Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at St. Mark’s

by Angelica Hiraldo ‘23, Jonathan Hernandez ‘24

National Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place from September 15th to October 15th, is a time not only to look at the contributions of Latinx and Hispanic individuals from the past but also those who are making meaningful contributions today, reflecting and celebrating all of their accomplishments. Here at St. Mark’s, there is no exception. 

Beginning in 1968, Hispanic Heritage Month was observed as National Hispanic Heritage Week but later was expanded to an entire month in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. The month begins on the 15th of September, which is the Independence Day of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, the Independence days of numerous other Latin American countries such as Mexico and Chile also fall in this time period. Thus, with numerous holidays and days of celebration, it is no surprise that St. Mark’s has been joining in the celebrations.

All around campus, students have been celebrating and reflecting in many different ways with the help of Los Leones, the Latinx affinity group at St. Mark's. First, they kicked off the year with a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration with food, music, candy, and meaningful conversations about Mexico’s Independence Day on September 16th. With fun activities and important historical facts, all were able to join in the lively festivities. On September 30th, the group gathered in Ms. Moreta’s (one of the Los Leones’ faculty advisors) for an evening full of music, community building, and empanada, and churro making. 

In addition, the heads of Los Leones, Aime Murillo (V form), and Jonathan Hernandez (IV form), have created a Hispanic Heritage Reading List for the entire St. Mark’s community to explore different cultures and different aspects of the Latinx Identity, some popular ones being The Poet X by Elizbeth Acevedo, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alverez, and The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The entire reading list can be found here.

As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end, the St. Mark’s community is still highly encouraged to celebrate and explore the different aspects of Latinx culture in the future as well. While we are only in the first month of the school year, there have been many celebrations of LatinX culture at St. Mark’s, with many more to come in the future. 

Extended Orientation

BY Ingrid Yeung ’23

After year-long complications of COVID and difficulties of international traveling, students and faculty members are finally back on campus together in the 2021-22 academic school year to engage in in-person learning. With over 140 students completely new to the campus— which includes new freshmen as well as returning students who had stayed fully remote last year as their first year of school— this year’s orientation is surely different from all other years. Student leaders arrived a few days early, just as in previous years, to receive leadership training and to simply get used to the typical campus life after hybrid learning. Since we have a significant amount of students unfamiliar with campus, not only did the normal orientation run for an extended period, the school rearranged the first two weeks of school to accommodate what we called extended orientation. 

The regular orientation period looked different from the previous years to facilitate new students to connect with their advisors, teams, houses, forms, and even quad teams before the school officially started. In previous years, the students would arrive on a Thursday, participate in orientation activities tightly packed into two days, and school would formally begin on a Saturday. This year, however, the school hopes to ease the transition into St. Mark’s Schedule to reduce the overwhelming feeling. With all the activities dedicated to including new students into the SM community, the school sought to minimize the feeling of being left out and stressed. 

Extended orientation took up one color block in the regular schedule every day for two weeks also for the purpose of ramping up and giving the students a slow start to the year. Each day, extended orientation took an eighty-minute block, while most activities were intentionally planned to occupy only forty minutes of the block. It gave students and faculty members an extra forty- minutes every day to breathe and break during the first two weeks of school. Not only for easing in, extended orientation also spaced information, which would usually be packed in two days of orientation,  for the students to retain it better. Different extended orientation blocks tackled different areas of concerns, Pathways affinity groups, mindfulness, consent and rules, meeting with PDGs for the third formers, etc. The extended orientation hosted various activities and information sessions that generally would not be part of the orientation in order to inform new students more about the community life in St. Mark’s. To this end, the extended orientation gave the whole school an easy transition into the tightly arranged regular schedule.

Comments and opinions regarding the new form of orientation varied. Some students had fun during the orientation activities, while others felt a little overwhelmed and pressured. Since this is the first year that St. Mark’s tried this new form of orientation, there were imperfections with event planning and schedule communication. However, the school will soon reach out to the community and ask for feedback on the orientation and the change in schedule in hope of modifying it to accommodate the community better. 

