MS. FINN EXPOSED: SHE MIGHT HAVE 2000 DOGS (WITH EVIDENCE)

By Grace Lee ‘23

Ms. Finn, my dorm head and psych teacher, has always been a suspicious figure to me. In psychology class, she often brings her dog Buckeye. However, sometimes she does not bring him to class. Other times, she may even bring in a dog called Riley which she claims is “her mom’s dog”. This irregular pattern of dog-bringing didn’t seem too strange to me, but questions arose after one particular psychology class. Buckeye was looking a little bit different, as he happened to have shorter hair. My brain entered a long period of thinkage about this strange occurrence, because like, what kind of dog can ungrow his hair? I don’t even know any humans who can do that. There must be another reason as to why Buckeye looks different.

What if the dog in the classroom isn’t Buckeye at all? What happened to the real Buckeye? My theory is that Ms. Finn must have more dogs than we know about, and she is swapping out different dogs to bring to class each day. Where do the other dogs go when they are not brought to class? Does she perform psychological experiments on them? She may even have as many as 2000 dogs in her apartment for all we know, which exceeds the legal limit by 1996 dogs. Ms. Finn could have a dog-hoarding behavior we may not know about.  

At the beginning of the year, there was leaf blowing everyday early in the morning. Sometimes, the leaf blowers weren’t even blowing anything at all. Mrs Finn brought this up to my class, and this was the first time that I began to suspect that she was hiding something. I remember in first grade, there was a saying: “whoever smelt it dealt it”. That was a saying referring to farts, but I have a feeling that Ms. Finn was the one who “dealt it”. She must have ordered leaf blowing in the early morning in order to hide the dogs’ loud barking and brought it up to the class as a way to seem like she had nothing to do with it. Additionally, the dog Riley had always seemed suspicious to me. How can we know Riley is truly Ms. Finn’s mom’s dog? I’ve never seen Ms. Finn’s mom, so there is a possibility she may not have any dogs at all. She is definitely part of Ms. Finn’s dog stash. Ms. Finn also claims to have taken another dog into her care named Bowdie, which shows that she clearly has intention of bringing more dogs into her house. All of these reasons made me suspicious of her dog-hoarding.

After using my 5 brain cells to think some more about this issue, I developed a plan. I would sneak into Ms. Finn’s apartment, and document the dogs that she has been stashing away. In the early morning, I snuck into the Finnerty house and took a photo of my discoveries.

Overall, I hope that you all - as readers - can take hold of the gravity of Ms. Finn’s dog hoarding behavior. She has way too many dogs, and there are even three poops in the living room (shown above). The dogs are running around and there is mayhem. An unqualified estimation of the amount of dogs in her apartment is 2000, many of which are uninhibited and crazy. This concludes the case of Ms. Finn’s dogs.

New Dorm Construction Postponed

By Jonathan Hernandez ‘24

As students impatiently await the opening of the New Residential Building, meant to replace West Campus dorms, they find themselves having to wait even longer than anticipated. While the original plan was for the collection of dorms to be ready for students by the beginning of the 2022-2023 academic year, the opening and operation of the facility have been postponed. During this past Spring Break, construction workers had discovered that a gaggle of wild geese had settled in the partly constructed building. In order to keep warm, the geese appeared to have ripped out the insulation from within the walls and made nests for their eggs. In an effort to not provoke nor harm the geese or their eggs, Mr. Warren and the Board of Trustees decided to establish a temporary goose sanctuary where the gaggle may freely roam and protect their eggs. The Board of Trustees and Mr. Warren hope to demonstrate St. Mark’s commitment to wildlife protection and the environment with this program. However, due to the hiatus in the construction of the new residential space, the dorms will be operational by the 2025-2026 academic year. Without the new dorms for the next academic year, St. Mark’s has been looking toward more effectively utilizing the current roaming space to best accommodate every student. To best make use of the available space, the Dean of Students’ Office has presented their plans for roaming for next year. Their plan highlights how all students will be required to have a roommate. There are to be no “singles” next year, and the largest room will not be a room with three students, but a room with six students, with three bunk beds in each previously “double” room. This new plan allows students to be “close to each other,” physically and socially. While current students may be in disdain that they may miss the opportunity to use the new dorms and the space’s communal study rooms and cooking places or that their rooms will be cozier in the following years, they are able to rest more easily knowing the Southborough gaggles are guarded.

