St. Mark’s Welcomes Penn Fellows

Jonathan Hernandez ‘24

For generations students have come to St. Mark’s to learn how to do and be their best. This fall, St. Mark’s is welcoming two students who are learning to teach their best. Brittney Brown, and Shrenik Agrawal joined the St. Mark’s community through the Penn Fellowship Program. 

The Fellowship Program, facilitated by the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, is a two-year fellowship program. Members of the program participate in teaching at partner schools, such as St. Mark’s, and online courses. The program allows aspiring teachers to receive a Master of Science in Education while gaining teaching experience at a wide array of partner schools. 

Brittney Brown, also known as Miss B around Campus, joined the St. Mark’s community from Georgia Tech this June, where she majored in Aerospace Engineering. Miss B noted that she enjoyed the opportunities grain teaching experience, especially at a boarding school like St. Mark’s. She explains that “I'm really excited to see not only my personal growth and education but also how students learn, the growth of my students and my players.” While here, she is teaching Geometry in the Math Department and currently helping coach Junior-Varsity Field Hockey in the fall. 

Miss B can often be found in the STEM faculty room or walking her student-popular dog Goose. In addition to athletics, Miss B is also interested in helping with Saturday Courses and the Robotics Team in the Winter. She is currently on duty in Gaccon, where she lives in one of the faculty apartments, where she loves to bake treats such as cheesecake and brownies. In addition, she has noted that she prefers the St. Mark’s community to call her Miss B.

Mr. Agrawal, noted that he had a long-standing desire to teach since high school. He explained that the Penn Fellowship has given him “a really good opportunity to learn and learn how to teach and work with small class sizes.” Mr. Agrawal explained that in teaching in a small school, teachers were able to have more time to connect more closely with each person. He explains that “teaching is about, first and foremost, strong social connections. That is the foundation on which any content that you're working with, stands on because you need that trust between teacher and student.” In being at St. Mark’s, Mr. Agrawal also noted that he hopes to be involved in promoting Community and Equity at St. Mark’s. 

Along with teaching, Mr. Agrawal plans on coaching Junior-Varsity Squash in the winter and Tennis in the Spring. When not teaching, he can be found running on the West Campus Cross Country Trail. He explained how the trail was truly a sight to see. 

This academic year, there were many faculty and staff to join the St. Mark’s community in most, if not all departments. Make sure to welcome each one by getting to know them, including Miss B and Mr. Agrawal!

Orientation Week Recap

Mandy Hui ‘23, Madison Hoang ‘23, Ingrid Yeung ‘23

After a long and exciting few days at St. Mark’s, orientation week for the 2022-2023 school year has finally come to an end! In St. Mark’s tradition, every school year begins with orientation week, which is designed to welcome incoming new students to the school, and to provide preseason athletes for the fall season with ample time to move in and meet with their teams. Having arrived on Monday morning, the leadership team (consisting of monitors, house prefects, SDC prefects, Pathways leaders, etc.) at St. Mark’s – nicknamed the “O-Team,” short for “Orientation Team” – has taken on the task of welcoming new students, organizing events and activities, assisting new students, and keeping the school in shape throughout the duration of the week. Thanks to the hard work of Mrs. Taylor, Ms. Barila, and several other offices at St. Mark’s, orientation week was a success! New students experienced smooth check-in’s (receiving their class assignments, athletic signups, etc), moved-in to their dorms with little difficulty, found their ways around campus easily, and had the chance to participate in exciting activities and games with their prospective classmates. Keep reading for a detailed recap of this week’s most exciting happenings!

Following the first day of student leaders returning, new and returning preseason athletes began to arrive at St. Mark’s for registration. These athletes return to school earlier than other students because the school’s fall sports teams begin tryouts to finalize their varsity group, preparing for their upcoming season against other independent school league institutions (Groton, Brooks, Tabor, St. Georges, etc.). Returning preseason athletes were also allocated a new athlete on their team as their buddy, giving the buddy a mentor that would guide them around school and assist them in moving in. As more athletes started piling into their respective dorms, Mrs. Taylor and Ms. Barila taught the orientation team new field games for us to do with the new students: these games ranged from icebreaker questions to chuck the chicken. Student leaders then had lunch in the Small Dining Hall, and varsity athletes ate together as a team in the Main Dining Hall. Shortly after, while varsity athletes had their first practice, the orientation team had more training and campus preparation. The day ended with dinner, more sport team practices, then more leadership training. 

