Not so secret Santa a Success

By Ingrid Yeung ’23

Every year during the Christmas season, St. Mark’s holds many festive activities for the students and faculty to celebrate before winter break. One long standing tradition is Secret Santa. Students and faculty are assigned a peer to give small gifts to secretly for a week, writing letters, sending gifts, or doing other little things to show their appreciation to each other anonymously. This year, however, was a little different. With the complicated situation in the world right now, St. Markers are spread over different continents and time zones. The usual secret Santa activity seemed impossible.

 The Monitors didn’t simply give up on the event, though. They came up with a brand-new version of the secret Santa: the Not-so-secret-Santa. Instead of sending gifts anonymously, students and faculty interested in this activity would sign up to participate remotely. The monitors paired everyone up so that they could contact each other through email. Throughout the week, there were many prompts emailed out in order for people to send short, appreciative emails to each other. Ranging from your favorite holiday to sending holiday pictures to each other, the Not-so-secret-Santa allowed St. Marker’s to bond and show gratitude at the end of the year, even during the pandemic. 

Lily, one of the head monitors, provided us with some more information on how the monitors came up with this idea as well as her own experience doing the not-so-secret-Santa. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your thoughts on this program? 

“It was definitely a struggle finding a way to do secret Santa, which is a very fun tradition at our school, and the premise itself is anonymous gifting, online. We wanted to do it, but gift exchange online simply isn’t the same, and anonymity is not quite possible unless we used a third-party platform.” 

How did you come up with this idea? 

“When we were brainstorming in our meeting, we came to the conclusion that we should do the not-so-secret Santa because we wanted the community aspect without any safety risks or online issues. We liked the idea of smaller gifts (like messages) and sharing little stories, so to facilitate a connection between people, we just paired people up. Doing this event online is a bit more complicated and gifts aren’t really as good virtually; thus, we decided to send out prompts that would create some form of connection or sharing over the week. This event was undoubtedly a group effort, and personally, I think it went as well as it can be online.“

Was there any interesting experience that you had? 

“In general, I had a very good experience. I was paired with Dr. Kress and we talked much more than I expected. We shared a lot of heartwarming stories, and since she is new faculty, I felt like I got to know her better. The week was very fun since everyone there’s something new to look forward to.” 

Many students and faculties participated in the not-so-secret-Santa. Through this online activity, many of us were able to get in touch with someone we were not familiar with, either a teacher whose class we had never been in or a student in another grade that we barely see in school. Though there were no surprising gifts every day like before, the little messages and support were what people need during this particular Christmas season.

World Food Programme: The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Sunny Li ‘22

The Norwegian Nobel Committee presented the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct 9, 2020, not to any individuals, but to the World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP has been awarded for “its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”

The World Food Programme is a branch under the United Nations, dedicated to food-assistance. It is the world’s largest humanitarians organization focused on hunger and food security. Its main purpose is to accomplish one of the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development set by 2030: Goal 2, Zero Hunger, which “pledges to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” The WFP’s work can be divided into two main parts—delivering food assistance in emergent situations and working with communities to improve nutrition and to build resilience. In 2019, the WFP estimated 690 million people ending the day with an empty stomach and 135 million people suffering from acute insecurity, a number unprecedentedly high in the last few years. In 2019 alone, the WFP has helped 97 million people from 88 countries. 

The lack of food and nutrition ties directly to armed conflict. As the Norwegian Nobel Committee saw it, conflicts create food insecurity, and hunger instigates conflicts and triggers the use of violence. The two form a vicious circle that cannot be addressed unless one problem is first resolved. Regarding food security and peace, the WFP has done pioneering work in relatively unstable areas in South America, Africa, and Asia. Yemen would be a good case to look at. The country has suffered from long-time instability due to the conflicts between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-Arabian military backing the Yemen government. Over 20 million Yemenis face food insecurity, and more than one million women and two million children require treatment for acute malnutrition. Facing such severe humanitarian crises, the WFP has done a great job in both food assistance and cash assistance. It has provided “13 million people with monthly food assistance through direct food distributions or vouchers that people can use at retailers.” At the same time, people received cash transfers equivalent to US$12 per person per month from the WFP so that the economy could function properly. Although instability remains a major problem in the region, ameliorating food insecurity is a good starting point. Without the assistance of WFP in these situations, we can only imagine armed conflicts escalating the region.

