhou ‘21

On Friday, January 17th, the St. Mark’s community came together to celebrate its diverse cultures and identities on Community and Equity Day. The day ended with an exciting performance named UMOJA, which means “unity” in Swahili. After an uplifting opening theme by the choir, the show proceeded to different pieces performed by affinity groups. These included a poem by Leila Frederick ’21 and a lyrical song by the Southborough society, videos from the J-team, GSA, and Los Leones, a Chinese pop song by the ASA Band and K-pop dance, a rhythmic dance by BLU, and readings from the Men’s Group and Openly Secular. 

The planning and organization of the UMOJA were a critical part of such an amazing performance. According to Jenny Tang’20 and Samantha Wang’21, the brainstorming for this event started as early as December. Hoping to preserve the tradition of UMOJA, the prefects, including Felicity Keyzer-Pollard’21, Naila Strong’20, Jenny Tang’20, and Samantha Wang’21 worked with Ms. Zhu and Ms. Loris Adams to structure the event and provide advice to each affinity group leader on directing their unique performances. They came up with new ideas combining with performances from past years. The active planning and rehearsal started once when students came back from Christmas break. In three rehearsals before C&E Day, the leaders and performers refined their shows. These preparations culminated on Friday as a rich cultural celebration. 

However, the prefects said that there were still areas for improvement. According to Tang, the rehearsals and planning coincided with the end of the first semester, which posed significant challenges for the leaders and performers. Next year, they wish to start earlier and find a better time in the year so that the rehearsals could work out more smoothly. Besides, since the Pathways prefects worried about the performance being long, they intentionally tried to cut down the time of the show. However, UMOJA turned out to be shorter than expected since transitions were much quicker during the show than in rehearsals. They wish they could arrange the sequence of performances so that more affinity groups can present their diverse perspectives.

In general, UMOJA received exceptional feedback. Clara Hua ’21 commented, “it was nice to see each affinity groups showcase their work and culture through such creative projects.” Anni Zhang ’21 said that the BLU dance was her favorite part of the show. “The rhythm and movement of the dance were very dramatic and mind-blowing. As an audience, I was engaged.” Ryan Paik ’20 explained that UMOJA is an exciting event that he looks forward to every year and thinks that it is especially beneficial for those who are new to the school.

Cultural Fair

By Luke Lee ‘20

On Thursday, January 16th, St. Mark’s held its annual Cultural Fair in Taft, where students shared their own cultural backgrounds with the whole community through traditional food, games, holidays, as well as music. The Putnam Family Arts Center (PFAC) was filled with enthusiasm and joy that night, as students and faculties walked across different tables while holding food on plastic plates and asking questions about cultural traditions and holidays. Students set up traditional food, laptops, tri-fold boards, and fun activities for students to try. The purpose of the Cultural Fair is to celebrate the diversity of the community and feel a sense of pride in our cultures. It is also to have fun by learning more about different cultures and trying delicious traditional food, as well as playing traditional games.

Ms. Adams mentioned at the end of the Umoja ceremony that “18 different countries were represented in the Cultural Fair.” Living in a community like St. Mark’s sometimes can make us feel like we are living in a small bubble. All the flags of different countries in the Cultural Fair reminded us that we live in a diverse community. 

On the right side of the entrance door in the PFAC was the table representing India. Anishka Yerabothu '20, Aditya Mynampaty '20, Kian Sahani '20, and Kartik Donepudi '21 offered Mango Lasi and Samosas, traditional Indian food, to people entering the Fair. They also dazzled students and faculties with their colorful traditional clothes, which were made out of silk. Kian Sahani '20, showed students how to write their names in Hindi. By looking at their names written in Hindi, students learned about letters in Hindi and how they are pronounced. 

