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Counselors

A profile on the school’s two new counselors, one in the Upper School and one in the Lower School. Page 14

Father-Son

A look into the unique dynamic between a fatherson pair in the school’s alumni network. Page 15

Study Abroad

Checking in on past foreign exchange students from Spain and Japan to see where they are now. Page 18

In brief

ORCHESTRA Nine members of the Upper School Orchestra earned a place in this year’s Texas Private School Music Educators Association (TPSMEA) All-State Orchestra, including violinists senior Varun Trivedi, junior Jedidiah Kim and sophomores Akash Raghunathan, Svanik Jaikumar and Branden Song; violists seniors Charlie Zhang and Rishi Mohan; and cellists sophomores Aadi Khasgiwala and Miller Wendorf. Due to COVID-19, the students will not convene as an ensemble for a three-day clinic and a following performance in the last days of January.

DEBATE Freshmen Ahsan Tahirkheli with Sid Bidare and Liam Seward with Anish Guddati won the John Edie Holiday Debate Tournament virtually hosted by The Blake School Dec. 18–23 as co-champions. Two weeks later, senior David Yang and junior Max Chuang made it to the round of 16 in the Billy Tate Southern Bell Forum Jan. 2–4, hosted virtually by Montgomery Bell Academy. In late January, senior Yang and juniors Sal Abbasi, Zayn Bhimani and Chuang competing in the Barkley Forum for High Schools hosted virtually by Emory University.

MATH TEAM This fall, the Upper School Math Team competed in a single-elimination bracket competition called Math Madness. The competition was divided up into multiple divisions. The team competed each Saturday to advance to the next round, ultimately winning their division over Winter Break. The team does not have major competitions in the following weeks, but in the down time between events, the team is practicing its skills in addition to participating in informal competitions among students.

CS DRIVES The Spring Basket Drive will take place March 8-29 to benefit The Jubilee Center, the West Dallas Community Center, Genesis Shelter and Jeanie’s Place. Following health guidelines, the Community Service Board has made adjustments to the drive to circumvent multiple people handling the baskets. Basket items and procedures will be explained as the drive approaches. Because of COVID-19 concerns, the blood drive will not take place this year due to an increasing number of cases and the presence of the new strain of the virus.

McDonald’s Week A week to last

In a highly irregular school year, a modified McDonald’s Week will still take place during the first week of March.

Among the most prominent traditions here is McDonald’s Week, an annual weeklong fundraiser delegated to the Junior Class for Austin Street Center.

The phrase “McDonald’s Week” traditionally conjures images of raucous poolnoodle battles, spectacular chemistry shows, frigid ice baths, huge t-shirt stands and piles of food – a decisively pre-COVID-19 atmosphere.

For the Class of 2022’s McDonald’s Week co-chairs – juniors Sal Abbasi, Ashvin Nair and Alex Nadalini – adapting to the unexpected is nothing new. But adapting to the seemingly impossible is a different challenge.

Since their initial appointments over the summer, the co-chairs have been altering their plans for this year’s McDonald’s Week to the ever-evolving situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the school and surrounding area.

“We were in that mentality of expecting the unexpected,” Abbasi said. “We were trying to be ready for anything that was thrown at us. We were meeting fairly often, just getting our basic plans down. I think our biggest job this year is to be as flexible as possible and to be as receptive as possible to the situation.”

Though McDonald’s Week has been officially pushed back to the first week of March, the co-chairs had been planning for a regular McDonald’s Week in November. The delay simply gives them time to plan further.

“We were planning for November because the worst-case scenario is we planned for the spring and it’s in November,” Abbasi said. “So we were planning for November, thinking that if we were planning ahead of time, that can only be good.”

EARLY YEARS In a proto-McDonald’s Week at Grandy’s in 1989, Athletic Trainer Robert “Doc” Browning (right) hangs out with high school students.

Interestingly enough, the McDonald’s Week community service drive didn’t start at McDonald’s at all. Athletic Trainer Robert “Doc” Browning took part in the inception of the event when it first began to take place at a Grandy’s restaurant location. However, in just a few years, the event moved to its namesake location.

“After the third year, Grandy’s was going into bankruptcy. There’s a few of them you’ll find around, but that one’s gone away,” Browning said. “When McDonald’s moved here, they learned of Grandy’s Week. We had Grandy’s Week in the fall of that year, and then the first McDonald’s Week was in the spring, and then McDonald’s took over the fall. It’s been McDonald’s ever since.”