Introducing St. Mark’s Sundays

By Sophie Chiang ‘23

St. Mark’s Saturdays have been an integral part of the St. Mark’s experience since its inception. Having a wide array of courses to choose from and take for two and a half hours every Saturday morning provides an opportunity for experiential learning and stepping out of the St. Mark’s bubble. These courses are designed to be rooted in collaborative, exploratory, immersive, and innovative learning. They are courses that a high school student could never imagine taking as part of their curriculum and offer a fresh perspective to the traditional core classes one takes at school. Some example courses a St. Marker could elect to take are Songwriting & Recording, Geometric Pysanky, Introduction to Jiu-Jitsu, Philosophy and Science of Yoga, East Asian Culture Through Film, Museum Exploration, and many more. These courses allow the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning with students from all forms and teachers from all departments. 

Saturday classes have garnered such rapport that the deans and academic administrators have decided to implement another mandatory experience: St. Mark’s Sundays. These courses complement St. Mark’s Saturdays by allowing students to choose from and take corresponding courses. These will last for two and a half hours on Sunday mornings and be followed by a half-hour of School Meeting. Sunday classes are designed to match whatever a student elects to take on the day prior but take on a more practical perspective. For example, Songwriting & Recording will be matched with Making it in Hollywood. Introduction to Jiu-Jitsu will be followed by Advanced Jiu-Jitsu. East Asian Culture Through Film will be matched with Western Asian Culture Through Film. Art Curation will follow museum Exploration. The academic department believes that these courses will complete St. Markers’ experiences and will be “an academic sensation.” There are high hopes that Sunday Classes will provide students with a more complete perspective of the world and prepare them for the world beyond Southborough.

New Change in Dress Code

By Mandy Hui ‘23

With St. Mark’s returning to in-person learning this year after two years of remote and hybrid learning, St. Mark’s dress code has finally been reinforced. The past two years have been chaotic and ever-changing for the institution, leading to the dress code being temporarily relaxed. A lot of St. Markers were enthusiastic about the sudden change from the school’s usual academic and formal atmosphere to a more laid-back environment. However, for the 2022-2023 academic year, the school decided to return with its notorious dress code while many St. Markers were still used to the faculty’s lenient attitudes towards the dress code. 

At the beginning of this academic year, a multitude of St. Mark’s students were still not complying with the school’s dress code, continuing to wear non-school sweatshirts, sweatpants, and leggings. To respond to this, starting two weeks after spring break, St. Mark’s will implement a harsher dress code for students: Academic day dress will now be the same as the chapel dress code. These new changes mean that students will have to wear formal attire to academic classes daily instead of just for the monthly evening chapel. Students will be expected to dress in either a suit and tie, including blazers, or a dress that is an appropriate length, with a cardigan (or whatever else that seems suitable), and shoes must be closed-toes. If students are seen not following the new dress code, they will be facing much harsher consequences than ever before. They will be sent to the dean's office to talk to the dean of students, and they will be asked to write a 5 page paper to reflect on their actions and explain why dress code is an integral part of St. Mark’s. Not only that, but guilty students will also be sent to detention for four consecutive weeks (the entire month), and they will also be banned from leaving St. Mark’s campus for those four weekends. This was decided to hopefully change the students’ laid-back attitude and to get them to respect the school’s dress code more. Not many students are aware of this new change, and the school intentionally kept this away from the majority of the student body because they wanted to prevent as much backlash as possible from students and parents, hoping to enforce this new rule before anyone can object. These extreme measures made by the school will definitely get students to take the dress code more seriously. 

