Opinions on Integrated Science

Andrea Xu ‘25

In the past two years, the most significant change to St. Mark’s academics in the past two years is Integrated Science. In the fall of 2022, the science department implemented this curriculum change. Instead of following the “freshman physics and sophomore chemistry” track, all incoming freshmen take two years of Integrated Science before taking any Advanced courses in their upper-form years. 

Mr. Palmer, the science department head, proudly lists two reasons he initiated the Integrated Science curriculum: “Every student leaves an understanding of important science issues, and prepare students for higher-level science regardless of the discipline they pursue, not just to cover a whole bunch of content. That’s why I think it’s better.”

Ms. Glenn, who taught Integrated Science last year, debriefs her experience teaching the course, “It is mostly difficult to teach, especially when teachers are not experts in all fields of science. But since it’s an introductory-level course, it was alright.” Like Mr. Palmer, Ms. Glenn likes how Integrated Science helps students understand that science is not a vacuum. The course fosters the idea that different disciplines are not independent; instead, we cannot learn one without the other. For example, teaching Advanced Physics: Electricity and Magnetism this year, Ms. Glenn finds chemistry necessary to understand the concepts in physics. 

Admittedly, the curriculum is “constantly changing.” The science faculty met over the summer to reflect on their new ways of teaching. For instance, the final project for one of the units last year was to write a letter to the local officials about a water issue. However, this year, students will do an infographic for the water unit. Improvements come over time when teachers observe how receptive students are to the materials. 

Pursuing her master's in biomechanics, Ms. Glenn felt comfortable answering students’ deeper questions about biology and physics. Yet, when students probed into the mysteries of chemistry, she shrugged, saying, “I’ll let them ask Mr. Buchholz, who is the chemistry teacher.” 

In our conversation, I also broached a sensitive topic of discussion: grading. Ms. Glenn is not afraid to admit that students hated the grading,, which was a point of anxiety for them. In St. Mark’s, many classes use standard-based grading, including Integrated Science, biology, and others. However, as the teacher, Ms. Glenn likes the standard-based grading system because it diverts the students' focus on learning the basic skills, especially in lower grades. Further, standard-based grading shows progress over time. Students make mistakes in the beginning, but over time, they will improve throughout the windows and show mastery later in the year. 

Do students concur with the teachers’ sentiments?

A returning sophomore, Sherry Mi ’26, shares her opinion about Integrated Science. She says, “It helps me to find a way to study science that suits me the best.” Sherry also enjoys the broad gamut of subjects Integrated Science covers and project-based learning. “Projects were effective in summing up the contents I studied in class, ” she adds. 

Ada Chen, ’27 is a new freshman. Overall, Ada thinks science at St. Mark’s is fun, but she elaborates that some content in Integrated Science overlaps with what she learned in her previous school. For example, “right now, we’re learning how to draw ionic bondings. I already know how to do it but we’re asked to draw it in a different way, which is off-putting.”

This is the second year of running Integrated Science. The student bodies have varied stances on this new curriculum. Teachers are adjusting to this new teaching system. There is a lot to unpack. With the testimony of time and trials, we hope to see more positive feedback on Integrated Science and leave students with the critical skills to learn science anywhere in the world.

Cracking the Dress Code

by anouk shin

The St. Mark’s handbook has contained a lengthy description of the dress code for years, a paragraph new students are shocked by as they prepare for school as a freshman. Many change their wardrobe completely, buying new clothes to adhere to the extensive rules, while others avoid such lengths and simply hope they aren’t “dress-coded” in the hallway. Either way, St. Mark’s’ ‘only-bookstore-hoodies-business-casual’ dress code has been a long controversial topic in the community, between both students and teachers. And now, with a new school year and debate on school dress among faculty, it’s time to find out what new (and old) St. Markers really think about dress code. 

There seem to be two common points about the dress code students feel the need to change: the prohibition of blue jeans and non-St. Mark’s hoodies. 

“It’s not too bad, but there are things I think aren’t necessary, like the blue jeans,” says Vivi Tran ‘26, “I also understand that we’re not allowed to wear graphic T-shirts, but I don’t understand why we can’t wear non-St. Mark’s hoodies and sweatshirts.” 

