A Break from 2020

By Mandy Hui ‘22

As it was nearing the end of 2020, students felt both excited and exhausted for Christmas break after the long weeks of hybrid learning, including a mix of in-person and remote. Along with that, there was the gratifying feeling because they endured a period of momentous events in a singular year. 

The Covid 19 pandemic limited the number of opportunities and activities people could plan and participate in over the course of their Christmas break. However, with the two weeks away from school, students at St. Mark’s were still able to enjoy Christmas with their family. Common pastimes among St. Markers were baking and watching movies. Darius Wagner (‘23) described how their family engaged in a “new normal”, stating how they “cooked amazing food, gave baking a try, and watched some good, bad, and cheesy films.” In contrast, Sarah Bechard (‘22) was lucky enough to be able to ski for her first time, and despite it being challenging at first, “it was just really fun to do it with my sister and friend,” she said. Sophie Ledonion’s (‘23) highlight of the break was meeting and catching up with her siblings as they bonded over baking last-minute Christmas cookies for Christmas day. 

Furthermore, the Christmas break has also given time to some seniors, the class of 2021, to finalise and submit their college applications. One senior explained how she utilised her break: “the break was a chance for me to complete my college apps. However, I was still able to converse with my friends over the phone and to hang around my parents. It’s satisfying to know I’m almost done with the college process.”

Although Christmas in 2020 was unlike previous years, students were given the opportunity to reflect upon the year and revitalise for the coming year. Students have learned to savour the moments with family and friends, and as one student said, “though we were all grateful for all our Christmas gifts, we were more grateful for the gift of health and making it to the new year.”

Cum Laude Celebrations at St. Mark’s

By Jonathan Hernandez ‘24

The Cum Laude Society was created in 1906 to honor scholastic achievement in secondary schools. It was modeled after Phi Beta Kappa which is the oldest academic honor society in the U.S. founded in 1776 to acknowledge academic achievement in postsecondary schools. Membership in the Cum Laude Society today is mainly in the US, but there are also chapters in Canada, England, France, Spain, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines with only 4,000 students inducted annually. Currently, there are 382 Cum Laude Society chapters with 94% of those chapters in independent schools like St. Mark’s.

In 1943, the Board of Regents of the Cum Laude Society authorized Headmaster William Brewster and eight other members of the St. Mark’s faculty to form the St. Mark’s chapter of the Cum Laude Society. On April 21, 1944, the first four members of the Cum Laude Society at St. Mark’s were inducted by the headmaster of Governor Dummer Academy, Mr. Edward Eames. There were already chapters in many leading schools by 1944. Student membership was based on high academic standing, and the first individuals to be inducted at St. Mark’s were all sixth-formers. George Boyer, Anthony Brown, and their fellow inductees Robert Bigelow, Samuel Bush, Bradford Endicott, and William Rand, Jr., who were all inducted in 1944, graduated with distinction. Today, the mission remains as follows: to honor and recognize scholastic achievement in secondary education. Membership is granted to students who have shown to continuously demonstrate academic promise as decided by a vote of faculty who are members of the St. Mark’s Cum Laude Society. The St. Mark’s Cum Laude Society is made of faculty who were members of the Cum Laude Society at their respective secondary schools, members of Phi Beta Kappa at their college or university, or elected by the Cum Laude Committee.

Celebrations at St. Mark’s

Each year St. Mark’s celebrates new Cum Laude Society members. In a typical year, the celebrations commence in the last two weeks of classes in early May with a dinner between faculty on the Cum Laude Committee and Cum Laude students in the Parkman room. Afterward, the festivities continue to the Performing Arts Center for a ceremony attended by the entire school. Most of the students are sixth formers, but there are typically a few 5th formers also.

The ceremony includes the reading of the students’ names, their induction into the Cum Laude Society, a history of the Cum Laude Society, a speech by St. Mark’s Cum Laude Society President, who is Peter Glomset this year, and finally, a longer talk by a selected speaker, typically from outside the school. Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony was done virtually for accepted students, families, and advisors. Currently, St. Mark’s is unsure what the ceremony might look like this year due to the pandemic.