There is still a long way to go to achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating hunger. Certainly, no single organization can end such a challenging difficulty; the world needs help from and cooperation of different organizations, governments, and even individuals. The World Food Programme serves as a role model for its outstanding work in providing food assistance and improving the situations in many areas around the globe. Its work is pioneering, impactful, and multilateral, and consequently, it embodies the exact characteristics that the Nobel Peace Prize looks for.

The Launch of Book Club

Andria Bao’23 and Julie He’23

Many students may find themselves lacking energy and motivation because of the current pandemic. In an effort to encourage students, the school offers many opportunities for students to enjoy fun activities and socialize with peers. Clubs, affinity groups, and weekend activities are examples of activities for students to come together and spend time on activities they enjoy. This year, there are 32 clubs ranging from Haiti Partnership Club to Culinary Arts club. Clubs have found myriad ways to adapt to the new system and let remote students be a part of the community. Multiple clubs meet online to encourage all students to join and feel connected with the rest of the school.

In addition to clubs that have been running for many years, numerous new clubs were created as well, including the Book Club, the Community Art Club, and the Philosophy club. As the name suggests, Book Club is a club dedicated to reading and discussing deeper meanings hidden in books. In their first meeting, students talked about favorite books and genres and played a game. In the spirit of Halloween, they decided to read a spooky horror book to read and talk about for the upcoming meeting. Based on a vote, members chose And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie as the month's book. The book is considered one of the best mystery novels ever written. 

Book club plans on meeting once a month. After each book, there will also be discussions about themes, interpretations, characters, and more. Club members can talk about their favorite genres, argue why a character is vital to the plot, or discuss the hidden meanings and implications of a certain book. In addition to monthly books, there will be lots of fun online activities, including games like book bingo and crossword puzzles. 

The club is created during a period of remote learning, however, in the future, hopefully the club can meet in person because this gives the club more room for creativity in planning activities and allows students to connect in real life. Since a large number of students are stuck at home and have fewer opportunities for social interaction, Book Club is a great option for students hoping to meet new people or relax. Book Club can encourage students to work on their comprehension skills, find a new relaxing hobby, and push people to get off their screens. Book Club is open to anyone, and we encourage everyone to go and check it out! 

A Glimpse of the College Process in a Global Pandemic

By Katie Park ‘21

After the remote learning period of my fifth form spring, I thought it was all going to be downhill from there. Since my third form year, I was well aware of the rigor of the fifth form year at St. Mark’s as the upperclassmen always talked about it. However, when it came to sixth form year, all I thought about was senior spring and how awesome those days are going to be for me. 

In fact, senior fall is as stressful or even more so than junior year because there is a lot to manage. There is only limited time, but seniors have to find time to work on their college applications, do school work, and have fun with friends. Although all the previous senior classes went through similar experiences in this regard, the Class of 2021 had an especially challenging and remarkable senior fall. 

Most, if not all, schools went test-optional, meaning they do not require their applicants to submit their test scores as part of their applications. Because test centers were closed starting from March, many seniors this year did not have the opportunity to take standardized tests during their junior year, which is typically when students take their tests. Test optional was relieving news, but at the same time, there is also ambiguity surrounding the test-optional policy, which to some people, caused a lot of confusion. 

Although interests are subject to change, a lot of people have a general idea of what they enjoy doing by the end of junior year. Most people planned to do something amazing over the summer before their senior year, be it a research program, internship, or a summer job. However, most of them were canceled, which was disappointing because they were looking forward to pursuing their interests over the summer. 

St. Mark’s does not report first window grades on the transcripts, but they still send them to colleges if students apply early. St. Mark’s explains to colleges that the first window grades are simply intended for students and parents as progress reports. Nevertheless, especially because junior spring ended with a pass and fail, seniors were looking forward to maximizing their academic potentials and showing that through their first window grades. However, seniors who were fully remote in the fall faced numerous challenges while navigating through another remote learning period. 

Applying to colleges is exciting because it is a way of presenting all the hard work we have put in for the past three years, and envisioning how our lives will be after high school is indeed an inspiring process. Although the Class of 2021 is faced with unprecedented challenges in the college process, the exciting aspect of the process still remains.  

St. Mark’s Stays Prepared

    Jonathan Hernandez ‘24

On August 31, 2020, St. Mark’s released its School Operations Evaluation Criteria, which was made to describe the criteria St. Mark’s is using to evaluate if the school’s operations need to be adjusted during this school year. One of the facilities highlighted in the Criteria was the Health Services annex. 