Wednesday was filled with excitement and nervousness. Wednesday was the day new St. Mark’s students arrived on campus. In the morning, varsity practice continued, but the group of around 100 new students and families began congregating in Elkins gym to register, get their class schedules, and their room keys (for boarders). Then, lunch took place, where the orientation team sat amongst the new students and parents, helping them get to know St. Mark’s better but also for student leaders to get to know them better. Afterward, Mr. Warren, the head of St. Mark’s School, welcomed these new individuals in the Class of 45 Hall. He began by giving a speech on his own experience at St. Mark’s when he himself was a student back in the 1970s, hoping to give off an inspirational message to new students to be opened to new opportunities. The deans, director of community & equity, and director of athletics introduced themselves to the audience, informing the families their roles and responsibilities at the school. When the introductions concluded, the new students’ families were directed to their child’s advisors, giving them the chance to meet the advisor their child will have for the year. Orientation began for the students, beginning with an introduction game that involved finding new individuals that did certain things on a list that was given to them. This included having more than three siblings, vegetable garden, flying in a helicopter, and many more. The night then ended with a St. Mark’s tradition; returning students lit the new students’ candles in Belmont chapel, signifying the beginning of their St. Mark’s journey. 

After registration and ice-breakers on Wednesday, we officially welcomed the New St. Marker into our community. The new students kicked off Thursday orientation with “Choose your own adventure” in, in which they get to select one activity and explore different parts of the campus. Choices ranged from physical activities such as Yoga and Cage Ball to board games and puzzles in the library. A 6th form student leader shared her experience leading and helping the new students familiarize themselves with the new environment: “It was a fun and great opportunity to meet many new students, have individual conversations and bond over puzzles. I get to check in with them and answer some of their questions and concerns about boarding school life”. In the afternoon, the Pathways leaders, Jonathan Hernandez, Angelica Hiraldo, Louise He, and Diane Kwon, hosted the Community and Equity (C&E) orientation session. The leaders introduced the program and the purpose of C&E in St. Mark’s, talked about the structure of the office, and provided new students with information about the affinity groups that they could join.  Students then split into smaller groups and participated in activities that helped them realize the diversity in this community and find some intersectionalities in their own identities. In addition to the C&E introductions, the office also hosted the International Student dessert after dinner, during which all the international students came together and met with their peers from foreign countries. New students who are still new to this country had the opportunity to get advice and support from the upperclassmen.

Friday marked the end of the orientation session, which indicated that the school was officially beginning. In the morning, all the returning students arrived on campus and joined with the rest of the community. While the returning students registered, the new students continued their “Choose their Adventure” and had the opportunity to experience other activities. At the end of the day, the entire St. Mark’s community came together for the Convocation, which officially started the 2022-23 academic year. The new students were welcomed, new faculty were recognized, and students were recognized for their academic achievements. “This was when I felt my life here at St. Mark’s was really beginning.” A new student later remarked. That said, three days of orientation came to an end, leaving both the new students and student leaders with unique memories.  

`Saturday kicked off with the first-ever school meeting of the year, where the new VIth form monitors were introduced to the school. With Saturday classes canceled for orientation week, students were instead asked to engage in different activities with their respective forms. While the IIIrd and IVth form students acclimated to their new lives at St. Mark’s with an “Academic Walk Through” and engaged in several all-form activities in the lower center, the 5th form traveled to Callahan State Park to complete a rejuvenating hike, and the 6th form remained on campus for a fun-filled pool party. Students were given free roam for the remainder of Saturday and Sunday; Ms. Kosow at the Dean’s office made sure to organize several exciting activities – such as Target trips, Natick mall, inflatable courses, and the Mentalist – which kept the weekend exciting for all students. Sunday brunch was also replaced by an SM Block Party cookout, which was hosted on the nearby fields. Overall, the weekend provided new and returning students with a much-needed break following a strenuous orientation week, and to socialize with the rest of the St. Mark’s community. 