More changes to the Schedule : Students are Sleeping too late

By Ingrid Yeung ‘23

St. Mark’s has always been a fond advocate for a balanced schedule of academic, athletic, and extracurricular activities. With growing emphasis on students’ well-being, St. Mark’s strives annually to improve the schedule for better student experiences. Recently, the school conducted a survey asking students about their overall energy level and sleeping time on an average school day, and the result was shocking. It is shown that the average student here goes to sleep around midnight and gets an average of six and a half or seven hours of sleep per night. In correlation with this sleeping data is the overall energy level of students. The trend shows that students have low energy levels throughout the day. As a result of this data, the school decided there was a need for change in the schedule. Students are going to sleep too early, which directly lowers their energy levels. Therefore, the school is looking forward to changing the schedule to better student experience in the following weeks by adding one more color block at night, extending study hall hours, and starting school earlier each day. 

Right now, the regular St. Mark’s school day ends at 3:05 PM on weekdays, with an exception on Wednesday with an early end due to athletic competitions. Students have no academic obligations after their last commitment and have excessive free time outside of athletic practices. Students often do not make good use of their time, spending it on leisure activities, which in turn causes their fatigue. Therefore, after careful discussions among the deans, the school’s administration has decided to add another color block, the Pink block, to our regular schedule. Pink Block will run from 6:00 to 7:20 PM, with the length of our standard long block. Not an addition to class, the Pink Block is an additional supplement block for the main courses: English and Math. Pink Block will meet four times a week, except for Wednesday, with two blocks of English and two blocks of math. With this new addition to the schedule, the students get a more fulfilling St. Mark’s academic experience. In addition to the new Pink Block, SM will extend study hall hours to enhance student performance. The standard study hall time runs from 7:30 PM- 9:30 PM, which is barely enough for students to finish homework. Extending study hall hours into 10:30 PM, the school hopes to allow students to develop their academic interests and use the time efficiently for extra studying. Those changes all increase students' time dedicated to academics, but the one last change that SM will make will substantially decrease the number of sleep students get and enhance their performance at school. Instead of starting school at 8:00 AM, the first color block of the day will begin punctually at 7:30 AM. The 30 minutes less sleep does not seem like much, but it can determine the student's overall energy level.  Since students are sleeping way too early, causing fatigue, the school’s hopes that adjusting the schedule will create a better student experience. 

St. Mark’s Moving Toward a Fully Self-Directed Education

By Emma Lu ‘24

As part of a growing initiative among schools nationally,  St. Mark’s School has finally reached consensus on the subject of self-directed learning. Following many faculty meetings, the school has decided that beginning in Fall of 2022, St. Mark’s will no longer hold any synchronous classes and will switch to a fully self-guided model of learning. 

What brought upon this sudden change in philosophy? In keeping with its mission statement, a core philosophy of St. Mark’s is to develop students’ particular abilities through “inspiring their … curiosity and kindling their passion for discovery.” Despite efforts, research and large scale surveys show that students value their actual learning less and less, instead solely prioritizing grades and GPAs. This strict focus on an often not fully representative number for college applications only diminishes what the period of high school is meant to be; a formative four year period of growth for adolescents to find themselves in context to the greater world.

The systems of education in most schools are insufficient at providing this experience to our youth. This is unsurprising, given that the current systems were designed in a time where high school was often the highest level of education a person would receive and was merely meant to prepare young people for obedience in the standardized workplaces. Hence, why independent schools such as St. Mark’s exists; parents and their children wish for a well rounded education that is able to support and nurture the youth’s unique personhood for a world that increasingly demands creativity and critical thinking. Existing programs such as the school's extensive collection of student lead groups, Lions Roam, and more are meant to facilitate this, and a fully self-guided education is just the next step in response to changing demands in a shifting world. 

As self-directed.org explains, “self-directed education necessarily leads different individuals along different paths, though the paths may often overlap, as each person’s interests and goals in life are in some ways unique and in some ways shared by others.” 

Through comprehensive discussion with all faculty, board members, and the wider community, St. Mark’s has decided to fully embrace this approach. Beginning fall of 2022, no in person nor online classes would be provided by the school. No academic or scheduled blocks of any kind would exist, which would give students much needed flexibility and encourage independence. In place would be a wide catalog of lectures, online discussion boards, and other resources curated and created by our talented faculty, for each and every course. With no required assignments, students are given the opportunity to engage as much as they want on the subjects that interest them, at whatever level they wish. Should students deem that more support is required, all faculty would still be available to meet with students during the now open academic day. 