Seated Lunch: Will It Happen Or Not?

By Vanessa Leung ‘25

As announced recently, St. Mark’s has moved from COVID-19 yellow phase back to green- the result of a positive COVID case of an adult in the school community. This heightened awareness of following precaution protocols raises questions around the possibility of seated lunch. 

Although there are staggered lunch schedules and chapel in the 1945 Hall in order to prevent the risk of spreading the virus, the circumstances of the school fortunately have not been serious enough to reach the point where people have to be assigned seating while attending lunch or chapel. 

Staggered lunch schedules however, have been created where lunch time for the student body has been separated into two groups to lower the number of unmasked students and faculty in an indoor place. Students with different classes around lunch period have been placed in Blocks A or B and eat at lunch B or A. While it does decrease the risk in an indoor environment, the schedule has been really frustrating for students. In addition to memorizing the color block schedule, students also have to remember their periods of having lunch, which is critical if the student does not want to miss class because of eating lunch at the wrong period. In addition many students aren’t able to sit with their friends who might be in different classes,  

Chapel however, as heard from many of the returning students, in the ‘45 Hall turned out to be better than before when they had morning and evening chapel in St. Mark’s actual chapel. Since St. Mark’s chapel did not meet the COVID-19 air ventilation requirements, the class of 45 hall was chosen as the replacement for real Chapel temporarily. Many returning students stated that chapel space in the ‘45 Hall was less crowded and the seating was not as cramped as before. The ‘45 hall provides more comfortable, wide seats with cushioning which is much more enjoyable to be seated in. Freshman and new sophomores however will sadly not get to experience the feeling of real chapel for now. Chapel in the 45 Hall is not seated; instead students will sit in groups according to their forms. 

While most are still not sure what a seated meal will be like, it will mostly be students sitting on assigned seating evenly spaced out to diminish the contact with one another. This protocol will probably be initiated if circumstances worsen such as multiple positive COVID cases in the community. If seated lunch is going to occur then the staggered lunch schedule will definitely continue, and chapel will likely be cancelled. 

With the help of maintaining safety protocols such as having masks on while indoors , the St. Mark’s community will hopefully soon return back to Green phase, and seated lunch and chapel will never happen. 

Constant Schedule Changes

By mandy hui ‘23

During the past two years at St. Mark’s, there have been drastic changes to the academic schedule, confusing many students as they attempt to navigate through the school year under unprecedented circumstances. Due to the sudden transition from in-person learning to remote learning due to Covid-19, St. Mark’s tried their best to adjust the regular academic day schedule to a more comfortable schedule that would fit well with the majority of the students. Altering the schedule was challenging as many students were situated in various countries, since the school has a large international student population, making it difficult to allocate a good time for classes to begin and end for everybody. To this day, there are still ongoing changes to the schedule, especially during lunch, as fitting the entire school into the dining hall simultaneously would not be Covid-friendly.

After the first spring break of the 2019-2020 academic year, St. Mark’s announced that they would host all classes remotely, completely remodeling the school life and routine of all St. Markers. Instead of having classes end at around 3 pm, the school shortened the school day so it would end at around noon. This allowed international students to rest, especially if they were in a location that was more than 10 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. In addition to that, the school cancelled Saturday classes entirely. When the 2020-2021 school year began, St. Mark's then announced that they would return to in-person learning. However, remote learning was still an option, so they created a hybrid learning schedule. The school lengthened the academic day from the previous year, ending it at around 1:30 pm, but if you were an international student with a class past 11 pm, you would be exempt, and the class would be optional. Classes were also condensed from the customary 80 minute and 45-minute blocks to only 40-minute blocks, along with 30-minute intervals between each class (which was then 20-minute blocks after the first semester) as it gives the school time to sanitise classrooms and working spaces. Saturday classes still remained cancelled that year. The school also implemented three different lunch blocks (A, B, and C), with each student allotted a particular lunch block every weekday to prevent overcrowding in the dining hall, following Covid regulations. 