Kat Garland ‘27 carries the same sentiment, “I would change sweatshirts. As long as the sweatshirts aren’t too ‘unprofessional’ I think it’s fine. I mean, I see people wearing regular sweatshirts already.” 

“I would like there to be blue jeans, I don’t see a problem with it,” adds Meigs Dorsheimer ‘27. The students around her mutter in agreement, commenting on the fact that, while ripped jeans could be considered inappropriate, prohibiting regular blue jeans is a rule hard to accept. 

However, blue jeans go much deeper than a preferred fashion choice among students. According to Lori Cui ‘25, not allowing blue jeans is even inherently classist: “The working-class typically wore blue jeans throughout history,” she says, “and there are working-class families at St. Mark’s.” The strict rule on blue jeans may give the impression that families in the working class are not welcomed or seen as equal to upper-middle and middle classes in St. Mark’s. 

But blue jeans aside, St. Markers seem to be very aware of why the dress code needs to be in place, even if they disagree with certain aspects of the guidelines.

“We can’t just show up to school wearing something too inappropriate or casual. This is a nice school, and we should be ready for the school day,” Paige Mattson ‘27 states. Judy Xu ‘26 similarly notes that a dress code should be in place to prevent unprofessional attire. Lori Cui ‘25 acknowledges that “dressing for a setting makes you more inclined to behave properly in that setting.” 

The dress code is a tradition St. Mark’s has endorsed for decades. However, with time comes new students, new understandings, and a questioning of traditions. St. Mark’s is in the middle of this questioning period, where the community comes together to find a middle ground. And hopefully, through amendments and discussion, we will finally be able to crack the dress code.

What's been working? What needs work?

by Anouk Shin ‘26

It’s no secret that St. Mark’s prioritizes anti-racism—and understandably so. As a small and “very diverse school, bettering yourself to be anti-racist and more inclusive of the people around you is more important”, says Elizabeth Pellini ‘23. 

From Pathways groups to C&E day, our school’s devotion to inclusivity and multiculturalism is apparent in student life, academics, and all school events. But what do St. Markers think? Which aspects of St. Mark’s anti-racist efforts actually uplift anti-racism among students within our community—and which head in the opposite direction? 

Fortunately, many of the current efforts towards anti-racism seem to be working their magic. Steven Zhang 24’, says that “Affinity groups and C&E day “reduce preconceptions and prejudice [of racial identity] in the school”, and as the St. Mark’s faculty board becomes more diverse each year, Joel Lawore 25’is “happy that St. Mark’s is definitely taking more of an initiative on [recruiting faculty of color].” For Joel, a diverse group of faculty is a “crucial” effort towards anti-racism in the long term: “Students are here for four years, but it’s the faculty that stay that really make the community what it is.” 

St. Mark’s mission to combat racism makes an impact in the classroom as well, namely by “incorporating inclusivity into [its] courses,” according to an anonymous third former. One example of this “inclusivity”, she says, is apparent in The Global Seminar: “Its core values [are] learning cross-cultural dialogue and how to be respectful with people’s differences.” 

However, despite the successful anti-racist efforts St. Mark has made over the years in school events, faculty, and the classroom, there is still room for improvement, according to St. Markers. 

One issue, Steven notes, is the occasional “over-the-top” nature of school-wide events relating to anti-racism. To Steven, an important aspect of promoting anti-racism is not only the means of promotion, but also the student response—and “pressur[ing] students to [attend events] that they really don’t want to” may make it even “more unlikely that [students] will actually start becoming more anti-racist.” According to Steven, one example of an “over-the-top” event was the Lion Dance, mostly due to the fact that “[St. Mark’s] made [the event] mandatory for the whole school”. In addition to the event being mandatory, he says, many students “weren’t happy with the time that [the Lion Dance] was placed in” and “not many people were necessarily as interested.”

Events related to the anti-racist effort that are disliked by students can pose serious problems. In these events, intended messages of multiculturalism and anti-racism may go overlooked, and in the worst-case scenario, a negative perception of a culture or anti-racism may be instilled. So “in the future,” Steven suggests, “we can have these types of events, but we shouldn’t put them in such a weird time and force them to be mandatory.” 

Joel believes that there are “a lot of things” relating to anti-racism and inclusivity St. Mark’s could improve upon. “Not to be pessimistic”, he adds, “just [thinking] with that growth mindset.” 

