News from the St. Mark's Dean of Students, Dean of Academics, and Dean of Faculty
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With this week’s edition of the Deans’ Weekly, we welcome our incoming St. Mark’s families for 2020-2021!
This year we felt it was important to connect our new families with the Deans’ Weekly a bit earlier than usual in order to make the transition to St. Mark’s as seamless as possible during this tremendously challenging time. For those of you seeing the Deans’ Weekly for the first time this week, welcome! In each issue you will find news from the dean of students, dean of faculty, and dean of academics, as well as other campus news, alumni and Advancement updates, important upcoming dates, athletics highlights, and more. On behalf of all the deans, welcome to St. Mark’s!
COVID-19 Update: Next Steps
As we wrap up the academic year and look toward 2020-2021, leaders from St. Mark’s senior administrative team are working together to determine next steps for the School as we navigate these evolving times. The Campus Opening Task Force, chaired by Head of School John C. Warren ’74, is currently identifying all of the key steps necessary to reopen St. Mark’s. The COVID-19 Task Force, focused specifically on health and safety issues, continues to meet regularly as well. We look forward to communicating next steps with the St. Mark’s community in mid-June. Visit our
COVID-19 Updates website
for resources, archived messages, and more.
Bookstore Open Now for a Limited Time
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Our
online store
, your destination for official St. Mark’s apparel, is
NOW OPEN!
Be sure to visit before it closes on
Sunday, June 7
.
Orders must be received by
Sunday, June 7
.
Order today
!
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In order to provide the best possible experience for our families given the constraints of our current virtual environment, and to celebrate the Class of 2020 in the most appropriate way possible given the circumstances, St. Mark’s is approaching some events a bit differently this year.
Two Prize Day Events
As you may know, there will be two separate
Prize Day
events this year.
At the first event
, on the evening of
Thursday, June 4
, all of the prizes that are traditionally presented during the Prize Day ceremony—
including departmental prizes, athletics prizes, character prizes, and faculty and staff prizes
—will be awarded.
The second Prize Day ceremony
, on
Saturday, June 6
, will
celebrate the Class of 2020
with the reading of the names of graduates and speeches by the
Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew '58, GP '11, '21, '23
and valedictorian
Jack Griffin ’20
. We hope that all students will be able to join us for these important community events. Formal invitations will also be shared electronically with VI Form parents.
Other Events
Other events during the week of
June 1-6
include the ceremony to honor new inductees to the
Cum Laude Society
, which will take place on
Wednesday, June 3
, and the
Baccalaureate ceremony
, which will be held on
Friday, June 5
. The
Prize Day
events, the Cum Laude Society induction ceremony, and the Baccalaureate ceremony will be held via Zoom. As soon as details have been finalized, we will share them with all of you.
Following is a preliminary schedule of events for the week of June 1-6. We look forward to sharing additional details with you soon. Please note that times for these events have been set to accommodate, as best we can, our graduates around the world. All times indicated are Eastern Daylight Time.
Wednesday, June 3
9:00 a.m. - Cum Laude Society induction ceremony (all students)
10:15 a.m. - Final VI Form Chapel (all students)
Thursday, June 4
8:00 p.m. - Prize Day: Presentation of Prizes (all students; families welcome)
Friday, June 5
9:00 a.m. - Baccalaureate ceremony (VI Form students; families welcome)
Saturday, June 6
9:00 a.m. - Prize Day: Celebration of Graduates (all students; families welcome)
In order to maintain a secure environment for our events, specific information regarding video access will be sent early next week
.
2021 In-Person Prize Day Ceremony
On Wednesday, May 20,
Head of School John C. Warren ’74
shared the news that an in-person celebration for the Class of 2020 will take place at St. Mark’s on
Friday evening, June 11, 2021, and Saturday morning, June 12, 2021
. This celebration will complement the virtual Prize Day celebrations being held this year on June 4 and June 6. To view that message in its entirety,
select this link
.
Digital Swag for your 2020 Grad
What better way to celebrate the Class of 2020 than with a little
swag
!