Although the changes are seemingly radical, St. Mark’s has already experimented with various self-guided programs or units in classes, with highly positive results. In these small scale tests, reports on engagement with material have increased significantly, as have results, as indicated by increased performance in various assessments.  Furthermore, student contentment and feelings of accomplishment with work completed greatly increased. 

More concrete information would be released in the oncoming weeks regarding incoming changes as the school enters another period in its long history. 

New Initiatives to Diversify Faculty at St. Mark’s

By Ingrid Yeung ‘23

As expressed in St. Mark’s diversity statement, our school strives to reflect the increasingly diverse world by providing students with an exceptional education in a community of students, faculty, and staff representing different racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.  St. Mark’s seeks to promote awareness around cultural differences and encourage students and faculty to celebrate diversity and their experiences. Through Community and Equity affairs, St. Mark’s strives to build a community where students can have safe spaces to have honest conversations and where everyone works together to help the school move closer to being an antiracist school. In the 2021-22 school year, St. mark’s C&E efforts have included developing an Antiracist Strategic Planning Task Force, providing antiracism training to faculty, and continuing support to the Pathways program. As we move closer to the end of the year, St. Mark’s has two new initiatives for next year intended specifically for diversifying the faculty population: the new Associate Dean of Faculty for Equity and Inclusion and the Penn Fellows Program. 

The new Associate Dean of Faculty for Equity and Inclusion position is created to “support the work of the Assistant Head of School/Dean of Faculty in recruiting, hiring, and retaining a diverse and talented faculty” (Job Description). In previous years, St. Mark’s C&E work has focused mainly on student life, but with this new administrative position, the school can further support our BIPOC faculty to thrive at St. Mark’s as it works to intentionally diversify the faculty. Working closely with other Deans, the Associate Dean will identify and establish practice standards of inclusion for adults at St.Mark’s while providing professional development for faculty. This position aims to approach the process of recruiting faculty and training through an antiracist lens. With the ambitious goal of diversifying the faculty population and supporting BIPOC faculty comes numerous responsibilities. The Associate Dean is expected to facilitate faculty and staff C&E professional development through the promotion of on-campus and off-campus professional development in areas of C&E and respond to Bias Incident Reports involving faculty. Continuing the current C&E initiatives and programs, the Associate Dean will also assist the evolution of St. Mark’s educational programs through collaboration with other Deans and faculty, actively providing resources to BIPOC faculty. With this new position specifically dedicated to furthering the equity work at St. Mark’s for faculty and staff, the school strives to truly embody its diversity statements and antiracism initiatives.  

In addition to the new administrative role, the initiation of the Penn Fellows program also seeks to bring new perspectives to our faculty body. The Penn Fellows program is an Independent School Teaching Residency master’s program that allows early career teachers to teach while receiving their master’s degrees. It is a combination of on-site sessions and online classes that facilitate the students’ future careers as educators. During the two years of residency, the Penn Fellows will teach at a reduced load while continuing their school requirements. The Fellows can also get involved with the school’s residential life program, extracurricular activities, advising, and coaching. This program is geared towards novice teachers with less than two years of experience who are interested in the independent school context. Being a partner boarding school in this program, St. Mark’s will welcome two Penn Fellows in the next academic year. Recently, several potential candidates have already visited campus and got to learn more about St. Mark’s. Our school also set up Student Panel and mock teaching sessions to help both St. Mark’s and the candidate decide whether it is a good fit for both. Next year, having this program will allow St. Mark’s to diversify the faculty on campus further. It also provides a platform for students interested in becoming teachers in independent schools. 

As St. Mark’s launched the new initiatives dedicated to promoting C&E work among the faculty and staff population, it is also pushing the school into a new phase of equity affairs. By paying more attention to supporting the BIPOC faculty and hiring more faculty of color, St. Mark’s creates a more inclusive environment for students, faculty, and staff. There have been many situations this year where tough conversations needed to be held, and some students stills struggle to find a safe space to share their experiences and opinions. With the new Associate Dean of Faculty for Equity and Inclusion, the school will create a safer environment for students through additional equity training for teachers and increasing faculty diversity to match the already highly diverse student population. St. Mark’s is gradually becoming an antiracist school. 