Something that has been “very hard to deal with” but seems “prevalent” for Joel at St. Mark’s are the struggles students with a minority background face while adapting to the community: “When you are a student that comes from a very different background, it’s very tough to acclimate,” he says, especially because there are many students from “similar backgrounds.” Immediately jumping to a potential way to address this complex problem, Joel adds that just “being aware, whether you’re a teacher or student” and having “more Affinity Group involvement would definitely help” in mitigating the issue. 

Implementing complete anti-racism in any institution is a noble, but very difficult task to accomplish. Nonetheless, I am glad to see that St. Mark’s is constantly committed to the seemingly impossible goal of anti-racism, and I hope, through feedback, changes, and everything in between, we continue to run closer to that finish line for generations to come. 

Social Media & Privacy: Why Should We Care?

by Anika Sukthankar ‘23

“Behavioral advertising generates profits by turning users into products, their activity into assets, their communities into targets, and social media platforms into weapons of mass manipulation.”

-Rohit Chopra in his 2019 dissent against Facebook

As technology evolves and becomes an integral part of our society, the controversies surrounding its proper use and associated governmental policies have become increasingly complicated. We are building complex socio-technical systems that seem to guide our very behaviors and thinking. From the addictive nature of social media to privacy concerns, governmental policies seem to be lagging behind technological advancements. Events, such as the Capitol hearings, have made this topic of great interest. 

Social media has become incredibly popular in recent years, with over 400 million new users joining these platforms annually. Despite this popularity, the majority of users are uncomfortable with the collection of personal data and believe that the government needs to do more to regulate tech companies. Rebuilding trust between users and social media companies will take a triumvirate of public awareness, self-regulation by the social media companies themselves, and government regulations.

Social platforms use algorithms to predict content that will best appeal to each user. The more engaging or outrageous the post or content is, the more views they get, thus maximizing the platform’s ad revenue and profit. Most users unwittingly or wittingly provide data by clicking on websites and their content. Even the amount of time one remains on a page, called ‘hover time’ is measured and recorded for each user. One of the industry’s measures of performance called the monetizable Daily Average User (mDAU) is used to define the attractiveness of a social media platform. The higher the number of mDAUs for a social media firm, the higher its draw for advertisers, and therefore higher its ad revenue. Most tech companies are built on the premise of excessive data collection, processing, and then exploitation for commercial use. This is generally in the form of sharing personal data and preferences with marketing firms to create “micro-targeted” ads. Many users place their blind trust, by sharing various aspects of their personal lives, and through their clicks and “hovers”, their preferences on these platforms.

While companies share their policies about data sharing, it is embedded in multi-page legal documents that can only be described as incomprehensible for the average user. The lack of awareness among most users about the data collection and usage practices of tech firms is what causes users to put their privacy at risk. Organizations such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) are trying to change that by creating awareness among the public and lobbying the US Congress to enact privacy laws like GDPR (Global Data Privacy Regulation) in Europe.

Over the past few years, much discussion has been on the need to moderate user-specific content on social media. Many companies have taken action to suspend what they deem as hateful, inappropriate, or violent engendering content. This allows these private companies lawful control of the content on their platforms, which has created much debate about companies obstructing users’ freedom of expression and speech. The suspension of former President Trump’s social media accounts further fueled this debate with even world leaders like Angela Merkel questioning whether social media can restrict the freedom of expression by “de-platforming” individuals and groups.

Social media outlets are inherently different from traditional media outlets in that they are exempt from Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, thereby limiting the liability of companies due to user-generated content on their websites. The sheer volume of content disseminated on social media (estimated at four billion videos viewed daily on Facebook alone) far outweighs the “curated and controlled” content shared via traditional media. In response to public pressure, social media companies have created mechanisms for self-governance. Meta, the parent of Facebook, has published community standards and a transparency report highlighting the enforcement actions taken. These initial steps towards such self-regulation are both necessary and positive.

The US has several federal and state-level statutes that govern data collection, privacy, and protection all aimed at protecting consumers. However, unlike Europe which has implemented a Global Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR), the US is still working on advancing the American Data Privacy Protection Act (ADPPA) which provides similar protection for consumers. There are also several other laws with specific protections such as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which governs the collection of information about minors; the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA), which governs the collection of health information; the Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA), which governs personal information collected by banks and financial institutions; and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which regulates the collection and use of credit information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also responsible for enforcing adherence to applicable laws to ensure consumer protection around online data collection, security, privacy, and sharing.