Since those early years, McDonald’s Week has changed and morphed into the event it is today. One new change the co-chairs are trying to make this year is greater involvement from Hockaday in the event, but this does not mean there will be a comparable event at that school.

“The idea was to get Hockaday more involved because, in the past, they’ve typically been present at McDonald’s Week, and it adds to the atmosphere, to the experience, and it adds donations to Austin Street,” Nadalini said. “It benefits both the experience and Austin Street.”

Hockaday junior Sarah Roberts is leading the way as the contact person and organizer for all things McDonald’s Week-related at Hockaday. As someone who personally participated in some of the auxiliary McDonald’s Week events, she hopes more Hockaday students will get involved to help Austin Street. Roberts hopes Hockaday involvement also becomes a regular part of the event and that her position is similarly filled by that year’s juniors.

“I really hope that it does continue in further years,” Roberts said. “I obviously won’t be in charge, but I really do hope so because I think that Hockaday and St. Mark’s could really work together, do even more with these McDonald’s Week events than they have been doing in the past and help Austin Street Center even more.”

Though the circumstances for this year’s McDonald’s Week are extraordinary and limit possible events, there is a precedent for such circumstances. Following the destruction to the Preston-Royal McDonald’s following last year’s tornado, McDonald’s Week took a much different form last year.

“The co-chairs were running around for weeks trying to come up with new ideas when we didn’t even know if we were going to be able to hold the fundraiser,” former McDonald’s Week co-chair and senior Gabe Bines said. “I was super anxious and stressed, but as the weeks went on and we started to brainstorm more and more as a class, my anxiousness turned into excitement because I saw our class come together to defeat an obstacle that seemed impossible.”

With flexibility to ever-shifting circumstances, the co-chairs believe last year will give a good template of what this year’s McDonald’s Week will look like.

“I think it’s going to look parallel to last year’s where most of the stuff will be happening on campus,” Nair said, “but there’s going to be separation between the different schools this time because of COVID. But overall, nothing really is going to change from last year.”

FEASTING

During McDonald’s Week, students typically eat in participating restaurants to raise more money for Austin Street. However, because of health regulations, these dinners will not be offered this year.

Storytime with Doc

Having been with the event since its inception, “Doc” Browning has several stories related to McDonald’s Week from throughout the years. Here are some of his stories in his own words:

Jamie Alexander [the director of Grandy’s’ public relations] told me that they got over 200 requests a month for stuff like this, but, when she saw our proposal, it jumped off the page at her like nothing she had ever seen. We said that we were going to do something for you. We’re not just coming in and saying, ‘Give us something.’ We will pack your restaurant for a week and increase your receipts and increase your business and give you publicity. All you have to do is something for somebody else.

Somewhat early on at McDonald’s, we would designate each day as a special day.

We had Hockaday Day, we had Lower

School Day and, on Fridays, we had community leaders come down. We actually had the mayor, Lamar Hunt, and local congressmen come to Grandy’s, just to join in on the celebration and all of that.

McDonald’s corporate now offers what we do to other schools around the country that are in close proximity with other

McDonald’s. This program that we have done here has flourished and blossomed beyond the borders of St. Mark’s and beyond Dallas. It’s become a model for other programs around the country.

The various possibilities of what McDonald’s Week could look like are essentially funneled through the Health and Safety subcommittee, chaired by junior Adam Wang. This subcommittee helps manage what regulations and restrictions need to be put in place for a safe McDonald’s Week.

“We’re thinking there are three possible ways McDonald’s Week could look,” Abbasi said. “It could either look like how things are looking right now – no visitors, we can’t have any people in contact at all, no large groups. We have a better scenario: maybe some visitors and larger clusters of people. Then there’s the miracle scenario where COVID essentially goes away, and we can have a near-natural McDonald’s Week. Those are the three ways we’ve been planning this event.”

STORY Axel Icazbalceta, Jamie Mahowald, Will Spencer PHOTOS Jerry Zhao, Collin Katz, Courtesy Robert “Doc” Browning

Talking with the co-chairs

Quick responses from the event organizers on why they’re doing it, their favorite McDonald’s foods, and more

Ashvin Nair co-chair Why did you want to be co-chair? When I came to St Mark’s in ninth grade, McDonald’s Week was an event where I got to meet the rest of the Upper School. It’s been a special event for me since then. During ninth grade summer, I had some experiences working with the homeless, so that’s why this cause is really meaningful to me. What’s your favorite McDonald’s menu item? My favorite menu item is definitely the fries.