Given the many smiling faces and positive feedback from students, this year’s orientation was undoubtedly a success for St. Mark’s! Due to the hard work of the leadership team, faculty members, and several others in the St. Mark’s offices, both new and returning students found their ways easily around campus – socially, academically, and everything else in between! With such a successful orientation week for the St. Mark’s community, we can only hope that the festivities have set the community up for an exciting 2022-2023 school year!

Renovation of the Dining Hall

Hannah Cha ’25

Have any of you noticed a change in our school’s dining hall? Yes, the place you go to every single day. Coming back from summer break, there has been a small difference in our beloved dining hall. 

According to Eric J. Henchey, the director of dining at St. Mark’s, there has been a consistent attempt in the past eight years to fix the kitchen’s floor. The floor undergoes a variety of issues, with examples being disintegrating tiles and missing grouts. After a long period of time without additional constructions, the floor was starting to get water damage.

After the school’s approval in April, workers officially started the renovation project on June 13th. It was a difficult process since they needed to remove all kitchen equipment and serving counters prior to actual construction, and as they finished the challenging task, they could at last start removing the layers on the outside of floors. The original plan was to only remove several of the layers, but all the layers ended up being removed as issues kept recurring. 

Dining hall in the renovation process as old layers of the floor were removed.

They then rebuilt the sub floor and layed a ‘welded floor’, which is waterproof and slip resistant. They have also replaced all the kitchen equipment and servery countertops. The walls were also newly painted with blue tint. The dishroom was also done since it had leaks into the basement in the past. Therefore, after the renovation, Mr. Henchey has solved that all the issues on maintaining the floor, and previous leaks have been fully addressed.

Seated meals set for a comeback

Gina Yang ’24

After a three-year hiatus, seated meals are finally returning to St. Mark's as the pandemic recedes. Covid-19 restrictions were implemented to contain the transmission of the virus but also severely curtailed community activities over the last two years. So much so that a seated meal with others will now be a novel experience for the majority of students. Although the prospect of sitting down for dinner might not generate a wave of excitement, the reinstatement of this seemingly mundane activity represents reconnection and the return of cohesion after the darker days of Covid. 

Seated meals will officially return on Monday, October 3rd, starting with two sessions a week. One of the meals will be organized by the Advisory group; the other meal, by the House group. While the plan is to schedule the House meal on Mondays and the Advisory meal on Thursdays, the schedule will remain flexible. One major change from traditional seated meals at St. Mark’s will be the elimination of community meals where seating was randomly assigned. Even though community meals would provide students with the invaluable opportunity to make new connections outside their grade, gender, and interests (the typical daily academic schedule makes such connections difficult), Advisory and House seated meals will, nevertheless, allow students to build stronger ties within these respective groups.  

For most students who are used to having meals with close friends, the newly introduced dining experience may cause some apprehension about mingling with new people. However, this is a meaningful opportunity to branch out. Although the experience may not initially prove to be exciting, students will grow accustomed to having meals with different people and learn to love it. For seniors who already experienced seated meals during freshman year, this experience will give them a chance to reflect on their early days and add greater meaning to their final chapter at St. Mark’s. The reintroduction of seated meals revives a cherished St Marks tradition, allowing students to embrace this time-honored experience.

Reconfiguring the Library Part 2

Jackie Huang’24

Last school year, Mr. Jonathan Golden, Director of Library Services at St. Mark’s, introduced new plans for the reconfiguration of the Library. This included study pods, moving shelves, new furniture and much more. Over the summer, these ideas have been solidified and updated. According to Mr.Golden, the process has been divided into 2 phases: Carpeting and Furniture.

Carpeting

All the carpeting will be replaced. To do that, the reference section will now be moved into the magazine room, thus removing the current shelving. These changes will likely happen over winter break.