The public in general is now more curious than ever about securing their data. Many have attempted to distance themselves from social media and are now looking more into the moral responsibilities that social media platforms claim to uphold. But until effective policy laws come into practice, the protection of digital privacy will rely on an educated and aware consumer and self-regulation by social media companies to keep each user safe. As a society, we can simply be careful with the personal information that we share online and report inappropriate content to the authorities when needed.

Sources

1. Associated Press. (2021, January 11). Retrieved from APNews: https://apnews.com/article/merkel-trump-twitter-problematic-dc9732268493a8ac337e03159f0dc1c9 

2. Datareportal. (2022). Digital 2022 Overview Report. Datareportal.

3. Dixon, S. (2022). Twitter: number of monetizable daily active users worldwide 2017-2022. Statista.

4. Electronic Frontier Foundation. (2022, December 20). article 230. Retrieved from https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/user-generated-content-and-fediverse-legal-primer 

5. Electronic Privacy Information Center. (2019). Retrieved from EPIC: https://epic.org/issues/consumer-privacy/social-media-privacy/ 

6. Facebook. (2023). Retrieved from Facebook Transparency Center: https://transparency.fb.com/policies/community-standards/ 

7. Global Web Index. (2022). Social Media Statistics. GWI.

8. Saul, D. (2022). Google and Facebook's Stranglehold Loosening. Forbes.

9. Washington Post-Schar School of Policy and Government. (2021). Internet User Study. 

10. Abrams, Ellen Macphee, “STS 1101: Science Technology, and Politics” (Cornell University, June 21-July 8, 2022)

What Are the Social Groups at St. Mark’s?

by Anouk Shin ‘26 and Hannah Cha ‘25

When asked to describe the community at St. Mark’s, “collective”, “close-knit”, or “unified” may be on the list of words that come to mind. In fact, St. Mark’s is a school that advertises “unified community” as one of its biggest strengths. However, all 76 St. Mark’s students who were faced with the question, “do you believe that social groups exist at St. Mark’s?” answered with “yes.” 

What could this response and other responses related to social groups at St. Mark’s tell us about our community? Does it not matter at all? 

The survey results that were collected over the past week contained a lot of interesting and unexpected statistics. To the question “Which factor do you think defines social groups at St. Mark’s the most?” the responses we received are below:

57.9% of the respondents answered race/ethnicity as the most significant factor of segregation. Sports/activities (38.2%) followed, then sexuality (2.6%), and finally, financial status (1.3%). The results show that the majority of students at St. Mark’s think race and ethnicity create social groups. 

Other than the statistics, another part of the survey that the writers paid attention to were the additional opinions given by the respondents. There were a lot of honest and compelling opinions, which also gave us a new insight into this issue.

Various students also shared their personal experiences of cultural differences causing a division of social groups. One of the respondents shared: “I think it’s normal for people like me that are Hispanic/Latino or African-American to be closer because we have similar cultures and relate to each other a lot. People think we don’t like them but in reality, we can’t relate to them as often so we aren’t as close to them”. A significant number of people were expressing difficulties related to each other, therefore causing segregation between races.

One point that was controversial among a majority of the respondents was: Is it realistic for the division of social groups by race to get solved? Some comments stated that it is “a natural process to have social groups by race because they share so much of a different culture”. They responded that forcefully trying to form social groups with diversity would not suddenly make any of the people in the group closer to each other. Some compelling arguments were also introduced: some people argued that the toxicity of segregation based on race should be considered a big problem, and people need to seek a solution by constructing more conversation and consensus about this topic. Can conflicts of social groups simply be solved by conversation? 

The results of our last question were the most polarized, with 56.6% of students answering “no” and 43.4% answering “yes” to the question, “do you think social groups at St. Mark’s are harmful to our community?”  The responses were almost split down the middle—ultimately begging a compelling question: Are social groups in school a legitimate problem to the community, or is it just an inevitable fact that needs to be accepted? We will leave the question up to the readers as we wrap up this article. 