Alex Nadalini co-chair What’s your go-to McDonald’s order? I usually go with a 20-count, a Big Mac and a McFlurry with some fries. It doesn’t make me feel good later on, but I like it in the moment for sure. Why did you want to be co-chair? Growing up at St. Mark’s, I always knew it was a big deal and a lot of fun. I just want to help out and help make it run smoothly in a year where it’s really important, and I just want to be a part of it.

Sarah Roberts Hockaday contact What’s your favorite McDonald’s menu item? I really love McDonald’s fries, especially when they have extra salt on them. What’s your favorite McDonald’s Week memory? I really like the dinners last year in the spring. A couple of my friends from track, we would all go to the dinners after practice. It was a really good excuse to get out, and it was also a fun way to raise money.

Sal Abbasi co-chair What’s your favorite McDonald’s menu item? The cookies. They are so cheap, you can get three for a dollar. They’re so good, and you can order them warm too. The cookies, not even a question. What’s your favorite McDonald’s Week memory? My favorite memories of McDonald’s Week have been my walks with Doc to campus, and just watching everyone have such a good time.

COUNSELING

Increasing student support

Counseling office beefs up its staff; increases availability for assistance to Marksmen by adding counselors Bonsu and Redondo.

From playground conflicts in the Lower School to the stress of too many tests in Upper School, students can find themselves in a variety of difficult situations, feeling unable to overcome their stressors.

To provide Marksmen with additional resources to cope with mental health struggles, the school has welcomed a new Upper School counselor and created a new position, Lower School counselor. Whether it’s with first-graders or twelth-graders, Marksmen now have the opportunity to work with counselors specializing in all different age groups.

Lower School Counselor Bridget Redondo will begin her career at the school as the first to hold this position. Prior to coming here, Redondo spent ten years working at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

“I would see kids that were admitted to the hospital for whatever reason,” Redondo said. “If they were having issues coping with being in the hospital, or their mood seemed down, I would help develop safety plans with them and work with their parents.”

New Upper School Counselor Dr. Mary Bonsu specializes in children and adolescents, working as a pediatric psychologist at Children’s Medical, where she focused on helping children work through pain management — her dream job. But once she became a mother, she decided to change careers.

“I learn something new every day, and I’ve been a psychologist for about 15 years now,” Bonsu said. “I wanted to understand how to start educating my Mary Bonsu child from a young age, and Upper education is something I haven’t focused on. That made School Counselor me think, ‘Okay, I want to take my career in a different direction.’”

Redondo, Bonsu and Counseling Director Dr. Gabby Reed were all colleagues at Children’s and all felt drawn to work here, learning more about 10600 Preston Rd. through Reed, who counsels middle schoolers.

“We’ve been friends this whole entire time,” Bonsu said. “[Reed] would talk to me about the

HELPING OUT New Lower School Counselor Bridget Redondo takes a shift in her career, shifting from the hopsital scene to the school evnvironment. Taking the opportunity, Redondo is the first to serve in this new Lower School position.

conversations that she would have with boys and how you guys would just get it — really, really productive therapy sessions where boys would be committed to exploring things and thinking about things in ways that help them better their lives.”

Transitioning from their time at the hospital, both Redondo and Bonsu felt the appeal of working in a school setting.

“[I liked] the idea of being able to work with the kids in a different way where I’d have more of the capacity of working with the teachers and with the parents and being able to help implement any type of changes there,” Redondo said. “And the flexibility of being able to work with each of the students one-onone and in group settings, I felt like I’d be able to share my knowledge and help more this way.”

Redondo has already found rewarding aspects of working with lower schoolers, aiming to facilitate their interactions with each other.

“One of my big goals is to develop a plan or a way for them to be able to really know how to engage and cope with anything that can be considered a bullying issue and being able to help them develop their conflict resolution skills because that’s something that they’re really going to need,” Redondo said.

As she settles into her new community, she’s developed her own goals to focus on.

“I have a lot of self-expectations of being able to be as helpful and supportive as possible to the teachers, to the families and to these kids,” Redondo said. “I think my main one is helping them to feel comfortable coming into the counseling office and knowing that this is available at all times for them, and that I’m here for them.”