We’ve got you covered with all sorts of ways to congratulate your soon-to-be St. Mark’s graduate—desktop and phone wallpaper, GIPHY stickers, a Facebook profile picture frame, social media shareables, and even printable banners and yard signs.
See the digital swag here
.
Kudoboard - Share Your Support for the Class of 2020!
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Help us show the St. Mark’s School Class of 2020 how much they mean to us! Please join us in sharing kudos, cheers, words of encouragement, roars, and well-wishes on our Kudoboard.
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Window Four & Remote Learning Close Today, Friday, May 29
Window Four and the period of Remote Learning draws to a close today, and we are so proud of the many ways that students and teachers have embraced this challenge of learning in a new way. We are proud of our students for sticking with it through the discomfort of adapting to new routines. It has been fantastic to see the deep thinking, the creativity, and the enthusiasm for connections with peers and teachers that have emerged over the course of the past nine weeks. In the coming days, advisors will be connecting with students to help them take stock of their experience, and reflect on the lessons learned.
Hats off to the faculty, who rallied on short notice this spring to ready their courses for a remote format, and thought about new ways to address the essential content and skills in their fields. Some sought out collaborations with classes in different disciplines or connections in real-time with experts in far-flung corners of the globe. Others shifted their intended focus to allow students to do some deeper thinking about the ways that COVID -19 is impacting the globe and their own day-to-day experience.
Ely and Shen Speaking Prizes
Two of the classes who found a new way to address time-honored events were Advanced U.S. History, and The Global Seminar. These classes awarded their Shen and Ely speaking prizes this past week in evening Zoom gatherings.
The Shen prize is given by Y.L. Shen in honor of his daughters, Ing-ie (Ava) Shen of the Class of 1988, and Ing-Chuan (Judy) Shen of the Class of 1989. Shen Prize attendees were treated to speeches on the expansion or contraction of American Democracy offered by Catie Summers '21, Frances Hornbostel '21, Kartik Donepudi '21, and Lily Wang Luo '21. Catie Summers delivered the winning speech on the expansion of the Women's Army Corps in World War II.
Originally given by a member of the Class of 1982 in honor of his mother, the Ely Prize is presented each year to the student who gives the best speech in the Global Seminar Public Speaking Competition. Ely Prize attendees heard III Formers Adam Becht, Carlisle Brush, Si Jones, Charlene Murima, James Nichols-Worley, and Shreeya Sareddy speak about the ways that The Global Seminar and their broader III Form experience had shaped their worldview over the past year. The Ely Prize was awarded to Carlisle Brush for her reflections on the ways that her sense of the world and her community had expanded since arriving at St. Mark's.
Both awards will be conferred as a part of the
Prize Day
awards ceremony on Thursday evening.
Window Four grades and Advisor Letters
Grades for Window 4 will be available in
Net Classroom
on
Monday, June 8
. Please be reminded that there will be no narrative comments accompanying Window 4 grades. As is our custom, advisors will be composing advisor letters as a summation of each student's progress in the second semester. These letters will be delivered digitally in mid- to late June.
Academic Celebration | Monday, June 1
On Monday, June 1, students and faculty will mark the close of the window and the shift to our week of closing exercises with the Academic Celebration. A new event this year, this gathering will allow community members to offer appreciation for the work completed by members of the VI form over the past two weeks in their project period, and for the contributions of our departing faculty members. Also on Monday, members of the Global Citizenship Diploma cohort will gather with teachers, advisors, and friends to share highlights of their capstone projects and diploma portfolios. These events will set a strong tone for a celebratory week at St. Mark's!
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Move Out/Pack Up
The move-out/pack-up process continues on campus, and again we are appreciative of the families who have traveled back to campus to move out their belongings from the Houses, Athletic Center, and the PFAC. Right now our focus is finishing up the academic commitments and assisting with the move-out process. If you have reserved a time slot, please do so at your earliest convenience by reaching out to Liz MacArthur
[email protected]
or the Dean's Office
[email protected]
. We are looking to kick into gear the pack-up process during the first week of June and begin shipping items through Mark’s Moving Company in mid-June.