Other tables in the PFAC lobby represented Ukraine, Dominica and NAA, which stands for Native Americans Ancestry. Illia Rebechar '20 and Jane Dubrova '20 in the VI Form represented Ukraine. They  gave out traditional Ukrainian candy while playing Ukrainian music on their speaker. On the table, there was the blue and yellow Ukranian flag as well as pictures of streets, cities, and monastery in Ukraine. On the Dominican table was Brillon Joseph '21. He offered cooked bananas to students and faculties. When asked if bananas are often cooked in Dominica, Brillon Joseph '21 responded, “Yes, cooked banana is a popular snack in Dominica. We eat it pretty often in our family.”

The last table in the lobby was the NAA (Native American Alliance). Graham Butterfield '21 played a video from Cut where Native Americans describe refugee camps as “prisons” to raise awareness about how Native Americans are left behind or neglected in our country.  He mentioned, “I want to educate St. Mark’s more about pressing issues for Native Americans.” 

The Cultural Fair was not just an opportunity to share different cultures but also to raise awareness for affinity groups. GSA had an activity in their table where students had to guess the name of the alliance flag just by looking at the flag. Afterwards, Anni Zhang '21 and Kendall Sommers '22 gave out the answers and explained what certain colors in flags represented. Anni mentioned, “We hope people can be more aware of the many alliance flags in the LGBT community through this activity.” The Christian Fellowship group had a poster board with quotes from the Bible and offered cookies to people, as they share cookies in every meeting.

The table representing China had fun activities, such as Chinese calligraphy and moving M&M’s with chopsticks. Students laughed as they struggled to copy a complicated Chinese character on the paper or use chopsticks. Richard Zhang '21 demonstrated how to write with a bush so that students and faculties could understand more about how to write in Chinese calligraphy. The Korean table had a traditional game called Gongi, a game where you have to throw plastic stones and catch them with the palm of your hand. 

Tons of delicious food were at the Cultural Fair. Sam Wang '21 cooked hot pot on the Chinese table, a dish that has an assortment of vegetables, fish ball, and tofu in broth. The Nigerean table offered traditional rice and chicken dish which was flavored with Nigerean spices. Sierra Petties '20 represented the southern part of the U.S. and offered scoops of vanilla ice cream and apple pie. Chirs Lee '20, Ryan Paik '20, and Amy Kim '20 cooked a famous spicy and sweet dish called Rappoki, which is ramen noodles and rice cakes in a spicy sauce made of red peppers. Felicity Keyzer- Pollard '21 and Ewan Leslie '22 offered English breakfast tea and biscuits in representing Great Britain. Nancy Suriyaammaranon '20 made Coconut Jelly, a snack that she says is common in Thailand. She explained that the jelly was made out of coconut water and milk. 

Overall, the Cultural Fair went successfully. Lots of people cheered and clapped when Ms. Lee asked the students and faculty at the end of the event: “Did you all enjoy the Cultural Fair tonight?” It was a great opportunity to celebrate our culture while learning the diverse cultural backgrounds of our peers.

Lunar New Year Dinner 2020: A Fun and Warm Reunion For Students Far Away From Home

Written by Sam Wang ‘21 and Kelly Yang ‘23

The Lunar New Year is a big holiday in many Asian countries, such as China, Korea, and Japan . In China,  New Years’ Day is a day to subdue "Nian", a scary monster swallowing other domestic animals. Chinese people have a family reunion dinner and hang out red packets to celebrate the New Year. Vietnamese people prepare for Tet by lion dancing, cooking special holiday foods and cleaning their house. Koreans usually return to their hometowns to visit their parents and other relatives and perform an ancestral ritual, Charye. It is not only the celebration of the new year, but also a time for enjoying food and family reunion.

The Lunar New Year Dinner on Friday night marked the highlight of the celebration. First, Flik Dining prepared delicious traditional Asian foods, such as Korean style beef, Chinese style dumplings, fortune cookies, Japanese sodas, steamed rice, Shrimp shumai, and cooked fish. “I like the authentic Asian food served at the dinner, especially the gyoza since our family usually has them every year around New Year,” said Cathy Zhou, 21’.

