Play for Haiti! Interview with the Haiti Partnership Committee

-Suha Choi ‘22

St. Mark’s held its annual Play for Haiti Day on Wednesday, February 4th. The Play for Haiti Day raises funds to benefit the partner school of St. Mark's in Haiti, St. Marguerite’s. Through the hard work of the Haiti Partnership Committee and every St. Marker's support, the Play for Haiti Day was a success. In honor of a successful Play for Haiti day this year, The St. Marker interviewed Payton Kober’20 and Ms. Morgan, who are the leaders of the committee along with Madeliene Wass’20 and Paige LaMalva’20. 

Play for Haiti

St. Marker: How was Play for Haiti Day first inspired?

Ms. Morgan: “The Play for Haiti Day was first inspired in the fall of 2018 by Kerrie Verbeek.  Kerrie traveled to Haiti to visit our partner school, St. Marguerite's, in January, 2017.  She was incredibly inspired by the trip and continued be very active in the partnership. Last year (2018-19) Kerrie was scheduled to travel to Haiti for a second time in January 2019 with the rest of the group from St. Mark's.  Kerrie came up with the idea of organizing a Play for Haiti Day in the fall of 2018. Her idea was to pick a day in the winter when the majority of the St. Mark's athletic teams had home games and use this afternoon as an opportunity to promote the work the Haiti Partnership was doing, raise money to support teacher salaries and the lunch program at St. Marguerite's, and collect school supplies to bring with us to St. Marguerite's when we went in January 2019.  We held our first Play for Hait Day on January 9, 2019, and planned to travel to St. Marguerite's the following week. Unfortunately, the trip was canceled due to the political unrest in Haiti. Haiti Partnership students sold t-shirts to promote the event and teams wore them during their warm-ups. The afternoon was a huge success.”

Boys Hockey 3v3 Play for Haiti Fundraiser

St. Marker: What was your favorite part about taking a part in the Haiti partnership at St. Mark’s?

Payton Kober’20: “One thing I love about the Haiti Partnership team is the sense of community of the whole team. The partnership is hugely team dependent and cannot function without the entire group’s support. In our partnership, we have all forms, ranging from fourth to sixth. I think that this allows the partnership to grow each year. As a whole, we meet biweekly to discuss various ways to raise money, political issues in Haiti, and St. Marguerites, our partnership school in Haiti. All members participate equally and bring amazing ideas to the group. So, in summary, one thing I wanted to encompass and share with you is just how great our whole team is, and without everyone's help, we would not be a successful partnership.”

Ms. Morgan: “As one of the faculty leaders of the Haiti Partnership, one of my favorite parts is learning about Haitian culture.  I have had the opportunity to travel to visit our partner school, St. Marguerite's, four times and I have had the chance to take an intensive Creole class at the Boston Language Institute.”

Boys Hockey 3v3 Play for Haiti Fundraiser

St. Marker: Any additional thoughts to share about the committee?

Ms. Morgan: “Join us!  We always love welcoming new members.”

SM Holds Its Own Primary Election

-Katie Park ‘21

On Friday, January 31st, the Advanced U.S Government class at St. Mark’s held a mock election. The purpose of this mock election was to compare the results with the national polls and results from the Primaries. They thought it would be a way to encourage more people to pay attention to politics and to spark interest in politics. For the Government class, this mock election was interesting because since they are mostly seniors, they will not be here for the general election, which takes place in November.

The Class chose the poll questions after having a discussion. Students went into groups and found something that can be compared to the national averages such as gun control, abortion, and constitutional issues. During the mock election, a lot of students participated, but the class hoped for a little more faculty and staff participation. Blake Gattuso ‘20 shared that although the lack of participation from the faculty members was unexpected, the whole purpose of the election was to encourage people to participate instead of forcing them. 

Overall, the mock election was a success, and the Government class was able to gain data and compare it to the national results. However, students reflected that there were still things that they could have done better. Blake Gattuso ‘20 stated, “We would like to redo the handgun question because what we wanted to know was whether people support gun control. We believe that overall, the school population is in favor of gun control, but since handgun can be seen as a form of personal defense, the question was a bit misleading.”

Andrew Yang came in second, which is an expected result considering the Asian population at our school, and reflected identity voting, which is when people tend to vote for someone of their same race or background. There was also a portion of the poll in which no data was collected because some people misunderstood the instructions. So, hopefully, in the future, the instructions are more clear so that every data can be obtained.  