This academic year, 2021-2022, the school’s academic schedule came back to some normalcy with the return of the infamous 80-minute blocks and Saturday classes. Although school seems like it is back to a somewhat ‘normal’ state, there are still slight changes to the schedule. During the first two weeks of school, St. Mark’s introduced ‘‘extended orientation’’, helping students transition back to school more smoothly with the absence of certain color blocks throughout the week, particularly because of the sudden shift back to a schedule student’s were not accustomed to. Moreover, lunch is still staggered but only into two blocks (A and B) so there would not be too many students eating at once. The constant changes to the schedule have been an exasperating experience for many students. However, St. Markers continue to thrive and work their hardest with the conditions given to them, doing the best they can with what they have.

Community and Equity at St. Mark’s: A brief History and Overview

BY Ingrid Yeung ‘23

Since it created its Diversity Statement, St. Mark’s School has been striving to emphasize the importance of diversity and respect for all regardless of “sex, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, ability, family structure or economic background.” In this chaotic year of the pandemic and all the identity movements happening worldwide, our school’s Community and Equity (C&E) initiatives have continued to work for diversity, equity and inclusion. Faculty and students worked hard throughout this year, whether remotely or on campus, to continue creating a safe, welcoming space for all St. Mark’s students. The Pathways prefects and affinity group leaders have stepped up to take up an essential part of responsibilities for combating racism and supporting the students. 

To fully appreciate the present state of Community and Equity at St. Mark’s, it is essential to understand the development of the Community and Equity Committee, Pathways, and affinity groups throughout the years. Around ten years ago (2010-2011), when ideas of diversity and equity were not as well voiced in the community as they are now, the Pathways program first emerged. Pathways was first created to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment for BIPOC students. It changed orientation to include time for students and families who were new to boarding school to acclimate better. In 2011-2012, Mr. Warren officially established a position for director of C&E. The affinity groups were initiated while the first C&E director, Ms. Archibald, was in place. After that, students became much more involved in Pathways and affinity groups and over the years the Pathways’ program has developed to be much more student-oriented and student-centered for everyone. 

Under the directorship of Ms.Adams and Ms. Zhu, Community and Equity and the Pathways affinity groups continued to evolve and played a much more significant role in the St. Mark’s community. The creation of Umoja, the Unity day, and the further strengthening of affinity groups have  all contributed to St. Mark’s becoming a more diverse and inclusive community. The progression of C&E in St. Mark’s is impressive. Its focus over time has evolved as it has developed from a program for orientation to a program that empowers students of all backgrounds and bonds the community together. The continuous progress of C&E and Pathways allows us to further understand the progress and advancements this year in Pathways and the creation of the Anti-racism Task Force. 

Pathways has always served an essential role in guiding St. Markers and creating safe spaces for all students in this community. It is a student-led and student-oriented diversity program that allows students of franchised identity to come together and celebrate their shared identities and serve those who need it the most. Now, there are multiple affinity groups, the groups and leaders are equipped with the ability to voice their own identities and call for change within and beyond our community.

The Pathways prefects have also proposed the antiracism petition. Pathways and affinity groups have always been active in voicing the identity of minority groups and standing in the front in the combat against racism, but, at the same time, Pathways was never intended to put any “obligation” on all students to restructure any systems or educate the whole community. The primary purpose of the program is to create a safe space and enable students to develop the ability to react to incidents through practicing conversations. There are no magical curricula or structural changes in the system that would automatically eliminate bias-based acts or incidents in the community. Going to affinity group meetings and practicing conversations regarding sensitive topics on identities can empower students. Specifically, it has been challenging for all the pathways groups to have regular meetings in this current year and provide a comfortable space for students who shared one identity. The topics discussed in the affinity groups meeting have also shifted due to the current world events. However, all affinity group leaders have been as creative as they can to provide the students with an experience similar to those at school. On an administrative level, the Pathways prefects have been sitting on the Anti-racism task force and holding check-in meetings with Dr. Daves and Mr. Warren regarding the petition and the C&E programs continue to improve and evolve even in this harsh and hybrid learning environment. 