During dinner, students’ performance brought the program to the climax. The two MCs were Anni Zhang 21’ and Samantha Wang 21’. A song performed by Ms. Wu's Chinese Class, Xin Nian Hao (Happy New Year), started the dinner. 

Following, a romantic Chinese song, He Tang Yue Se, was sung by Yiwei Lu 20’ and Richard Zhang 21’. The mix of pop songs, representing the current pop culture in China, sang by Celine Ma 21’, Anni Zhang 21’, Reina Wang 22’, Sunny Li 22’, and Amanda Wang 22’ also gained high popularity during the dinner. Besides, a Guzheng and piano duet of a Japanese pop song, Lemon, performed by Lora Xie 20’ and Jenny Tang 20’ drew the performance to an end. 

Parents and families overseas also sent their best wishes to all students at St. Mark’s by video in their own languages. This was a very moving moment that some students almost broke into tears when they saw their family in this surprise video. 

During the performances, due to parents’ generous donations, there were five rounds of the lottery. To win the opportunity of drawing the lottery, the person needed to correctly answer a question about Lunar New Year. This provides people an opportunity to learn more fun facts about Lunar New Year as well as a chance to get their good luck at this special time. The questions include:

• What is Lunar New Year also known as? (Spring Festival)

• What are the twelve zodiacs in order? (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig)

• Name any 6 Asian countries that celebrate the lunar new year (Choices: China, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Mauritius)

In the end, students came upstage to give their new year wishes in their own languages. We heard wishes in Chinese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Chilean, Shanghainese, and Cantonese. To close the dinner, ASA heads, Helen Huang 21’, Chris Lee 21’, and Kevin Takayama 22’ also gave their best wishes and plans. In the end, all members of ASA took an annual group picture:

The dinner also received positive feedback from parents. A parent of the class of 2020 later commented that “In the moment of ringing out the old and ringing in the new, it is very special for kids to gather at St. Mark’s and celebrate the traditional festival while being thousands-miles away from home. ASA helped create a home-like Community at St.Mark’s, where all have each other’s back and build lifelong friendships.” 

The new year is a brand new beginning, a starting line. Now on this starting line, may we find ourseleves heading toward a splendid future! 

A Unique Sport at St. Mark’s School: Casino Night

Written by James Nichols-Worley ’23

What is a sport? Does it involve a ball? Physical activity? Is it stressful? Gambling is a sport in much the same sense that chess or even golfing is a sport.

The Casino Night at St. Mark’s is a revelry of crazy bets and crazier costuming. The dress ranges from a rodeo to a gala to Guy Fieri in Flavortown. Clothing is unique and dazzling. Even the choice of sweats, to swim against the tide, is stylish and cool. The codified uniform of Casino Night is whatever one should wear to have the most fun.

The air in the center was thick. Rock and roll boomed from speakers, from The Blues Brothers to Elton John to the Electric Light Orchestra. The atmosphere of Las Vegas transforms into a small Massachusetts town for one night. Despite the cold weather of January in New England, many students found themselves sweating in the midst of thrills and screams. 

The games themselves oscillate from watching paint dry to a paintball fight. Waiting for a seat at one of the crowded tables is horrifyingly dull. Conversely, once someone finds a seat at a table, they’re unlikely to leave. The games are mesmerizing. “Just one more round,” one says to themselves after already losing $20,000 of funny money. It’s stressful, making life-or-death decisions. Even on the verge of going broke, one still finds themselves gambling high stakes.

Poker, blackjack, craps, a roulette table, and a wheel. Not everything needs skill, but everything needs a bit of luck. The games are encapsulating and a wonderful opportunity to spend time with friends. The “House”, or the chaperone faculties running the tables, welcomed everyone with kindness. One is hard-pressed to find a dealer unwilling to explain the odds of the game, or even how to play it. It is not rare (if not, common) that they’ll advise you from making an awful choice. 

