Humans of St. Marks — The St. Marker

BY SAMANTHA WANG ‘21

Ms. Berndt (left) and Dr. Harwood (right)

Ms. Berndt has been teaching at St. Mark’s School since 2010. In her ten years here, she has taught Advanced Biology, Advanced Biotechnology, and Anatomy. Her Advanced Biology is considered one of the most challenging courses offered at St. Mark’s. The difficulty of this course is not only because of the sophisticated class materials but also due to Ms. Berndt’s unique Socratic method of teaching—always asking students why thus forcing them to realize their gaps in their understanding and knowledge.

Although the massive number of feedback comments, (most being her provocative questions), in every bio-portfolio submission sometimes feels intimidating to her students, it is in this way Ms. Berndt encourages her students to dive deeper in every unit and prompts them to learn actively to understand what they miss. I admit that Ms. Berndt’s Advanced Biology is one of the harshest classes I’ve ever taken, but thinking about all the joy and tears I had in that class, I am extremely grateful for Ms. Berndt’s comments, which led me to truly devote myself to my Biology studies whether immersing myself in the extended reading in the cancer unit or taking a one-take video over and over again to explain how our digestive system functions from eating a piece of toast.

Ms. Berndt has also inspired the whole St. Mark’s Community by her passion and enthusiasm in a variety of activities. Besides being a science faculty member, she has been a dorm parent, the director of Vth Form Lion Term, Department Head and founder of the STEM Fellowship program, coach for girls Thirds Field Hockey, JV Ice-hockey, and JV Lacrosse. Her hot chocolate and chats before mid-terms in the dorm, the cheering she did for her sports teams and all the patience and energy she put into designing V Form Lion Term will be indelible memories for me, and I believe for many others as well. Ms. Berndt brought so much love and warmth to St. Mark’s.

Ms. Berndt is leaving St. Mark’s to join the Laurel School in Shaker Heights Ohio as the Director of their Upper School. The St. Mark’s Community is grateful for everything she has done for us. Ms. Berndt will definitely be missed by her students,fellow teachers, athletics teams, and dorms and all those who knew her and we wish her all the best in her new school!

By Katie Park ‘21

Ms. Marion Donovan, our dearest librarian and my advisor, came to St. Mark’s in 1995 and is retiring this year after 25 years of service to the school. Before coming to St. Mark’s, she taught mostly World History in several independent, Catholic, and public schools in Illinois and Massachusetts for 20 years. Her interest in history stems from her high school years in Hawaii. She furthered her interest by specializing in Asian history in college and graduate schools.

Ms. Donovan’s career path took a shift when she was called upon to fill a void in the library in her previous school. She had no formal training as a librarian, but she was happy to fill the spot as she has always loved reading fiction as well as history. As expected, she enjoyed being a librarian because she had more opportunity to converse with students about favorite authors and genres, and it was rewarding to guide students through their research projects.

Ms. Donovan shares that she has numerous favorite memories at St. Mark’s, which involve the combination of learning and sharing. The first aspect of her favorite memory stems from global travel. In 2002, she chaperoned the school’s last exchange with our Kyoto Consortium partner school. Also, she went on the first faculty study trip to China and Korea, which was particularly memorable because it was the best of collaboration across ages, interests, and talents. The second aspect of her favorite memory stems from working with a variety of extra-curricular groups over the years. She shares that by far, the most congenial group was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which was a group that recorded, viewed, and explicated new episodes one evening a week while maintaining the highest group GPA in the school at the time. Lastly, she has many notable memories with students in the classrooms. In 2004-5, she served as Mr. Lyons’ sabbatical European History substitute for a diverse group of 14 avid history students, which brought her great delight.

Ms. Donovan is looking forward to having more time for reading historical mysteries, fantasy, and science fiction, as well as historical works. She hopes many will visit her husband and her at Goose Rocks Beach, Maine. Also, she hopes to attend many St. Mark’s events and reunions in the coming years and anticipate hearing about new academic adventures, new careers, and new families.

Ms. Donovan shares she will miss her advisory the most and the adult community of most generous and talented colleagues. Ms. Donovan, I will truly miss our Tuesday advisory meetings over tea, and we wish you the best of luck for the next chapter in your life.