Introducing Non-Male Gym Time At Wiedergott

by Lori Cui ‘25

If you regularly walk by Wiedergott or read the email from Ms. Maddock, you might have heard about the new gym times dedicated to encouraging everyone to work out in Wiedergott. Over the course of two weeks, I surveyed multiple athletes that use Wiedergott about this topic, and here are their responses. 

(Schedule of Wiedergott Hours)

Before inclusive Wiedergott hours were introduced, many athletes said that they used to work out at Coolidge with a coach because it made them “feel safe” and the equipments were also better. However, Coolidge had limited open slots for all athletes - regardless of athletic teams. Wiedergott is a gym that is always accessible to anybody but had very limited non-male athletes using it. After including non-male gym time, Wiedergott has currently seen a huge increase in non-male athletes using the facilities. 

Non-male athletes showed overwhelmingly positive responses to the Wiedergott gym times, saying that it makes them feel “comfortable” and “judgment-free” to work out. Many other athletes brought up reasons for feeling uncomfortable with guys, one respondent stating that “If I am too strong, then they will be scared of me. But if I am not strong enough, then they will laugh at me for being weak and a girl.” Other athletes also expressed that many boys in the gym blasting “loud rap music” made them feel disagreeable to walk in and work out with the crowd. 

When the non-male athletes were asked how to respond to sexist comments about gym time, they acknowledged that the opinions exist, but the decision has been made, and everyone should live with it. Multiple athletes have stated that the gym is for everyone in the school to use, which includes 50% of non-male athletes at the school. Some have argued that it is encouraging everyone to work out more but also created a larger gap between genders. The new gym times seem to completely separate genders, a segregation not new to Wiedergott but made more evident to onlookers. Wiedergott hours has promoted more inclusive usage of the gym but has also seemingly driven a bigger wedge between genders at St. Mark’s. 

What are your thoughts on the new gym time? Is it furthering the gap between genders?

How Racism Affects Marginalized Students at St. Mark’s

By diana oh ‘24

I was around ten years old when I had my first hard encounter with racism. My mind was a clean slate back then. Raised in a safe international school with some diversity and little to no exposure to racism, I was completely naive and innocent of many aspects of the larger world, including discrimination. Obviously, I knew basic information about Social Justice in my history classes and through events on the news. However, it was a foreign problem outside my bubble, completely irrelevant to my life. Frankly, I did not even understand how racism was even possible. But looking back, I realize that having this mindset was one of the most ignorant things I could think about the world. 

I opened my eyes to the unfair world around me when I went to a sports camp on Catalina Island camp in California. I was severely unprepared for the treatment I would encounter during my three weeks at the camp. Nothing was obvious. There was no physical violence involved, and everything was indirect. It ranged from cutting me off while talking, rolling their eyes when seeing me, and excluding me from team projects. I shook it off at first, unaware that I was being discriminated against. I tried to mingle with the white girls by acting like them and cracking jokes, but everything was useless. These little aggressions started becoming day-to-day, minute-to-minute acts of hatred, and soon I realized that it was not any of the intrinsic values that led to me being an outcast. It was my appearance. I was not white. 

Obviously, these two weeks of constant isolation and discrimination left quite a heavy scar on 10-year-old me. What was supposed to be a relaxing and adventurous trip turned out to be more of a hellish experience, full of tears. What is worse, the scars and trauma I experienced carried on through everyday life and continue to this day. From that moment on, something as simple as a conversation with a white person made me very nervous and scared. 

Even now to some degree, I am still scared to interact with white students or faculty because I am concerned that they will belittle me as a minority. During those two weeks at camp, I developed a barrier separating me from the white community. I formed a preconception that all white people would, and must think that they are, superior to me just because I was Asian, just because I was a minority. And maybe the early childhood memories are why I desperately wanted to fit in with the white friend groups at St. Mark’s. Because maybe by fitting in at St. Mark’s, I could fill the trauma that I felt during my time at the sports camp. 

I know for a fact that this experience is similar to many minority students around the world. I also know that there are definitely a lot of racist people around the world who think we as minorities are inferior to them. However, not all white people are like that. There are many genuinely great white students that I met in school that break this stereotype. If I had conformed to my bubble and shut them out completely, I would have lost so many great friends that could not have been more relevant in my life to this day.