(The layout of the annex)

The Director of Health Services, Adria Pavletic, was able to help explain the annex’s role this year. She first gave thanks to Ms. Duran, Director of Facilities, and her facilities team for making the annex a cheerful and comfortable place. Due to COVID-19 having a variety of symptoms, any student who exhibits any signs of infectious disease will be admitted to the annex. Ms. Pavletic noted how some of the symptoms may include “nasal congestion, sore throat, nausea, headache, or just feeling unwell in general.” 

When a student is admitted, the health services nurses are to assess the student and determine what the proper plan of care will be. However, if an individual is seriously ill, they are to be taken to a local hospital for care. Ms. Pavletic gives thanks for the COVID-19 PCR testing that is available to the St. Mark’s community, which is performed each week so that the Health Services Office can track cases, if any.

The school has also taken many other precautions to ensure the safety of the student body and the faculty and staff. They have ensured that classroom spaces are disinfected after each class and that common areas in houses and that commonly used spaces are disinfected throughout the day.

The school has also encouraged students to wash their hands frequently and effectively and require students to wear effective face masks of multiple fabric layers, physical distance, and submit a daily health check. 

As of now, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at St. Mark’s. The precautions have ensured that St. Mark’s has not had a case of COVID-19 and will help the community be prepared for the next semester if COVID-19 is still present in the winter. 

Haiti Partnership Remains Strong

By Diana Oh ‘24

The Haiti Partnership consists of about 30 students and faculty members and is a partnership between St. Mark’s School and St. Marguerite’s School in La Tournelle, Haiti. The partnership allows St. Markers to better understand the Haitian culture and provides opportunity make special connections with students in Haiti. The three main branches of the partnership are fundraising, education/outreach, and communication.

Located in the Caribbean, Haiti is a country that includes the western part of the Island of Hispaniola and smaller islands such as Vauche, Grande Caye, and Gonâve. In 2010, Haiti went through one of the most catastrophic disasters, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0, barely 25km from the capital, Port-au-Prince. The earthquake caused 250,000 casualties, 300,000 injuries, and 1.3 million people lost their homes. Less than 10 months away from the destruction, a cholera outbreak exacerbated the situation. Even today, many Haitians suffer from poor sanitation and scarcity of food. 

Annually, students and faculty members of St. Mark’s visit St. Marguerite’s school, where they build special relationships. Although the current COVID-19 pandemic does not allow regular visits, meetings will be held regularly via Zoom. For example, regular discussions meetings with school administrators and church leaders are held to discuss how to improve the school system and community. Furthermore, since 2012, St. Mark’s has raised thousands of dollars through annual hikes to Henninger Flats, a journey whose distance represents how long a student of St. Marguerite’s takes to go to school each day. Classroom materials, friendship bracelets and hundreds of seed packets were also sent to St. Marguerite’s church to help them with the lack of food and supplies. Moreover, the St. Mark’s community provides funding for the lunch of more than 180 students in the St. Marguerite School, which annually costs over $20,000. 

Annually, students and faculty members of St. Mark’s visit St. Marguerite’s school, where they build special relationships. Although the current COVID-19 pandemic does not allow regular visits, meetings will be held regularly via Zoom. For example, regular discussions meetings with school administrators and church leaders are held to discuss how to improve the school system and community. Furthermore, since 2012, St. Mark’s has raised thousands of dollars through annual hikes to Henninger Flats, a journey whose distance represents how long a student of St. Marguerite’s takes to go to school each day. Classroom materials, friendship bracelets and hundreds of seed packets were also sent to St. Marguerite’s church to help them with the lack of food and supplies. Moreover, the St. Mark’s community provides funding for the lunch of more than 180 students in the St. Marguerite School, which annually costs over $20,000. 

Also, the funds help pay the teachers’ salaries. Before the COVID 19 pandemic broke out, chapel received coin donations and canned food for the St. Marguerite’s lunch program. 

On November 17th, from 10:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m , a letter writing event was held on the VIth form quad. Sending letters is a very effective way to connect two different communities together. By exchanging and receiving letters from the students of St. Marguerite, we will be able to maintain our relationship with the,.