Furniture

Although the final colors and shapes are still being finalized, students can expect a significant upgrade in the new furniture and its orientation once we return from spring break.

As mentioned in an article from last year, the library council continues to aim to more effectively utilize the library and provide the community with a flexible and diverse learning environment. Following these phases, there will be additional changes. 

The current reading lounge will be moved and transformed to a reading nook towards the back of the first floor (near the stained glass) in which new shelving will partition it off. The proximity to the windows will allow more natural light and resolve the issue of noise levels: that often flows into quiet spaces and the parkman room. The empty area will then be filled with collaborative workspaces, including study pods and tables, which would likely be covered by more traditional shelving.

Further ahead, with more complex architectural changes, there may be more reconfiguration to the circulation desk and library offices. Modernizing and possibly turning some to extra faculty offices. 

Though the upper floor and more ideas are still in the works, carpeting and furniture are the immediate focus. Hopefully, students can soon enjoy a newly upgraded space!

New C&E Office

Karry Kim ‘25

Walking through the center, many returning students would have wondered what had happened to the senior study room. Replacing the round tables along the multiple chairs, a big office desk now sits in the middle with one round table left in the corner.

Long story short, this is the new C&E office! C&E stands for “community and equity” and this department serves to protect and promote its name in St. Mark’s. The C&E department supports the Pathways programs, such as the affinity groups and many other projects: developing an Antiracist Task Force and creating antiracist course curriculums. 

Many of you are probably wondering why the C&E office was put in the center instead of the usual row of offices on the second floor of the dining hall. Although the C&E office exists to serve all students, I assume many students probably didn't even know that the C&E office was located there, since this office area is not the usual destination for students. This is the exact problem that the relocation of the C&E office intended to target. The Director of Community and Equity Affairs, Ms. Jones, explained that the main initiative of the C&E office this year is to more actively interact with the students and increase the accessibility of their services. Placing the new C&E office in the center is intended to increase the physical accessibility of the C&E faculty. The big windows allow students to look inside the office to see if the C&E faculties are inside whenever they feel the need to chat about their experiences with community and equity at St. Mark’s. 

Aside from the relocation of its office, the theme for the C&E department this year is “back to basics”. This theme is intended to build the base community of St. Mark’s again, so that we can proceed on touching heavier topics in the future. 

The C&E office will utilize an online platform for whole-school discussions. Topics for these discussions will start as light topics such as, “What’s better? Dogs or cats?”, and change weekly or biweekly. QR codes to this online platform will be posted all over campus, inviting all students to participate. This project will initiate discussions as a whole school and foster an environment where students and faculty recognize that different opinions can coexist at St. Mark’s. As well as online discussions, the department will host in-person community discussions in the center as well. 

This year, St. Mark’s welcomes two new C&E faculty members, Ms. Jones, and Mr. DaSilva. Ms. Jones, whom she calls herself, “The Equity Person”, has previously worked in the health equity office at Hartford healthcare, where she interacted with young girls over a period of time, which led her to realize the immense effects that equity in education holds for the future of young adults. This realization led to her new job at St. Mark’s. Mr. DaSilva has previously worked as a History teacher for 20 years and worked in the office for international students in another boarding school. Mr. DaSilva hopes to apply skills he has gained from his various experiences serving in these roles to his new job at St. Mark’s. 

Ms. Jones and Mr. DaSilva are looking forward to getting to know the St. Mark’s C&E system and to put together more ideas for whole school events. If anyone has any suggestions for these events, they can reach out to Mr. DaSilva or Ms. Jones to make them possible! 

The End of the COVID Era: St. Mark’s Returns to Seated Meals

By Madison Hoang’23

One of the first weeks into my freshman year, I somehow found myself at one of the long wooden tables stuffed at the back of Hinkle, sitting amongst a group of teachers and students from all walks of life at St. Mark’s. Cramped into the narrow log bench by two intimidating seniors, I took a glance around the table but struggled to make out the unfamiliar faces surrounding me, and struggled to understand the unfamiliar language in which they were speaking. What was this “Groton Day” that they were discussing about? Why all the excitement over the dish being served for lunch today? Some people sitting across from me were kind enough to make small-talks with me about my life, how my transition to St. Mark’s was going, so-and-so . . . but desperately, I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I felt inherently awkward and out-of-place. 