The Anti-Racism task force is a new addition to our school Community and Equity efforts this year, dedicated explicitly to making St. Mark’s an antiracist school. There are four quadrants to this task force, and each serves a different purpose, whether academic, communication, or student experience-oriented, but all working together towards the same goal. Constituency and Engagement, Student Experience, Teaching and Learning, and Professional Development are the four groups that make up the whole task force. The constituency and engagement quadrant helps both communication and dialogue from BIPOC and white alumni to the board and some internal engagement and communication. Ms. Christina Paul, Dr. John Daves, and Ms. Starry Zhu are all in this quadrant responsible for the incident reports. The St. Mark’s Bias-Based Incidents Report form created this year allows the student to report any bias-based incident or offense that they might have experienced. This incident report system allows students to feel more protected in the school community. The student experience quadrant is about enabling the student to learn how to learn outside the classroom and consider the unscripted learning experiences. Moreover, the teacher and learning quadrant is more responsible for the teacher to know how to teach social identity, social justice, and inclusion in the classroom. Then, the professional development focuses on making sure people within the community can talk about their social identities through windows and mirrors and second sight. Each quadrant works with senior administrators to better ensure the steps to take to move towards our goals and begin to take live actions. With all those four quadrants acting together, the whole school community is able to become more self-aware from a social justice standpoint in understanding what it means to be an antiracist school. 

St. Mark’s has seen significant development in Community and Equity and antiracism in the past year and will continuously work to become a truly antiracist school. With several components working together, whether the student-led and oriented Pathways program or the Anti-racism task force that involves both the students, faculties, and Board of Trustees, St. Mark’s has started its first series of actions in constructing a genuinely inclusive community. Guided by the ideas of learning how to learn, windows and mirrors, second sights, the C&E program will enable students to speak their own social identities and voice for social justice. And while St. Mark is on its way to becoming a truly antiracist school, Pathways is always dedicated to creating a safe space and an environment for students to be comfortable and bond with students with their shared identities. No matter how the programs advance, C&E is always a program serving students at-need and supporting students of all backgrounds. 

Special thanks to Dr. Heather Harwood, Ms. Starry Zhu, and Dr. John Daves 

Online Classics Banquet

By Suha Choi ‘22

If you have been on Main Campus in late May, during pre-Covid times, it’s possible that you have at some time encountered a group of freshmen dressed in white togas rushing towards the Parkman room of the library, as they quietly recite unrecognizable Latin words over and over. This odd encounter points to a single possible event — it is time for the annual Classics Banquet and the famous Latin I play! Despite the challenges of hybrid learning and social distancing this year, the Classics Department was able to hold the annual Classics Banquet via Zoom this year. Here are some highlights. 

This time, instead of wearing white togas and long beards, the main characters of Latin I play are spotted with masks on. Instead of a live performance at the Parkman room, the pre-recorded play allowed for more clear recitations of the line and the background of the main campus, perfect for remote students who have long missed the sight of our beautiful campus! The rest of the performance can be found in this Zoom recording.

The Classical Diploma students from VI form a presentation of their capstone project— exploring Greek mythology through a modern lens. One unique aspect of taking Classics at St. Mark’s is that students are challenged to go beyond translating a foreign language— young classicists at St. Mark’s constantly seek to find meaning and relevance in ancient texts. By applying historical context and linguistic knowledge altogether, the VI formers were able to each create their unique interpretations, summaries, and visual components of a chosen Greek myth. The details of the projects can be found on this website.