The Importance of the Celebrations and the Society

The Cum Laude Society is significant to St. Mark’s as Mr. Warren has noted, “because it honors one of our most highly prized school value. As stated in our Mission Statement, St. Mark’s wants our students ‘to develop their particular analytic and creative capabilities.’” Mr. Warren also notes how the mission statement states that the school seeks to inspire students’  “academic and spiritual curiosity” and also kindle “their passion for learning. Mr. Warren noted how those who are elected to the Cum Laude Society had shown these characteristics in “an extraordinary way.” He stated that honoring becoming a member of the Cum Laude Society and the effort required for such membership is important. Honoring this achievement is a way to reinforce the school’s firm belief in intellectual engagement and striving for the highest level of academic achievement possible.

Dr. Peter Glomset, St. Mark’s current Cum Laude Society President and English department faculty, expressed his enthusiasm for the ceremony’s recognition of students’ academic excellence and honor. Dr. Glomset said that it is exciting for him as a teacher to see the students he taught being recognized in a school-wide setting. He notes how the Cum Laude ceremony is a day in which the students who have done notably well in various disciplines are honored, and that it is one of the celebratory events that bring a memorable closure to the student’s time at St. Mark’s. It is truly an event that is both momentous and significant to the St. Mark’s community.

Not so secret Santa a Success

By Ingrid Yeung ’23

Every year during the Christmas season, St. Mark’s holds many festive activities for the students and faculty to celebrate before winter break. One long standing tradition is Secret Santa. Students and faculty are assigned a peer to give small gifts to secretly for a week, writing letters, sending gifts, or doing other little things to show their appreciation to each other anonymously. This year, however, was a little different. With the complicated situation in the world right now, St. Markers are spread over different continents and time zones. The usual secret Santa activity seemed impossible.

 The Monitors didn’t simply give up on the event, though. They came up with a brand-new version of the secret Santa: the Not-so-secret-Santa. Instead of sending gifts anonymously, students and faculty interested in this activity would sign up to participate remotely. The monitors paired everyone up so that they could contact each other through email. Throughout the week, there were many prompts emailed out in order for people to send short, appreciative emails to each other. Ranging from your favorite holiday to sending holiday pictures to each other, the Not-so-secret-Santa allowed St. Marker’s to bond and show gratitude at the end of the year, even during the pandemic. 

Lily, one of the head monitors, provided us with some more information on how the monitors came up with this idea as well as her own experience doing the not-so-secret-Santa. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your thoughts on this program? 

“It was definitely a struggle finding a way to do secret Santa, which is a very fun tradition at our school, and the premise itself is anonymous gifting, online. We wanted to do it, but gift exchange online simply isn’t the same, and anonymity is not quite possible unless we used a third-party platform.” 

How did you come up with this idea? 

“When we were brainstorming in our meeting, we came to the conclusion that we should do the not-so-secret Santa because we wanted the community aspect without any safety risks or online issues. We liked the idea of smaller gifts (like messages) and sharing little stories, so to facilitate a connection between people, we just paired people up. Doing this event online is a bit more complicated and gifts aren’t really as good virtually; thus, we decided to send out prompts that would create some form of connection or sharing over the week. This event was undoubtedly a group effort, and personally, I think it went as well as it can be online.“

Was there any interesting experience that you had? 

“In general, I had a very good experience. I was paired with Dr. Kress and we talked much more than I expected. We shared a lot of heartwarming stories, and since she is new faculty, I felt like I got to know her better. The week was very fun since everyone there’s something new to look forward to.” 

Many students and faculties participated in the not-so-secret-Santa. Through this online activity, many of us were able to get in touch with someone we were not familiar with, either a teacher whose class we had never been in or a student in another grade that we barely see in school. Though there were no surprising gifts every day like before, the little messages and support were what people need during this particular Christmas season.

World Food Programme: The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Sunny Li ‘22

The Norwegian Nobel Committee presented the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct 9, 2020, not to any individuals, but to the World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP has been awarded for “its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”

The World Food Programme is a branch under the United Nations, dedicated to food-assistance. It is the world’s largest humanitarians organization focused on hunger and food security. Its main purpose is to accomplish one of the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development set by 2030: Goal 2, Zero Hunger, which “pledges to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” The WFP’s work can be divided into two main parts—delivering food assistance in emergent situations and working with communities to improve nutrition and to build resilience. In 2019, the WFP estimated 690 million people ending the day with an empty stomach and 135 million people suffering from acute insecurity, a number unprecedentedly high in the last few years. In 2019 alone, the WFP has helped 97 million people from 88 countries. 