There’s a uniform. A buzzing atmosphere of music surrounds the center. There’s a sense of camaraderie and competition. The physicality is practical, bodily weariness. Waiting is a chore, much like sitting on the bench only to be put on for the final minute. Gambling and betting may not be a sport in the traditional sense, but one is hard-pressed to deny its similarities. At least at St. Mark’s, the casino night was full of excitement and energy, just like any other hockey games or of conventional sports.

Oh, the Places You'll Go...

Amherst College

Babson College (3)

Bates College

Boston College (2)

Boston University (4)

Bowdoin College (2)

Brown University (3)

Bryn Mawr College

Bucknell University

Carnegie Mellon University (2)

Colby College (5)

Colgate University

College of the Holy Cross (2)

Columbia University (2)

Connecticut College

Cornell University (2)

Dartmouth College (2)

Davidson College

Denison University

Duke University (3)

Elon University

Franklin & Marshall College (2)

Georgetown University

Gettysburg College

Hamilton College - NY

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Johns Hopkins University

Lafayette College

Lehigh University

Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Middlebury College (2)

Muhlenberg College

North Carolina State University

Northeastern University (4)

Pennsylvania State University

Providence College (2)

Quinnipiac University

Reed College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rhodes College

Rochester Institute of Technology

St. Lawrence University

Stanford University

Texas Christian University

The George Washington University

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tufts University (2)

Tulane University

University College Dublin

University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Santa Barbara

University of Chicago

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Massachusetts, Lowell

University of Michigan (2)

University of Pennsylvania (2)

University of South Carolina

University of Southern California

University of St Andrews

University of Vermont

Washington and Lee University

Washington University in St. Louis (2)

Wellesley College

Williams College (4)

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

St. Mark’s Takes 2nd Place In Cornell High School Coding Programming Contest

——By Luke Lee ‘20

On Friday, April 5th, six St. Markers drove to New York City early in the morning to participate in the Cornell High School Programming Contest. The contest started at 11 in the morning, so they had to head out early. “I was so tired. I usually don’t wake up that early.” Ryan Paik recalled. Although they were tired because they woke up so early, the St. Markers were excited and thrilled to enter the competition. It was the first time to enter this competition for all of them. They had no idea what to expect. But they knew they could perform because they had worked hard in Mr. Roche’s class throughout the school year.

There were two teams representing the Lions: the C++ team and the Java team. The C++ team was: Ryan Paik ‘20, Jason Chen ‘20, and Ryan Song ‘20. The Java team was: Alan Gao ‘19, Chapin Pyne ‘20, and Carl Guo ‘21.

When they got to Cornell around 11, they checked in at the reception and had lunch. At 11:45, they all gathered with all the other teams for introduction, where they were told about the guidelines and rules of the contest. The contest began at 12:30 and was held for three hours until 3:30. After the long contest, the teams had a break until 4:15, when the Awards Ceremony began.

St. Mark’s came back with impressive results. There were 66 teams in total from Northeast. And of those teams, the C++ team came in 2nd, while the Java team came in 6th. Mr. Roche was very impressed with both teams, “They took their day. Only one other team from New York had a better score than them [C++team].” Congrats to both teams for their impressive results on the contest!

SM Hosts Annual Sustainability Conference

——By Rwick Sarkar ‘19

Over 70 students and faculty members from schools across New England came to St. Mark’s on Sunday, April 7 to attend the third annual Independent School Sustainability Coalition (ISSC) Conference. The coalition was formed by Milton Academy students three years ago, and the first two ISSC conferences were held there. This year, St. Mark’s hosted as the coalition grows larger and broadens out of the Milton community. This was by far the largest group on hand for an ISSC conference yet, helping to make the day a success.