(Featuring VI Former Cara Mulcahey and her Greek mythology project)

The Classics Department also celebrated the winners of the annual book prize winners for the best sight translation of a given passage:

Latin I- Coco Chen
Latin II- Ryan Taylor
Latin III- Anika Sukthankar
Advanced Topics- Tate Frederick
Latin Workshop- Arden Williams
Greek I- Michael Ferlisi
Greek II- Cara Mulcahey
Greek III- PD Ragone

In addition to the book prize winners, the awardees of the National Latin Exam are also listed below. 

James Sabet - Cum Laude Certificate (Latin I)
Hannah Macleod - Cum Laude Certificate (Latin I)
Maisie Pierce - Cum Laude Certificate (Latin III reading)
Arjun Yerabothu - Silver Medal Maxima Cum Laude (Latin I)
Alden Metha - Silver Medal Maxima Cum Laude (Latin III reading)
Frankie Ruperto - Gold Medal Maxima Cum Laude (Advanced Poetry) 

Congratulations to all the winners and the Classics Department for organizing a successful Classics Banquet despite the switch to an online format. The next school year awaits another Classics Banquet in which everyone will be back on campus and able to gather in the Parkman room. Until then, valete!

Class of 2021 Matriculation List

Accurate as of May 13, 2021
N=103
2 students not going to college right away - junior hockey
1 doing a PG year
1 student’s plans are not clear at this point

St. Mark’s Efforts to Spread Antiracism

Amber Lee ‘24

St. Mark’s makes continuous efforts to help spread antiracism. Students are encouraged to discuss issues and their thoughts during advisory times, some classes, and especially the annual C&E day. All of our community members are trying their best to educate each other, and there are multiple opportunities for students themselves to explore the subject. I interviewed Mr. Corazzini, the director of wellness, about his thoughts on St. Mark’s efforts and the events.

Mr. Corazzini:

“We have started to do a better job of becoming an antiracist school here at St. Mark’s. There have been opportunities to have a conversation in athletics, faculty meetings, and on C and E day. I do believe that there should be more opportunities across disciplines to engage in thorough discussions about social justice in the community. So we should not be doing one-off conversations rather the work should be continued across the curriculum in all of your courses, humanities or STEM.

I was blown away by the work done by the Pathway Prefects in helping to facilitate all of the breakout sessions. In the past, I do not remember the students playing such a vital role in the day. It was interesting as an adult to listen to different perspectives and to continue to develop a full version of who I am by being attentive to what our student community was actually saying this past Wednesday. There is a lot of room for growth both as an individual and as a school community but if we pay attention to what our constituents are saying and what they are in need of we will move forward in becoming a truly anti-racist school.

It is essential for everyone to eagerly participate in stopping antiracism, and one of those ways is to be active in the opportunities St. Mark’s provides for everyone. All of us must always seek to improve, both as individuals and as the whole community.”

St. Mark’s Black History Month: A Celebration of Black Excellence And Advocacy of Antiracism

By Coco Chen ‘24

In February, students and faculty and staff at St. Mark’s launched numerous activities and programs to commemorate Black History Month. Apprising the school of African American history, culture, identity, and contributions to history, Instagram posts and e-mails and school announcements provided ample opportunities for anyone who wishes to gain a better understanding. 

Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the U.S., dedicated to promoting achievements by African Americans and other people of African descent. It is the brainchild of the pioneering African American activist Carter G. Woodson, who instituted the former Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (Scott). In 1926, ASNLH decided to sponsor a Negro History Week in the second week of February. By the late 1960s, the Negro History Week evolved into Black History Month, which was then promulgated by president Gerald Ford in 1976 (Scott; “HISTORY OF | History of Black History Month” 01:25-01:35). 