The lack of food and nutrition ties directly to armed conflict. As the Norwegian Nobel Committee saw it, conflicts create food insecurity, and hunger instigates conflicts and triggers the use of violence. The two form a vicious circle that cannot be addressed unless one problem is first resolved. Regarding food security and peace, the WFP has done pioneering work in relatively unstable areas in South America, Africa, and Asia. Yemen would be a good case to look at. The country has suffered from long-time instability due to the conflicts between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-Arabian military backing the Yemen government. Over 20 million Yemenis face food insecurity, and more than one million women and two million children require treatment for acute malnutrition. Facing such severe humanitarian crises, the WFP has done a great job in both food assistance and cash assistance. It has provided “13 million people with monthly food assistance through direct food distributions or vouchers that people can use at retailers.” At the same time, people received cash transfers equivalent to US$12 per person per month from the WFP so that the economy could function properly. Although instability remains a major problem in the region, ameliorating food insecurity is a good starting point. Without the assistance of WFP in these situations, we can only imagine armed conflicts escalating the region.

There is still a long way to go to achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating hunger. Certainly, no single organization can end such a challenging difficulty; the world needs help from and cooperation of different organizations, governments, and even individuals. The World Food Programme serves as a role model for its outstanding work in providing food assistance and improving the situations in many areas around the globe. Its work is pioneering, impactful, and multilateral, and consequently, it embodies the exact characteristics that the Nobel Peace Prize looks for.

The Launch of Book Club

Andria Bao’23 and Julie He’23

Many students may find themselves lacking energy and motivation because of the current pandemic. In an effort to encourage students, the school offers many opportunities for students to enjoy fun activities and socialize with peers. Clubs, affinity groups, and weekend activities are examples of activities for students to come together and spend time on activities they enjoy. This year, there are 32 clubs ranging from Haiti Partnership Club to Culinary Arts club. Clubs have found myriad ways to adapt to the new system and let remote students be a part of the community. Multiple clubs meet online to encourage all students to join and feel connected with the rest of the school.

In addition to clubs that have been running for many years, numerous new clubs were created as well, including the Book Club, the Community Art Club, and the Philosophy club. As the name suggests, Book Club is a club dedicated to reading and discussing deeper meanings hidden in books. In their first meeting, students talked about favorite books and genres and played a game. In the spirit of Halloween, they decided to read a spooky horror book to read and talk about for the upcoming meeting. Based on a vote, members chose And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie as the month's book. The book is considered one of the best mystery novels ever written. 

Book club plans on meeting once a month. After each book, there will also be discussions about themes, interpretations, characters, and more. Club members can talk about their favorite genres, argue why a character is vital to the plot, or discuss the hidden meanings and implications of a certain book. In addition to monthly books, there will be lots of fun online activities, including games like book bingo and crossword puzzles. 

The club is created during a period of remote learning, however, in the future, hopefully the club can meet in person because this gives the club more room for creativity in planning activities and allows students to connect in real life. Since a large number of students are stuck at home and have fewer opportunities for social interaction, Book Club is a great option for students hoping to meet new people or relax. Book Club can encourage students to work on their comprehension skills, find a new relaxing hobby, and push people to get off their screens. Book Club is open to anyone, and we encourage everyone to go and check it out! 

A Glimpse of the College Process in a Global Pandemic

By Katie Park ‘21

After the remote learning period of my fifth form spring, I thought it was all going to be downhill from there. Since my third form year, I was well aware of the rigor of the fifth form year at St. Mark’s as the upperclassmen always talked about it. However, when it came to sixth form year, all I thought about was senior spring and how awesome those days are going to be for me. 

In fact, senior fall is as stressful or even more so than junior year because there is a lot to manage. There is only limited time, but seniors have to find time to work on their college applications, do school work, and have fun with friends. Although all the previous senior classes went through similar experiences in this regard, the Class of 2021 had an especially challenging and remarkable senior fall. 