As for the Upper School, Bonsu sees her role as an expert who’s available to coach Marksmen with strategies to manage stress, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, identity issues and any other issues related to mental health. She says the three main concerns that Upper School Marksmen encounter are stress, time management and relationships, and COVID-19 in particular has affected them socially.

“When [students] come to me, I’m going to pull things from evidence-based interventions,” Bonsu said, “and I’m going to provide a safe, comfortable, non-judgmental and confidential space to explore all of those things [and] set goals within their free periods and the time in between classes to work on themselves.”

Overall, the counselors aim to help Marksmen graduate with a well-rounded experience and engage in the school’s brotherhood. They hope to teach students how to take care of themselves physically, emotionally, spiritually and psychologically to develop tools to cope with any adversity that may arise later in life.

“My goal for students is to be someone that they trust and that they can come to me with any issue and know that I’m going to address it with an utmost level of professionalism, honoring their story,” Bonsu said. “And that parents trust me — that’s huge. That’s my personal, professional, ongoing goal, short term and long term.”

Being on the inside at school, there’s this real time where you understand what’s going on with dynamics, and I could sit and go talk with a teacher immediately after something has happened. I feel like I can make a bigger difference in the life of adolescents.

Mary Bonsu, Upper School Counselor

STORY Will Pechersky, Sai Thirunagari PHOTO Ekansh Tambe

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Lower School changes methods for traditional Leadership Wall selection process

by Han Zhang

The Leadership Wall, a long-standing Lower School tradition, will be changing the format of its selection process this year. The change is due in large part to the amount of time and effort required from both teachers and students in previous years.

“Prior to 2016, each grade level would nominate a leader,” Lower School Head Sherri Darver said. “The teachers would work with one boy from each homeroom on the grade-level choice, researching that person. This took an enormous amount of time for the homeroom teachers and the boys, who had to give up P.E. and/or recess periods or even stay after school to work on this project over the course of two to three weeks. Each grade level would then present their research to all the LS boys. Voting would occur for one leader to emerge.”

As of now, the changes will be made primarily with efficiency and accuracy in mind. One problem noted by Darver is that lower schoolers tended to vote for people nominated by their friends, an issue that may be solved with the introduction of the new system.

“Every boy and faculty member in the Lower School has an opportunity to nominate a leader,” Darver said. “They must state their reason for each nomination. We collect nominations for seven to ten days. The leaders with the highest nominations are then put on a ballot for voting (this has usually been between three to five nominees) Every boy and faculty/staff member may vote. Once we know the winner, research of this person’s life begins. One student from each grade level is chosen by the grade-level teachers. We then divide the research of the leader’s life into reasonable parts.”

After four students have been selected, they will each share a presentation on their nominee to the entire Lower School, after which a final vote will be taken and a portrait of the chosen leader will be added to the Leadership Wall. Darver hopes that the changes will largely benefit the lower schoolers participating in the Leadership Wall.

“We hope that the changes have improved the process, especially with the intentionality of identifying the character traits and virtues the leaders had at young ages,” Darver said. “Our youngest Marksmen can make connections to these virtues and hopefully see potential in their own lives.”

Leadership Wall

Past recipients, as voted by Lower School students

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 George Washington Abraham Lincoln Martin Luther King, Jr. Harriet Tubman John F. Kennedy Mahatma Ghandi Nelson Mandela Dr. Norman Borlaug Mother Teresa Malala Yousafzai Jackie Robinson Rosa Parks Alexander Hamilton

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February 5, 2021

FORMAL Spanish exchange student Juan Montabes (far right) poses with buddies at a dance. “I made a lot of new friends,” Montabes said. GOOD TIMES Japanese exchange student and football player Taisuke Mori smiles in his gear after a game.

ON THE PAGE A sample of Montabes's geometric artwork.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Where are they now?

While they were here, they were Marksmen. But what's going on in the lives of foreign exchange students Juan Montabes and Taisuke More now that they've returned home?

From Spain to Japan, students who live across the globe make their way to the U.S. through the school’s foreign exchange program. The local students and faculty interact with these young men throughout their limited time at the school, but as their stay on campus draws to a close, they travel back across oceans and continents to their homes, far away from the quiet studying of the library and the rigorous practices out on the field. As life continues on the other side of the globe, Juan Montabes and Taisuke Mori graduate from their studies, pursue careers and maybe — every now and then — enjoy a game of American football.