Elise Gobron, the co-head of the Haiti Partnership talked about the importance of communication and her excitement about this exchange of letters: “Since it has been three years since we have had the opportunity to travel to Haiti and make those face-to-face connections, finding creative ways to connect with our partner school has definitely been a priority! I am so excited to have the whole school participate and send meaningful handwritten letters to our partner school, I think this will be a really great way to connect on a more tangible level!”

One goal for the future is to provide St. Marguerite’s with books and supplies to increase the quality of education for the students. In addition, faculty are considering extending the St. Marguerite’s school to 12th grade, as currently it only supports from kindergarten to 10th grade. Last but not least, continuing to improve friendships with the St. Marguerite community is also a major goal.

Affinity Groups and Club Meetings Reconnect St. Markers from Around the Globe

By Mandy Hui ‘23

St. Mark’s students are academically driven, tackling rigorous classes, and trying their best to excel in all of their courses. However, students’ social lives should be considered just as important as their academic lives. A lot of the students are still trying to discover their identities and explore different activities they may take an interest in. Fortunately, St. Mark’s has a variety of clubs and affinity groups, bringing together people with shared interests or of the same cultural, religious, ethnic, sexual, and gender identity.

Due to the Coronavirus, not all students can physically be on campus, but modern-day technology helps overcome this challenge. Remote students feel more isolated because they cannot socialize with their friends at school. Thus, clubs and affinity groups meetings are great opportunities for remote students and in-person learners to reconnect over similar hobbies and cultures.

Every week, there is an array of meetings students and faculty members can participate. There are over thirty clubs that are all student led, and each club is required to organize a meeting weekly, and affinity groups are expected to connect twice a month. The types of clubs range from debate club and book club, to dance club and mountain skiing club; the variation of clubs ensures that each student in the school will have at least one club that piques their interests.

In contrast, St. Mark’s affinity groups are clubs that categorize people by their racial, sexual, and gender identity, building a safe space for students to share their feelings and struggles with peers who may be going through a similar experience because of their identity. Examples of such affinity groups include: Black Lives Union (BLU), Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), Southborough Society, and many more. There are times when two different affinity groups will have merged meetings, discussing problems that overlap and concern both groups. 

Every student is going through a lot currently because of the global pandemic. Hopefully, club meetings and affinity groups will help ease students’ stress and tensions, making it easier for students to navigate their way through this academic year. With students supporting each other, it will help strengthen the community as a whole.

The Global Citizenship Programs Shift Gears

By Suha Choi’22

One of the advantages of a St. Mark’s education is that students have a number of exchange programs and other global citizenship opportunities that allow students to immerse in learning at different places around the world. Some St. Markers whose plans were to attend such programs in this 2020-2021 academic year shared how the pandemic has affected their plans and/or experiences with the programs.

Sadly, the School Year Abroad programs which allow students to have an exchange program in France, Italy, China, or Spain have been canceled. Maya Scully ‘22, who had initially applied for a trip to China, faced many changes in her plan due to the uncertainty that was laid ahead of her. She explains that she was going to hear back from the school in China about her acceptance by mid-March, but the program was canceled because of the spread of Coronavirus.

The SYA program allowed some applicants in similar situations to re-apply for different schools. Maya took advantage of that and reapplied to a program in Spain. She shares, “I was very excited when I found out that I got accepted into the SYA Spain, but then quarantine happened, and my family and I decided that it would be better for me to stay home for the following year.” Maya and many students in the same situation as her have been keeping up with academics at St. Mark’s, as their programs have been canceled.

Dr. Warren also explained that “[the SYA program] initially canceled only the fall, but the rise in the pandemic numbers in Europe and the new restrictions put into place have made it impossible for the programs to continue.” However, she hopes that by next fall the programs will be able to run again and that students can immerse in captivating experiences such as the School Year Abroad program. 

On the other hand, some semester programs have– very thankfully– been doing much better because students found in-person learning to be safe. Dr. Warren explains, “Because the groups are small and much of the work is done outdoors they are able to spend much of the day unmasked, so it looks pre-COVID in the photos of those campuses.” Kendall Sommers ’ 22 spent her fall at Vermont as she was participating in the Mountain School of Milton Academy. She shares that not only did she have some great experiences but also that the program adhered to safety protocols to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Kendall told, “We started online for a week and were all required to quarantine for 2 weeks. Then, when we got on campus, we all wore masks even in the forms with roommates for a week.” They got tested again and were then allowed to take off their masks inside their dorms composed of 5 to 11 people.