Umoja: Highlights

Karry Kim ‘25

Umoja, meaning ‘unity’ in Swahili, is an annual celebration of unity and inclusion of all St. Mark’s students. Each year students from different affinity groups perform skits, sing songs  dance and read poetry that evokes their cultural heritage. Unlike the previous years, this year’s Umoja was held in virtually various locations due to the pandemic. While the 4th formers and the 6th formers watched the performance in the PFAC in person, the rest of the forms watched a livestream of the event in locations such as the Lower Center, CPR, and the Lion’s Den. 

The event started off with the reading of an Arabic poem, “On This Land” by Mahmound Darwish (Aidan Khamis ‘22). This poem reads (translated version):

We have on this land that which makes life worth living

We have on this land all of that which makes life worth living

April’s hesitation

The aroma of bread at dawn

A woman’s beseeching of men

The writings of Aeschylus

Love’s beginning

Moss on a stone

Mothers standing on a flute’s thread

And the invader’s fear of memories

We have on this land that which makes life worth living

September’s end

A woman leaving ‘forty’ behind

with all of her apricots

The hour of sunlight in prison

A cloud reflecting a swarm of creatures

A people’s applause for those who face their own erasure with a smile

And the tyrant’s fear of songs.

We have on this land all of that which makes life worth living

On this land

The lady of our land

The mother of all beginnings

And the mother of all ends

She was called Palestine

Her name later became Palestine

My lady….

Because you are my lady

I have all of that which makes life worth living. (Darwish, M. (1976). On this land: Poem.) 

Although less well-known in the United States, Mahmound Darwish is a significant figure in Palestinian culture, widely accepted as the Palestinian national poet. Born in Al-Birwa in 1941, 7 years before the once Palestinian village became occupied and destroyed by the Isreali army, Darwish had to fleed to Lebanon, leaving his hometown at a young age. As he started his poetry, he was labeled a “resistance poet” because of his poems about the suffering of Palestinian refugees that he had recited in poem festivals. Like Darwish’s other poems, “On This Land” also talks about the beauty of the Palestinian land and its connection to its people. 

This poem also holds special meaning to Aidan and his family, 

“From “the aroma of bread at dawn to…a cloud reflecting a swarm of creatures” Palestine gives us life. Regardless of our situation in exile or occupation, Palestine is still our land that will forever give us life. Because Palestine gives us life, it holds a special place in our mind, in our identities. Regardless of me not stepping foot in Palestine, it is still my home. It represents who I am, and also what I have lost. To the Palestinian people, the beauty of Palestine, our home is all that makes life worth living” (Aidan Khamis ‘22). 

Following the recitation of “On This Land”, the ASA performed an upbeat Kpop dance to the song “Savage” by Aespa, bringing the event a ton of energy and spirit.  ASA had another performance as well with students sharing a Chinese heritage sing a Chinese pop song, “Dao Xiang (Rice Field)” by Jay Chou. The song shares a heartwarming message that when people face failure or discontent they can always go back home and recharge. “Dao Xiang” illustrates the image of a rural village with rice fields, where a little boy shares the story of his childhood. The song ends with the lyrics, “Treasure everything even if you have nothing,” giving hope to those who feel exhausted by their lives away from their hometowns. 

Other groups presented videos. Los Leones highlighted many of the Latinx students of St. Mark’s who shared important features of  their culture and traditions. Students from BLU ( Black/Latinio Union) explained the rich diversity within the black community by explaining different ancestral homes of each of the black St. Mark’s students. Following the video, BLU also performed a dance, with the genre of mix of African, Jamaican, and Hip Hop dances to the song “Toast” by Koffee. An interesting dance move they performed was called Gwara Gwara, a dance move made by an African DJ, DJ Bongz, and later made viral by the singer Rihanna. 

The acapella group, Royal Blues performed the song, “Show Me Love” by Hundred Waters, boosting positive energy in the event. 