Most, if not all, schools went test-optional, meaning they do not require their applicants to submit their test scores as part of their applications. Because test centers were closed starting from March, many seniors this year did not have the opportunity to take standardized tests during their junior year, which is typically when students take their tests. Test optional was relieving news, but at the same time, there is also ambiguity surrounding the test-optional policy, which to some people, caused a lot of confusion. 

Although interests are subject to change, a lot of people have a general idea of what they enjoy doing by the end of junior year. Most people planned to do something amazing over the summer before their senior year, be it a research program, internship, or a summer job. However, most of them were canceled, which was disappointing because they were looking forward to pursuing their interests over the summer. 

St. Mark’s does not report first window grades on the transcripts, but they still send them to colleges if students apply early. St. Mark’s explains to colleges that the first window grades are simply intended for students and parents as progress reports. Nevertheless, especially because junior spring ended with a pass and fail, seniors were looking forward to maximizing their academic potentials and showing that through their first window grades. However, seniors who were fully remote in the fall faced numerous challenges while navigating through another remote learning period. 

Applying to colleges is exciting because it is a way of presenting all the hard work we have put in for the past three years, and envisioning how our lives will be after high school is indeed an inspiring process. Although the Class of 2021 is faced with unprecedented challenges in the college process, the exciting aspect of the process still remains.  

St. Mark’s Stays Prepared

    Jonathan Hernandez ‘24

On August 31, 2020, St. Mark’s released its School Operations Evaluation Criteria, which was made to describe the criteria St. Mark’s is using to evaluate if the school’s operations need to be adjusted during this school year. One of the facilities highlighted in the Criteria was the Health Services annex. 

(The layout of the annex)

The Director of Health Services, Adria Pavletic, was able to help explain the annex’s role this year. She first gave thanks to Ms. Duran, Director of Facilities, and her facilities team for making the annex a cheerful and comfortable place. Due to COVID-19 having a variety of symptoms, any student who exhibits any signs of infectious disease will be admitted to the annex. Ms. Pavletic noted how some of the symptoms may include “nasal congestion, sore throat, nausea, headache, or just feeling unwell in general.” 

When a student is admitted, the health services nurses are to assess the student and determine what the proper plan of care will be. However, if an individual is seriously ill, they are to be taken to a local hospital for care. Ms. Pavletic gives thanks for the COVID-19 PCR testing that is available to the St. Mark’s community, which is performed each week so that the Health Services Office can track cases, if any.

The school has also taken many other precautions to ensure the safety of the student body and the faculty and staff. They have ensured that classroom spaces are disinfected after each class and that common areas in houses and that commonly used spaces are disinfected throughout the day.

The school has also encouraged students to wash their hands frequently and effectively and require students to wear effective face masks of multiple fabric layers, physical distance, and submit a daily health check. 

As of now, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at St. Mark’s. The precautions have ensured that St. Mark’s has not had a case of COVID-19 and will help the community be prepared for the next semester if COVID-19 is still present in the winter. 

Haiti Partnership Remains Strong

By Diana Oh ‘24

The Haiti Partnership consists of about 30 students and faculty members and is a partnership between St. Mark’s School and St. Marguerite’s School in La Tournelle, Haiti. The partnership allows St. Markers to better understand the Haitian culture and provides opportunity make special connections with students in Haiti. The three main branches of the partnership are fundraising, education/outreach, and communication.

Located in the Caribbean, Haiti is a country that includes the western part of the Island of Hispaniola and smaller islands such as Vauche, Grande Caye, and Gonâve. In 2010, Haiti went through one of the most catastrophic disasters, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0, barely 25km from the capital, Port-au-Prince. The earthquake caused 250,000 casualties, 300,000 injuries, and 1.3 million people lost their homes. Less than 10 months away from the destruction, a cholera outbreak exacerbated the situation. Even today, many Haitians suffer from poor sanitation and scarcity of food. 