Taking the lead on organizing this conference was Laura Drepanos ‘19 who shepherded the larger Students for Sustainability group throughout the year as they devoted much of their time towards planning the conference. Others S4Sers who were heavily involved in the planning of the conference include: Alie Hyland ‘20, Alison Bechard ‘22, Charlotte Bertsch ‘21, Daniela Ortiz ‘21, Jocelyn Cote ‘22, Kendall Sommers ‘22, Lindsay Davis ‘21, Sky Davis ‘20, Eve Elkins '21, Frances Hornbostel ‘21, Elise Gobron ‘21, Nashua Poreda ‘22, and myself. St. Mark’s students played an instrumental role in making the conference happen, including by leading different workshops on divestment, sustainability ground rules, and new ISSC initiatives.

The day began with a keynote address from Nathalia JMag, a Colombian-American fashion designer who believes in sustainable and ethical approaches to creating clothing. She has been on Project Runway and has been highlighted in Vogue after participating in the Helsinki Fashion week. Following her talk, students engaged in a Q&A session with her, learning much about the fashion industry and its role in contributing to a polluted world. It was inspiring to see a young person pursuing their passions while prioritizing sustainability.

St. Mark’s students took much away from the conference, learning about sustainability efforts at some of our peer schools. Some ideas S4S members are particularly excited about include initiatives at Taft School to reduce plastic usage in their Lions Den equivalent and an Earth Day celebration with an outdoor picnic lunch, food trucks, and a reusable tumbler sale. S4S is hoping to bring some of these initiatives to our campus soon. Broader discussions were also had. For example, the divestment workshop group discussed making an action plan as a coalition seeking to divest school endowments from fossil fuels, using the force of a coalition of students across the New England prep school world all calling on schools to take action.

In their first year hosting the conference, St. Markers made the day a one to remember and helped broaden the coalition. Moving forward, St. Mark’s students hope to continue being a driving force behind this all-important coalition of students pushing for a more sustainable future.

Students contacted local companies that prioritize sustainability in making their products and handed out free food samples from these brands at the conference.

Fashion designer Nathalia JMag delivered the keynote.

A group picture in the PFAC lobby at the end of the conference.

Meet the Chileans

By Blake Gattuso ‘20

As the Chilean exchange students from the Grange School have left, I asked them each a couple questions about their experiences at home, at St. Mark’s, and in America, in general.

“What is your favorite activity to do at home?”

I noticed that the Chileans’ hobbies tended to be not too dissimilar from hobbies in America. Sofia Ali-Shah likes to walk her golden retriever while Benjamin Tapia likes to play computer games like overwatch and counter-strike. Maria Retamal and Josefina Perez love to practice sports like field hockey and volleyball, respectively. The warmer climate helps out Mariana Gatica, as she likes to take trips to the beach on long weekends while Benjamin Chan enjoys hanging out with his friends.

“What is a fun fact about yourself?”

Benjamin Tapia believes that socks and sandals are the superior footwear choice, and he logically explains it. He says, “you get the freedom and comfort of wearing sandals without getting your feet dirty.” Josefina has a fraternal twin sister. As a fraternal twin myself, this is definitely the go-to fun fact when the question is asked. Maria does artistic roller skating and Mariana dances flamenco, a dance that originated in Southern Spain. Benjamin Chan acknowledges that Chinese food is not his favorite despite his parents owning a Chinese restaurant and him eating their food almost every day. Sofia did her Duke of Edinburgh award last year, which is an impressive award that acknowledges achievement in teens.

“What is the difference between the Grange and St. Mark’s?”

The students said that the main differences were in the class schedule. There are no free periods at the Grange, and they are mandated to take every class, there is no choice. This means they are taking nine to ten classes at any time, and thus is more stressful. School starts at 7:45 am and ends at 4:00 pm at the Grange as well. They also have an obligatory physical education class in addition to extracurricular sports.

“What are some American stereotypes that you have proven true/false while you have been here?”