The program made sure to have everyone tested several times and that students stay distant from other dorms. While the students were in their “little bubbles,” the program switched up these bubbles every 2 weeks followed by testing, which allowed interactions with everyone in the program. These guidelines followed throughout the whole program, including having to wear masks when they were in vehicles, getting food, or when there were many people in one space. They also had morning check-ins for symptoms. Most importantly, Kendall has loved the experience and thinks that the best part was getting to know everyone and interact with them in dorms. She also loved the “solo camping trip” that was a part of the Mountain School program.   

In addition to the School Year Abroad programs and the Mountain School, short weekend conferences such as the Social Justice Leadership Institute have been occurring online to continue their programs despite the unprecedented circumstances. The global diploma cohort students, too, have been gathering monthly via zoom to pursue their understanding of global citizenship. Dr. Warren– the director of the global citizenship program at St. Mark– has further shared her plans to create more virtual programs to make up for the loss of in-person programs. 

Remote Chapel: Celebration of Self-Appreciation

By Yoonjeong Yang ’24

The sense of community has transcended the physical distance between us. On September 15th, the first chapel of the year happened virtually, bringing the St. Mark’s student body, faculty, and staff together. Despite the shift from offline to online, the chapel successfully presented musical performances by St. Markers, school prayers, as well as a senior chapel talk– many St. Markers’ favorites– by the student monitor Lily Wang Luo. Taking an advantage of the new online format, Lily presented her story and journey leading up to St. Mark’s through a video. Her talk about identity and confronting challenges due to her race has deeply resonated with me as much as it did for many others. This article shares some key take-aways and reflections on her chapel talk.

Under Chinese parents, Lily was born born in Peru. Her family then moved to Brazil and attended a local school in Novo Hamburgo with native Brazilians, where she would learn the Portuguese language and about the Brazilian culture. Despite how accustomed she was to the language and culture, Lily was still considered a racial minority in Brazil as an Asian immigrant, being conflicted between her ethnic Chinese identity and Brazilian cultural identity. Her struggles about racial identity continued when she transferred to an international school in China, where most students were now ethnic Chinese who were fluent in both Chinese and English. Moving from Brazil to China further deepened Lily’s questions about her identity, for she was neither fluent in either language nor the culture of her supposed “home” country. Wanting to fit in, she at first chose silence about her Latin American identity while westernizing herself. However, she realized that the harder she tried, only the lonelier and dissatisfied would she grow. 

Then, she moved to St. Mark’s. During her early times at St. Mark’s, she still felt apprehensive about people assuming her background by her looks because of her prior experiences. To her surprise, people at St. Mark’s were much more sensitive about one’s identity and multi-cultural backgrounds. This surprise, followed by great delight, motivated her to reach out to people with different backgrounds and diverse student groups. Doing so allowed her to fully express her true self while also hearing about other people’s stories. Through these meaningful interactions, she felt confident that the relationships built here at St. Mark’s would be deep and lasting ones. While it is true that not all of us may relate to Lily’s experiences, the moral of her story points to something that we can all learn from: building relationships with open-minded and supportive people has the power to heal struggles about your identity, develop empathy, and ultimately lead to self-acceptance and self-appreciation. 

Lily’s talk reminded me of my own struggles to adapt to a new culture and social atmosphere when I first moved to the U.S. I underwent similar stereotypes and judgments made by my peers. Like Lily, I too chose to show the things that were expected from others, despite the feelings of self-loss it brought to me. At my previous school, I remember having to veil my failure, fear, or sadness and refrain from trying new things because of my worries about failing. At last, I found people at the school who would encourage me to step outside my comfort zones. This was a turning point in my life where I began to challenge myself every day to try new pursuits. I no longer closed myself to limited perspectives and went to explore different things.

Just as much as Lily’s speech resonated with me, I hope that her powerful speech has impacted many other’s thoughts about identity. Taking from Lily’s advice, we should continue to step out of our comfort zone through actively reaching out to people from different backgrounds. Lily’s chapel talk was also a reminder of the importance of community and how it shapes our identity. While we live through unprecedented times, self-acceptance and open-mindedness are things we should continue to strive for. Everyone at St. Mark’s has a story of their own to bring to the table, and these unique experiences build up the community that we are.

Here is a link to Lily’s chapel talk: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LXMmURGOGDm95lj20H-811ZPyDfqfwAE/view?usp=sharing.