Although the event was not held in the in-person unity of the whole school, the variety of performances made it possible for the school to successfully come together to celebrate the unity and inclusion of different cultures that exist among the people of St. Mark’s.

Preparations for the 2022 Asian-American Footsteps Conference (AAFC)

By Madison Hoang ‘23

“I do think that [being selected to host the AAFC this year] is a great milestone for us [St. Mark’s], because it is a recognition of the level of engagement and activism on behalf of our Asian student population,” says Ms. Zhu - who, along with Ms. Yang and Mr. Chen - are the three faculty members leading the charge for the Asian-American Footsteps Conference (AAFC), which will be hosted by St. Mark’s this 2021-2022 school year. This officially makes St. Mark’s the 10th school to ever host the conference, another exciting milestone for Ms. Zhu herself and for the rest of the AAFC planning committee. 

The AAFC was first established in 2011 by Aya Murata, an advisor to students at Phillips Academy Andover, who saw the lack of opportunities that were available for Asian and Asian-American students to discuss and explore their racial and ethnic identities. Out of this need to create a safe and empowering space for all Asian and Asian-American students, the AAFC was born, combining collaborative and educational experiences to help students explore, affirm, and embrace their racial and ethnic identities. Annually, the conference draws in hundreds of Asian and Asian-American students and faculty from preparatory schools across New England; since then, the participation rate has only grown, demonstrating the increasing importance of the AAFC in helping Asian and Asian-American young adults better understand and navigate their identities, not only in the immediate backdrop of their diverse prep-school environments, but also in the greater context of the increasingly-diverse United States environment that encapsulates them.

This year, the AAFC will be held virtually on April 24th. Following the previous years’ structures, the conference will be held over the course of one day; It will first feature a keynote presentation by a guest speaker, followed by 2-3 rounds of student and faculty-led workshops, as well as a small-group collaborative and discussion-based period in between. Each year, keynote speakers are picked based on outstanding commitment to Asian and Asian-American representation in their fields, as well as outstanding achievements through their work. While the Keynote speaker is yet to be announced, the hope is that his or her presentation will set a strong and empowering tone for the rest of the conference. Plans for the workshops are also in progress; early February, the AAFC committee has invited students and faculty members from all participating schools to propose and run workshops following the Keynote presentation. The Keynote speech and workshops will fall under the overarching theme of “Unmuting and Uniting,” which the committee hopes will resonate throughout the course of the entire conference, encouraging students to finally make their voices heard and empower them to strongly affirm their racial and ethnic identities. 

When asked about the challenges facing the planning process so far, Ms. Zhu shares, “I would have to say that our biggest challenge has been shifting from hosting the conference in-person to hosting it virtually.” While the conference was initially intended to be hosted in-person at St. Mark’s, it will now be moved to a virtual platform due to updated COVID-19 restrictions. For such a significant change to take place so late in the planning process, the AAFC committee has been forced to adapt by reworking the entire theme of the conference itself, and by shifting their focus towards more technical matters. In addition, worrying concerns linger: Will the shift to a virtual-based conference dampen students’ engagement? How will this affect student turnout? How do we prevent participants from feeling “Zoomed-out” during the conference? However, despite these challenges, Ms. Zhu is immensely proud of the work that the AAFC committee has done so far; She praises the committee’s members’ flexibility and strong work ethic during a time of such monumental alteration to the planning process. 

Therefore, Ms. Zhu is confident that St. Mark’s will be able to host a fantastic AAFC this year, and that the school will be able to deliver a meaningful and empowering experience for all Asian and Asian-American students across the participating New England prep-school community. She encourages any and all St. Markers, who identify as either Asian or Asian-American, to attend the AAFC this year. Despite falling short of initial expectations (that it will be in-person at St. Mark’s), the virtual-based AAFC will still provide students a “great opportunity” for self-education and self-empowerment, about what it means to be Asian. Especially following a pandemic-era wave of increased discrimination and violence against Asians and Asian-Americans in the US, the need for Asians to “unmute” their voices and “unite” at the AAFC is undoubtedly more important than ever before.