This was “seated meal”. During the academic school year, students and faculty would gather for lunch twice a week in the dining hall (or Hinkle, or Small). While Mondays’ lunch blocks were typically reserved for community seated meals (meaning that individuals from the St. Mark’s community were randomly assigned to sit together, and these groups were subject to bi-weekly changes), Thursdays’ lunch blocks were typically reserved for advisory seated meals (meaning that advisory groups were assigned to sit together). For many years, the justification for seated meals has been the following: it fosters community bonds, and encourages students and faculty to get to know their community better. As a result, seated meals have become a great tradition here at St. Mark’s – something that is uniquely integral to the St. Mark’s community experience.

As someone who has had the opportunity to experience seated meals during my freshman year at St. Mark’s, it does hold true to its promises, in some respects. I’ve always enjoyed the experience of an advisory seated meal. I loved getting to know the people in my group, and getting to discuss (or gossip) about the newest developments at the school. However, I never fully got used to its counterpart, community seated meal. As a freshman, more often than not, the experience of sitting at a table with mostly upper-formers was a nerve-wracking experience. Also as an introvert, the obligation to make small talk – or otherwise endure awkward silence – was something that I didn’t enjoy either. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2020, St. Mark’s temporarily halted all gathering-based school events, including seated meals, in order to reduce the risk of virus transmission in the community. While community seating was gone for good, advisory seating was replaced with advisory meeting blocks, every week on Monday. I, of course, rejoiced upon finding out that community seated meals were gone for the year, as it meant that I would no longer have to endure this much-disliked experience. 

Nowadays, the dining hall during lunchtime is a stark contrast to what it looked like pre-COVID times; less crowding, less noise, but it slowly dawned on me – less sense of  ‘community’. Combined with the new “split lunch-blocks” and “take-out” systems, the loss of seated meals meant that students and faculty were no longer obliged to have their meals in one designated time of the day, in one designated spot anymore. People “come and go” from the dining hall much more than they used to, with much less of an inclination to remain there for longer than 10-15 minutes. As a result, the dining hall has fallen out of its fashion as a “community-building” space. It's a mystifying but confusing thing to think about, because on one hand, I’m reaping the benefits of no longer having to show up to another school obligation and no longer having to sustain awkward conversations. However, on the other hand, the dining hall has never felt so “lifeless” before, and so much as merely a space to eat than a space to have genuine interactions. If the dining hall is no longer a space where I can get to know my community better, then where else is?

Perhaps the COVID-19 experience has finally brought me some sense of appreciation for seated meals – no matter if it’s community or advisory. This coming year, seated meals will finally return as one of the last reimplementations of the post-COVID world. It has sort of become a major topic of conversation here in the St. Mark’s circles, albeit not a very joyous one. People generally like advisory seated meals and don’t love the community one, and that’s understandable. However, I think that we should also look at the silver linings. Now, more than ever, it is important that we find some sense of community following the pandemic. Despite my harrowing recollections of community seated meals from freshman year, a year without it has made me realize that I made a few valuable relationships and had a few great conversations as a result of the obligatory nature of community seating. These positive experiences were just buried beneath the overwhelmingly dreadful sensations that I would experience every time I entered the dining hall for it. Being present at a seated meal was always a reminder that I was a part of the greater St. Mark’s community, that everyone here had unique voices and unique stories to share, and that a space like the dining hall was always special in the way that it allowed bonds to be formed. So even if the return of seated meals means that I’ll have to endure through some periods of awkward silence and small-talk and give up two of my lunch blocks every week, perhaps I’ll gain something valuable from the experience as well. 

Reconfiguring the Library

By Jackie Huang ’24

Study Pods, a classroom, and moving shelves? The community life council begins its long-term plans to reconfigure and more effectively utilize the library space, to provide the community with a flexible and diverse learning environment.