Andrew Yang, Former Democratic Presidential Candidate

Cultural Fair

By Luke Lee ‘20

On Thursday, January 16th, St. Mark’s held its annual Cultural Fair in Taft, where students shared their own cultural backgrounds with the whole community through traditional food, games, holidays, as well as music. The Putnam Family Arts Center (PFAC) was filled with enthusiasm and joy that night, as students and faculties walked across different tables while holding food on plastic plates and asking questions about cultural traditions and holidays. Students set up traditional food, laptops, tri-fold boards, and fun activities for students to try. The purpose of the Cultural Fair is to celebrate the diversity of the community and feel a sense of pride in our cultures. It is also to have fun by learning more about different cultures and trying delicious traditional food, as well as playing traditional games.

Ms. Adams mentioned at the end of the Umoja ceremony that “18 different countries were represented in the Cultural Fair.” Living in a community like St. Mark’s sometimes can make us feel like we are living in a small bubble. All the flags of different countries in the Cultural Fair reminded us that we live in a diverse community. 

On the right side of the entrance door in the PFAC was the table representing India. Anishka Yerabothu '20, Aditya Mynampaty '20, Kian Sahani '20, and Kartik Donepudi '21 offered Mango Lasi and Samosas, traditional Indian food, to people entering the Fair. They also dazzled students and faculties with their colorful traditional clothes, which were made out of silk. Kian Sahani '20, showed students how to write their names in Hindi. By looking at their names written in Hindi, students learned about letters in Hindi and how they are pronounced. 

Other tables in the PFAC lobby represented Ukraine, Dominica and NAA, which stands for Native Americans Ancestry. Illia Rebechar '20 and Jane Dubrova '20 in the VI Form represented Ukraine. They  gave out traditional Ukrainian candy while playing Ukrainian music on their speaker. On the table, there was the blue and yellow Ukranian flag as well as pictures of streets, cities, and monastery in Ukraine. On the Dominican table was Brillon Joseph '21. He offered cooked bananas to students and faculties. When asked if bananas are often cooked in Dominica, Brillon Joseph '21 responded, “Yes, cooked banana is a popular snack in Dominica. We eat it pretty often in our family.”

The last table in the lobby was the NAA (Native American Alliance). Graham Butterfield '21 played a video from Cut where Native Americans describe refugee camps as “prisons” to raise awareness about how Native Americans are left behind or neglected in our country.  He mentioned, “I want to educate St. Mark’s more about pressing issues for Native Americans.” 

The Cultural Fair was not just an opportunity to share different cultures but also to raise awareness for affinity groups. GSA had an activity in their table where students had to guess the name of the alliance flag just by looking at the flag. Afterwards, Anni Zhang '21 and Kendall Sommers '22 gave out the answers and explained what certain colors in flags represented. Anni mentioned, “We hope people can be more aware of the many alliance flags in the LGBT community through this activity.” The Christian Fellowship group had a poster board with quotes from the Bible and offered cookies to people, as they share cookies in every meeting.

The table representing China had fun activities, such as Chinese calligraphy and moving M&M’s with chopsticks. Students laughed as they struggled to copy a complicated Chinese character on the paper or use chopsticks. Richard Zhang '21 demonstrated how to write with a bush so that students and faculties could understand more about how to write in Chinese calligraphy. The Korean table had a traditional game called Gongi, a game where you have to throw plastic stones and catch them with the palm of your hand. 

Tons of delicious food were at the Cultural Fair. Sam Wang '21 cooked hot pot on the Chinese table, a dish that has an assortment of vegetables, fish ball, and tofu in broth. The Nigerean table offered traditional rice and chicken dish which was flavored with Nigerean spices. Sierra Petties '20 represented the southern part of the U.S. and offered scoops of vanilla ice cream and apple pie. Chirs Lee '20, Ryan Paik '20, and Amy Kim '20 cooked a famous spicy and sweet dish called Rappoki, which is ramen noodles and rice cakes in a spicy sauce made of red peppers. Felicity Keyzer- Pollard '21 and Ewan Leslie '22 offered English breakfast tea and biscuits in representing Great Britain. Nancy Suriyaammaranon '20 made Coconut Jelly, a snack that she says is common in Thailand. She explained that the jelly was made out of coconut water and milk. 

Overall, the Cultural Fair went successfully. Lots of people cheered and clapped when Ms. Lee asked the students and faculty at the end of the event: “Did you all enjoy the Cultural Fair tonight?” It was a great opportunity to celebrate our culture while learning the diverse cultural backgrounds of our peers.