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2020-2021
Vindex
Editors and Staff
With an unprecedented number of applications, we are proud to have such a strong collection of creative minds for the
Vindex
next year! Congratulations, editors and staff!
Editors-in-Chief:
Alex Chen
Waverly Shi
Literature and Online Editors:
Dani Ortiz (Head)
Daniella Pozo
Geetika Surapaneni
Sydni Williams
Art and Layout Editors:
Celine Ma (Head)
Katie Mao
Ingrid Yeung
Richard Zhang
Taylor Zhou
Publicity Staff:
Lily Wang Luo (Head)
Arianne Motakef
Kelly Yang
Literature and Online Staff:
Sophie Chiang
Louise He
Christine Ling
Marianne Lyons
Art and Layout Staff:
Madison Hoang
Mandy Hui
Caroline Stanizzi
2020-2021 St. Mark’s Student Mentor Leaders
Sarah Eslick, director of Academic Support, announced today that the following students would be the leaders of the St. Mark's Student Mentor program in 2020-2021:
Communications Coordinators:
Hope Xayaveth
Taylor Zhou
Arianne Motakef
Logistics Coordinators:
Jiayi Yu
Amanda Wang
Carl Guo
Program Development Coordinators:
Frances Hornbostel
Brillon Joseph
Reina Wang
Please join us in congratulating this motivated group of students who are excited to support fellow students in their learning next year!
2020-2021 Global Ambassadors
Congratulations to the newly selected leaders for the Global Ambassadors for the 2020-2021 academic year:
Felicity Keyzer-Pollard
Ewan Leslie
Natalie Zaterka
Bannon Jones
Chris Dwirantwi
Lindsay Davis
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All-School & VI Form Class Photo Orders
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In times of uncertainty, even if we cannot be with those closest to us, it is important to hold onto the memories. We are offering the Class of 2020 and all-School photographs now to remind you that even though you have to celebrate the end of the year and graduation apart, you all accomplished something amazing together in 2019-2020!
Click below, and order by
May 31
to receive a discounted price on your photograph!
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Parents’ Association News
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Power of the Pride
Coming next week:
The Power of the Pride,
and you’re invited to be a big part of it all!
Join the St. Mark’s community as we honor the Class of 2020 in the biggest worldwide digital celebration St. Mark’s has ever seen. Wear your St. Mark’s gear* starting June 4 to show your pride and honor the Class of 2020. Look for more details about all of the activities next week.
The Power of the Pride is strong—and you’re a part of it!
Parent/Faculty/Staff Book Club
The last St. Mark’s book club of the school year met via Zoom on Thursday, May 21, and we had a great discussion. There were terrific book ideas too. Thank you to all who have attended the book club this year, and special thanks to our co-chairs, Joanne Flathers and Laurie Kalapinski for organizing and leading the club.
Participants selected two summer reading titles,
The Stationery Shop
by Marjan Kamali, and
This Tender Land
by William Kent Krueger, and offered additional recommendations, some of which include:
The Yellow House
by Sarah M. Broom
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
A Country Year: Living the Questions
by Sue Hubbel
Sourdough
by Robin Sloan
The newest suggestion for obtaining books during this time of stay-at-home orders was
www.bookshop.org
,
a website with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores.
We look forward to gathering in some form at the first meeting of the 2020-21 book club this fall. In the meantime, we extend congratulations to the St. Mark’s School 2020 graduates and their parents/guardians.
"Graduating” parents, if you no longer wish to receive book club email notifications, email Joanne at
[email protected]
with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line. Otherwise, we will happily send these reminders to all who wish to receive them.
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June 3
- 9:00 a.m. - Cum Laude Society induction ceremony
10:15 a.m. - Final VI Form Chapel (all students)
June 4
- 8:00 p.m. - Prize Day: Presentation of Prizes (all students; families welcome)
June 5
- 9:00 a.m. - Baccalaureate ceremony (VI Form students; families welcome)
June 6
- 9:00 a.m. - Prize Day: Celebration of Graduates (all students; families welcome)
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