By Rose Huang '29
Copyright Adam Richins Photography, Inc.
That night, the best seats belonged to people who’d just joined our community. Right under the lectern sat St. Mark’s new faculty, and, for that night, the whole school came to welcome them.
Afternoon sports started early and ended early, at 5:00, rather than the usual 5:30, and people began scrambling. For an hour, students locked themselves in their dorm rooms or teamed up, caught in the rush of getting ready: suits and dresses pulled from closets, rounds of “trying on”, matching them with the perfect shoes and sweaters, and one last look in the mirror. By 5:55, some of the dorm pictures looked like floral gardens, filled with bright, flowery dresses, while boys' dorms featured mostly suits and ties. By 6:00, students were walking to an advisory dinner.
Over chicken stew and the standard cookies and vegetables, students caught up with their advisors, eating quickly to beat the 6:45 call. By then, the hallways of the main building became a runway. With the weather turning cold, many floral dresses were layered with white knit sweaters against the chill.
The theme of this September’s Evening Chapel’s was welcoming St. Mark's new faculty. New teachers took the seats on the right side of the chapel and closest to the lectern, for a night that was in every sense about them. Inside, as music played and the buzzing quieted down, Si Ah Jang ‘27 marked the commencement of the first Evening Chapel with an opening song. Rev. Solter led the processional crossway down the aisle, and Mr. Gammons took the lectern to read from The Lord of the Rings, the first in a series of readings built around the evening's welcome. The new teachers were presented with gifts, handed out by the monitors, and the evening went on with more prayers and speeches.
By the time chapel service ended, at 7:38, students poured out of the chapel and reached for their phones. Everyone had dressed for it, and they took the photos to prove it; by nightfall, friends' shots flooded Instagram stories with many captioned "First of many."
Overall, the night felt tightly scheduled. Between the early release, an hour to get ready, dinner, changing, and removing makeup, Evening Chapel carves a tangible dent out of a Thursday. Still, for the newest faces at St. Mark's, faculty and students, it was a first of many.