So for all minority students and faculty at St. Mark’s, I would like to ask them to do three following things for the sake of yourselves and the sake of the minorities at St. Mark’s:

Be confident, whoever you are with. It does not matter how scared or uncomfortable you feel around students that way. You have every right to be here at St. Mark’s to learn, interact and be in the same spaces as the white students. You are entitled to be here as much as any other person in the dorm.

Treat white students and faculty how you would treat your other minority students, and don’t form a barrier early on. There is an extremely large chance that the person that you are interacting with is not discriminatory at all, and rather just does not know you as a person. And if someone is truly discriminatory, report to a faculty member and seek help. That student is not worth your time or your efforts and they are certainly not worth the pain that you have gone through because of your race.

Last, your race is something to be proud of that you should confidently show to others. It ebbs with culture, and liveliness to it, that it is so valuable. Don’t ever be ashamed, because you don’t deserve to be. You deserve to be proud. 

Are You Racist?

by Vanessa Leung ’25

Don’t think you’re biased? Take the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to find out!: Harvard Implicit Association Test

Racism is defined as the prejudice and discrimination against a certain group based on their racial or ethnic profile. As an immigration melting pot, racism runs rampant in the United States, and no one is immune from it. From gentle discomfort towards an ethnicity to tragic mass shootings killing innocent lives, racism may have become a stigmatized term in society, but that doesn’t mean that it has disappeared from our lives completely.

The origins of racism are complex, with roots that reach back to the Atlantic slave trade to recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Their existence may be just another page in a history textbook, but their impacts are profound. While most deny it, it is common for people to be racist; in fact, most psychologists believe that everyone is unintentionally racist. Psychologists believe that the causes of racism not only stem from history but also from cognitive biases that influence our brains.

The most common cognitive biases believed to cause racism is the “in-group bias”, the “just world fallacy” and “implicit” bias. In-group bias is when people prefer others with similar physical appearances over others, “out-groups” and is most often linked to the causes of racial discrimination. It is the human tendency to sort things into groups, and a survival instinct throughout history to perceive those who are in “your group” to be safe. Thus, the “us vs. them” idea often originates from a feeling of threat and danger, leading to prejudiced thinking and actions. The just world fallacy is when one believes in a justified world where the good receives good and the bad receives bad. However, upholders of this fallacy are also found to support police violence and lowering the ages of criminal responsibility for crimes committed by black teenagers. Lastly, the implicit bias might be best described with the phrase “we don’t know what we don’t know.” This is a form of prejudice that occurs unintentionally and unwittingly yet affects our thoughts and actions nevertheless. 

Another key contributor to our unintentional racism is our exposure to the world. Negative stereotypes, cultural myths, and racist beliefs that get introduced to us when we are young can easily influence our mindsets and create a biased viewpoint. Fear and ignorance of unfamiliar ethnic groups can also lead to negative attitudes towards certain groups. 

St. Mark’s brands itself as a diverse, antiracist community. The school has worked extensively on developing its antiracist program in many areas of community life including affinity groups, and initiatives from the C&E office. Multiple affinity groups have been created to accommodate our diverse and unique student body, which creates safe spaces for students identifying in the group to freely express themselves. The C&E office has also created C&E day and Umoja, a talent show dedicated to the celebration of different cultures by showcasing our identities through performances such as dancing, singing, and more. To know more, visit Antiracism - St. Mark's School.

Those are all great ways to establish an inclusive environment in our school, yet there are also more aspects that St. Mark’s can do to live up to its name. To become an antiracist school, each of us must first acknowledge the presence of racism. As mentioned earlier, most people are informed about racism but don’t, and would prefer not to identify with it. People are naturally biased, and students should accept their prejudices and be open to them. Racism shouldn’t be a sensitive topic shunned to the sides and should be mentioned more frequently in the community to promote awareness in our daily lives. Understanding your susceptibility towards something can greatly change your actions. St. Mark’s should also take advantage of its diverse community by encouraging the diverse cultures of their students. The Lion Dance performance this year was a wonderful peek into the culture of Lunar New Year celebrations, and more showcases of other cultures should be encouraged in ways such as videos shown during school meetings. 

Virtually everyone is biased and prejudiced, for it is impossible to have a completely impartial view. However, we shouldn’t be discouraged by this reality or give up on our attempts. Instead, this should be a sign to heighten our awareness of the pervasiveness of racism and take further steps to fight it.