Sofia, Benjamin Chan, and Josefina all mentioned that it was an American stereotype to have big food portions, and their experience here has backed this up. Benjamin Tapia took this stereotype one step further, saying that everything in America is bigger. Once again, he proved this true with an interesting factoid about his thirds’ basketball teammate, Logan Matthews’ ‘22, feet:

An American stereotype that I have is that I expect everything in America to be larger. This stereotype has been proven to be correct by Logan's size 17 feet. In Chile, brands usually sell shoes up to size 12.5, which makes it difficult even for me to find shoes (I'm size 13). Which makes me not want to even think about what Logan would have to go through to find shoes his size.

Mariana was grateful that her stereotype, Americans being full of themselves, was proven false in her time at St. Mark’s.

Lunar New Year Celebration: ASA Creates Home Away From Home

By Katie Park ‘21, Amanda Wang ‘22, Suha Choi ‘22

St. Mark’s strives to recognize the diverse culture in our community, and the Asian Student Alliance (ASA) planned and organized a week-long Lunar New Year celebration in an effort to create a home away from home for the Asian students. Lunar New Year is the start of a new year according to the lunar calendar. This year’s Lunar New Year fell on the fifth of February. Many Asian countries including China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam celebrate this holiday in their own traditions. Since culture is so diverse among the Asian countries, the ASA wanted to make sure all the cultures were represented.

To pull off the celebrations, there was a lot of behind the scenes work from the ASA members. Most of the ideas came from the three co-heads of the ASA: Helen Huang `20, Lora Xie `20, and Stephanie Moon `19. They reached out to all the ASA members and encouraged them to step up and get involved. There were four different groups in charge of decorations, logistics, weekday activities, or performances.

The Lunar New Year Dinner on Friday night marked the start of the celebration. Parents and families overseas sent their best wishes to all students at St. Mark’s by video in their own languages respectively. This helped create a family-like atmosphere. There were also delicious traditional Asian foods prepared by Flik Dining, such as Korean style beef, Chinese style dumplings, fortune cookies, Japanese sodas, rice, Shrimp shumai, cooked fishes.

Many  students contributed efforts to noteworthy performances and overall a fun festival! To take a peek, Sophia Liu ‘19 played an elegant piece of music, which mimics the sounds of traditional Chinese instruments on piano. Samantha Wang ’21 performed her magic tricks; she made a red napkin disappear and reappear in her hands. Selina Wu’19, Leean Li’19, Amy Wang ‘19, and Jenny Shan ’19 rocked with two Chinese pop music, with their photos on the slideshow to display their friendship over the last four years at St. Mark’s. Alex Chen ’21, Richard Zhang ’21 and Will Lu ’20 made a famous song named The Drunken Beauty come to life, incorporating both the traditional and the modern elements of music. Thomas Li’22, Lina Zhang ’21, and Waverly Shi ’21 played An Unforgettable Night, a traditional lunar new year song known by all, as an end of the new year celebration.

The chapel service organized by the ASA was another significant event. It was the first year for this service, and Ms. Starry Zhu, the ASA’s faculty advisor, stated that “[they] were trying to balance and recognize the perspectives of Asian students from different backgrounds at St. Mark’s.”

The whole celebration was a great success. Behind the curtain, however, the ASA faced some difficulties. Lora Xie `20 shared that “because the variance among different Asian cultures is so great, and because we do have the subgroup of Chinese international students that outnumbers others by far, it was not easy to navigate the diversity within the Asian and Asian American community.” Helen Huang `20 stated that the most difficult part was “managing time and people because we had several groups working on several different things, so it was hard to keep track with what was happening when and what we still needed the accomplish.” Ms. Zhu shared that she is “very proud of how the ASA members managed to overcome numerous difficulties.”

The ASA members are planning to send out a survey to grasp a better understanding of how the students thought that the event went. So far, Ms. Zhu stated that she “received numerous positive feedbacks from faculty members, students, and parents.” The ASA members are proud of how the Lunar New Year celebration went and are looking forward to planning other events throughout the year.