In 2020, many disturbing racist events have occured in the United States casting an ominous veil on the nation’s attempts to create racial justice. George Floyd, suffocated by a white police officer kneeling on his neck for a period reported to be 8 minutes and 46 seconds, initiated a worldwide Black Lives Matter movement that protested against police violence and racial discrimination. Racism was on display both in the hostile response to these protests and as white supremacists organized a violent pushback to Trump’s presidential loss by storming the U.S. capitol. In addition, the U.S. mourned the loss of many brilliant African American giants: the iconic civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis, international basketball star Kobe Bryant, female NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson, to name a few.

In the face of these crises, Black History Month of 2021 serves as a chance for all Americans to reflect, self-educate, and recommit (“The Significance of Black History Month in 2021” 03:15-05:21). At St. Mark’s, even though we have had a Community and Equity program for almost a decade, the mission of becoming an antiracist school is a relatively recent aspiration and the school has an unpleasant history of racial discrimination. Since the launch of the Instagram account @blackatsm, African American students, alumni, faculty, and staff members have been encouraged to share their individual experiences anonymously to reveal how African American students have been frequently disregarded and excluded from the predominately white culture at St. Mark’s. St. Markers of various ages confided that certain faculty members and students were ignorant and disrespectful, ridiculing African American traits and using racial slurs. One student from the class of 2016 posts that “being a black student at SM means being instantly traumatized by the institution, teachers, and students and being told to suck it up because you’re lucky to even be at SM.” These disturbing and humiliating experiences lent this year’s Black History Month a more urgent purpose - to eliminate racism and grant full dignity and respect to black student in the community

At St. Mark’s, each week of last month was enriched with Instagram posts of @smlions on Monday Motivation, Wednesday Wisdom, Throwback Thursday, and Feature Friday. Monday Motivation celebrated outstanding African Americans in literature, art, athletics, and education with detailed introductions such as the prodigious author Toni Morrison, founder of American soul Sam Cooke, four-time NBA MVP LeBron James, and renowned educator Booker T. Washington. Wednesday Wisdom imparted lessons on affinity groups, the Black Lives Matter movement, and antiracist policies and terms. Throwback Thursday provided a flashback to the first African American members at St. Mark’s, and Feature Friday featured members of our community on social media this month. 

Other affinity groups offered further information. Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) recommended movies and articles that explicate the intersections of the Black LGBTQ+ Community, introducing students to contributory yet often ignored or erased African American LGBTQ activists who speak truth to power. The rebellion against the police at the Stonewall Inn, considered by many as the beginning of the LGBTQ movement, was predominantly led by queer and trans people of color. A gay man of African heritage considers these activists empowering as they look like him, love like him, and fight for the same cause as him (“Black History Is LGBTQ History”). Furthermore, Ms. Lee and Ms. McCann respectively send documentaries and poems to watch and read throughout the month. 

Though Black History Month only occurs in February, it does not mean the African American community is merely recognized in this shortest month of the year. Black history is a part of American history, and it needs to be remembered and celebrated every day instead of exclusively in a month. Nevertheless, due to a long history of racial discrimination, having every American truly respect the African American community is a long and gradual process. It requires the U.S. to start from a month and extend to a full year. During this month, the U.S. needs to look at the African American history both before and after slavery, paying remembrance and homage to not only the accomplished African American figures at the present but also to those deprived of freedom and the opportunity to excellence of the past. 

Works Cited 

“Black History Is LGBTQ History.” GLAD, 5 Feb. 2018, www.glad.org/post/black-history-lgbtq-history.

“HISTORY OF | History of Black History Month.” YouTube, uploaded by HISTORY Canada, 12 Feb. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnSHm3Y9qYc.

Scott, Daryl. “Origins of Black History Month – ASALH – The Founders of Black History Month.” ASALH, asalh.org/about-us/origins-of-black-history-month. Accessed 26 Feb. 2021.

“The Significance of Black History Month in 2021.” YouTube, uploaded by CBS News, 2 Feb. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMrYp_LjBcM.