Opinions of Community and Equity Day

by Jasmine Liu ‘25

Photo from January 23rd, 2023 Community and Equity Day in the Class of ‘45 Hall

Every year, St. Mark’s School devotes an entire day to an integral aspect of the St. Mark’s experience: community and equity. Community and Equity Day at St. Mark’s School is an annual day-long event dedicated to the exploration of topics related to community and culture. Instead of having classes, students would all gather in the Putnam Family Arts Center (PFAC) Class of ‘45 Hall in the morning to listen to a guest speaker deliver a speech related to the theme of community on C&E Day. The day then follows with house-based conversations throughout the campus, and after lunch, students go back to the PFAC to watch Umoja (Swahili for unity), a student talent show dedicated to sharing different cultures and identities in the St. Mark’s student body.

This year, the Community and Equity office worked hard to bring in “Fearless Inside” movement founder Darryl Bellamy for C&E Day. Darryl Bellamy is a leader who helps inspire “fearless moments” around the world by delivering speeches and presentations to schools across the nation. On January 23rd, 2023, Darryl Bellamy spreads his “Fearless” message to the St. Mark’s community. This presentation ended up being a well-loved aspect of C&E Day with around 60% of students and faculty voting it as their favorite event, according to the C&E day opinion survey sent out last week. “It was an AMAZING presentation,” One Vth Former exclaimed. “I especially liked the moments when Darryl dimmed the lights and created an atmosphere for us to think and reflect.” Another Vth Former remarked that they “learned a lot about overcoming my fears and anxieties by giving myself only a few seconds to react.” Yet despite the positive responses, some students were still skeptical of the presentation. One student commented that they wished “the Fearless talk would have made a stated connection to C&E work” instead of leaving it for students to interpret.

After the “Fearless” presentation, students were separated into their dorm/Burnett house groups to discuss their takeaways from the presentation as well as their personal opinions and experiences around the matter. Some students remarked on the enjoyment of the house-based discussions. “My group had a discussion that lasted the whole time slot,” one student mentioned. “It actually gave me some insights into the perspectives of my groupmates.” However, around 40% of respondents stated that they did not enjoy the house-based conversations as much as they wanted to. One Vth Former mentioned that the conversations “were not beneficial” while another IV Former stated that the house discussions were “unproductive, awkward, and boring.” “I believe third formers should have split up by houses as well to reflect on the topic and discuss amongst their peers instead of using the auditorium where we had spent all morning,” one faculty member asserted, “having the upper class (PDL) added for a power dynamic could have steered many from participating.”

Lastly, after the house-based conversations and lunch, everybody went back to the PFAC Class of ‘45 Hall for the annual student-led celebration, Umoja! During the Umoja celebration, students showcased a variety of their talents from K-pop (Korean pop) dancing to singing songs in their native languages and playing traditional pieces. Many students and faculty enjoyed the Umoja celebration, and one faculty member commented how it was amazing that the celebration was student-led. However, another faculty member did mention that they “wished more faculty were included in the Umoja celebration”.

Ultimately, C&E Day was mostly a success this year with students and faculty giving the event an average of 7.5 to 8 out of 10 ratings. Many students and faculty in the St. Mark’s community had valuable takeaways from the day. “I learned that I am not alone with my fears and that it’s okay for me to be scared,” one Vth Form student commented, “I just need to accept and understand my fears and know that it will be okay.” Another faculty member also stated that C&E day encouraged their self-confidence to “step out of their comfort zone”. “Cool things happen if you are willing to challenge your fears,” they added.

Yet, some students also have topics they want to see for the future of Community and Equity Day. “I think other topics to explore in the future can include mental health (stress, anxiety, competition (academic, leadership, etc.) among students and friends), gender, and sexuality,” One student remarked. “Gender will be a hard topic to keep people engaged in, but if there is a creative way or a unique perspective to share with the entire school, it would be great.” Another faculty member also wished to see some focus on diversity, the importance of representation, and the meaning behind thinking deeply.

In summary, according to the C&E opinions survey, the majority of students and faculty at St. Mark’s thought that this year was a “good example” of what C&E Day should be like. While some members of the St. Mark’s community still have some skepticism and doubts about this year’s C&E Day, the event generally seems to be following the right path to many more impactful topics for the future.