Annually, students and faculty members of St. Mark’s visit St. Marguerite’s school, where they build special relationships. Although the current COVID-19 pandemic does not allow regular visits, meetings will be held regularly via Zoom. For example, regular discussions meetings with school administrators and church leaders are held to discuss how to improve the school system and community. Furthermore, since 2012, St. Mark’s has raised thousands of dollars through annual hikes to Henninger Flats, a journey whose distance represents how long a student of St. Marguerite’s takes to go to school each day. Classroom materials, friendship bracelets and hundreds of seed packets were also sent to St. Marguerite’s church to help them with the lack of food and supplies. Moreover, the St. Mark’s community provides funding for the lunch of more than 180 students in the St. Marguerite School, which annually costs over $20,000. 

Annually, students and faculty members of St. Mark’s visit St. Marguerite’s school, where they build special relationships. Although the current COVID-19 pandemic does not allow regular visits, meetings will be held regularly via Zoom. For example, regular discussions meetings with school administrators and church leaders are held to discuss how to improve the school system and community. Furthermore, since 2012, St. Mark’s has raised thousands of dollars through annual hikes to Henninger Flats, a journey whose distance represents how long a student of St. Marguerite’s takes to go to school each day. Classroom materials, friendship bracelets and hundreds of seed packets were also sent to St. Marguerite’s church to help them with the lack of food and supplies. Moreover, the St. Mark’s community provides funding for the lunch of more than 180 students in the St. Marguerite School, which annually costs over $20,000. 

Also, the funds help pay the teachers’ salaries. Before the COVID 19 pandemic broke out, chapel received coin donations and canned food for the St. Marguerite’s lunch program. 

On November 17th, from 10:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m , a letter writing event was held on the VIth form quad. Sending letters is a very effective way to connect two different communities together. By exchanging and receiving letters from the students of St. Marguerite, we will be able to maintain our relationship with the,.

Elise Gobron, the co-head of the Haiti Partnership talked about the importance of communication and her excitement about this exchange of letters: “Since it has been three years since we have had the opportunity to travel to Haiti and make those face-to-face connections, finding creative ways to connect with our partner school has definitely been a priority! I am so excited to have the whole school participate and send meaningful handwritten letters to our partner school, I think this will be a really great way to connect on a more tangible level!”

One goal for the future is to provide St. Marguerite’s with books and supplies to increase the quality of education for the students. In addition, faculty are considering extending the St. Marguerite’s school to 12th grade, as currently it only supports from kindergarten to 10th grade. Last but not least, continuing to improve friendships with the St. Marguerite community is also a major goal.

Affinity Groups and Club Meetings Reconnect St. Markers from Around the Globe

By Mandy Hui ‘23

St. Mark’s students are academically driven, tackling rigorous classes, and trying their best to excel in all of their courses. However, students’ social lives should be considered just as important as their academic lives. A lot of the students are still trying to discover their identities and explore different activities they may take an interest in. Fortunately, St. Mark’s has a variety of clubs and affinity groups, bringing together people with shared interests or of the same cultural, religious, ethnic, sexual, and gender identity.

Due to the Coronavirus, not all students can physically be on campus, but modern-day technology helps overcome this challenge. Remote students feel more isolated because they cannot socialize with their friends at school. Thus, clubs and affinity groups meetings are great opportunities for remote students and in-person learners to reconnect over similar hobbies and cultures.

Every week, there is an array of meetings students and faculty members can participate. There are over thirty clubs that are all student led, and each club is required to organize a meeting weekly, and affinity groups are expected to connect twice a month. The types of clubs range from debate club and book club, to dance club and mountain skiing club; the variation of clubs ensures that each student in the school will have at least one club that piques their interests.

In contrast, St. Mark’s affinity groups are clubs that categorize people by their racial, sexual, and gender identity, building a safe space for students to share their feelings and struggles with peers who may be going through a similar experience because of their identity. Examples of such affinity groups include: Black Lives Union (BLU), Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), Southborough Society, and many more. There are times when two different affinity groups will have merged meetings, discussing problems that overlap and concern both groups. 

Every student is going through a lot currently because of the global pandemic. Hopefully, club meetings and affinity groups will help ease students’ stress and tensions, making it easier for students to navigate their way through this academic year. With students supporting each other, it will help strengthen the community as a whole.