According to Jonathan Golden, the director of Library Services at St. Marks, they aim to shape the library into a versatile space that tailors toward both students and teachers. “There is the use of it as [a] gathering, a place to do homework, and in terms of the resources, not necessarily the physical space but the online holdings. There are really two parallel uses.” These goals are reflected as the 196 respondents ( 34% Students, 17% staff members, and 62% faculty members) to the Library Survey taken in the fall of 2021 responds that the library is seen as a study area, full of multimedia resources, with day students reporting the highest usage of the common areas.

However, Mr. Golden believes that the current state of the library provides more as a “social space and [is] underutilized as an academic space”. The survey also reflected the general lack of knowledge about the current library programming and services. Compared to the “newer” areas on campus, the structure and facilities in the library appear more “outdated”. To combat these challenges, there are major changes in the works to be implemented.

Are pods the future?

Most of the furniture is planned to be replaced. In discussion with the library design firm team, they are experimenting with modern seating options, including semi-private “pods” that can enclose 1-2 people (similar to the photo below). Although the possibility of architectural expansion of the library for more rooms remains unknown, many students expressed interest in expanding private study spaces and pods and current rooms will meet this need.

Classroom in the Library!

The idea of placing a classroom, similar to the Fab Lab, on the second floor is being explored. It would allow teachers to bring their classes in without competing against the noise. This collaborative space would also allow students to project their work to a screen around a table - better integrating new technology. The first-floor desks are also open to changes, preventing it from acting as an intimidating barrier between students and staff, making them more open. Mr. Golden states to in general “modernize the library”.

A “Moving” Second Floor

Currently, the library team is going through a project to reduce physical holdings of books that are not useful anymore. The goal is to reduce the shelving of books on the second floor by around half the quantity, opening up the area for new endeavors. This includes possibly movable walls and collapsible bookshelves. These shelves will be compressed until their wheels are cranked open when someone needs to enter.

Other Changes

Other potential changes include the magazine room. The slanted shelves will be replaced with traditional shelving with the connection collection, next to the circulation desk, moving inside. The large desk containing Atlas’s will also be moved to provide more space in general.

These changes are foreseen to happen not in the near future, but in the next few years. Due to general supply chain issues and the new dorm construction being prioritized, tentative goals exist for new carpet and furniture to be done by October in the upcoming year. The following year would include major changes, such as shelving and classrooms. Even so, Mr. Golden remains hopeful that “there will be some kind of updates for next year.”

Classics Banquet

By Netty Andrews'25

On Thursday, May 12th, the Classics Department hosted its annual awards banquet, with a success made by 50 students in attendance for this event. The students enjoyed Greek mac and cheese, Gyro sandwiches, Greek salad, and grape juice. My personal favorites were the mac and cheese, with the greek salad coming in a close second.

  To kick off the event, the Greek I students recited the opening lines of Homer's Iliad, hoping to continue this as a tradition. This was followed by the Classics Diploma students presenting their Capstone project, All’s Fair. All’s Fair was an one-act tragedy that imitated Greek theater practices, exploring themes of love, war, and force, which they have learned about this year. During the chorus of this play, the Greek I students made another appearance. 

Finally, Departmental Book prizes for the best sight translation of a passage of Greek or Latin were awarded to Jamie Li in Latin I, Coco Chen in Latin II, Maddy Bean in Latin III, Suha Choi in Advanced Latin, Jiayi Yu in Greek I and Suha Choi in Greek II.

The evening ended with the traditional Latin I play, an adaptation of the Suburani text the class has been reading this year. The audience burst out in laughter, the actors also being unable to contain their joy. Due to COVID-19, Mr. Davey had to step in as narrator, which made the play even more enjoyable. One of my favorite parts of the play was when Jamie Li '25 came in with a cardboard box, labeled “wagon” and pushed Delin Liu’24 who was playing an old man. The play soon ended, and that concluded the 2021- 2022 Classics Banquet. 

Congratulations to all of the award winners, to the Classical Diploma Scholars, and to everyone in Classics who worked hard all year!