Ian Dalrymple: What do you do for a living?

Juan Montabes: “I am in my sophomore year here at my double engineering program in Madrid. Right now, I study industrial design and mechanical engineering. I really like the industrial design part. I also have part-time jobs on the side, but they have nothing to do with my career.” Taisuke Mori: “I went to St. Mark’s around 20062007. After going back to Japan, I studied for college for maybe nine months and entered college in 2008. I graduated in 2013, and then I entered a company the same year. At first, I worked as a normal salesman on the Japanese market. Then, two or three years later, I was sent to India, and I worked there for three years at a subsidiary company. Then,

Taisuke due to the COVID-19 situation, Mori Japanese we had to cut labor costs, so I exchange was sent back to Japan.” student

ID: Have you picked up any new hobbies or activities since you left St. Mark’s?

JM: “I didn’t watch NBA or basketball in general before living in the States. I really like burgers now because of Dallas. I have continued with the hobbies I had before St. Mark’s, like art, reading and soccer. I also started playing guitar and I want to take piano lessons. After being in Dallas, I was introduced to new music and rappers, so passion for music really started growing in me.” TM: “One of the hobbies I’ve been doing actually started at St. Mark’s. While I was there, I joined your American football team, so when I went to college, I kept playing, and St. Mark’s really helped me with that. When I joined my college team, a lot of them didn’t know basic weightlifting, so I helped them with that. When I first entered, the team was in like division three, but my last year we were able to go into division one, so I’m proud of that. Those weightlifting skills have kept me healthy ever since.

Juan Montabes Spanish exchange student

ID: Where do you see your career going, and what are your long-term goals?

ID: What would you say is the biggest way St. Mark’s has changed your life?

JM: “St. Mark’s changed my life because it taught me brotherhood and unity. When I was there, I was the only international student. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming to me. St. Mark’s has taught me that a community of people can help make you feel comfortable and make you feel at home when you are not actually at home. I also learned to make friends and that feeling of community in my own school. I met students who were younger and older than me to try to bring that sense of family to Spain.” TM: “One technique I learned at St. Mark’s was being a leader and collecting ideas and recognizing people’s strengths. When I was sent to India, I was a manager, so I could get closer with my colleagues from the skills I learned from St. Mark’s about collecting ideas and seeing their strengths. When I went to St. Mark’s, Ty Montgomery was in like eighth grade. I don’t have a crystal ball or anything, but as soon as I saw him play on the field, I could tell he was different. It showed me how much it matters what each guy can do, and I learned not to be distracted by the information that didn’t really matter when it came to my coworkers.”

Marksmen create new business magazine

by Han Zhang

As part of an effort to boost student interest in business and financerelated topics, juniors Pranay Sinkre and Evan Lai have begun the process of creating a new student publication, Lion’s Share.

“As a part of the Business Consortium Leadership Committee, I’m always looking for new ways to get kids involved and exposed to different facets of the business world,” Sinkre said. “I looked around campus at all the other publications and wondered why no one had made a business-centered magazine, so I jumped on the opportunity.”

Although the pandemic has made the writing and design process more difficult than it would be normally, Sinkre and Lai feel comfortable with the way that the magazine has been progressing so far.

“Since this is our first year, the deadlines are fluid, and I am simply trying to accommodate everyone's schedules,” Sinkre said. “Before we even started writing, I told everyone to pick a story idea that piqued their interest. In terms of design, we have been scouring the internet for inspiration from professional and collegiate publications, but we fully intend to add a St. Mark's flair to it.”

Since the pandemic and the tornado of last year, Sinkre and Lai have had no shortage of topics to access in their magazine. They hope to be able to address issues that will appeal to all members of the community.

“Considering that we are in the height of a historic pandemic, it would be foolish of us to not take advantage of the unfortunate and unique effect COVID has had on businesses around the country and locally,” Sinkre said. “We also want to emphasize that we are a St. Mark's magazine at the end of the day, so we are prioritizing local businesses in the Preston-Royal area. In addition, we will be discussing how the tornado has placed an additional burden on local businesses.”

Sinkre and Lai are both extremely grateful for the effort the writing and design teams have put into the magazine.

“The team has exceeded all my expectations, and they have been exceptionally efficient at writing their stories and submitting them for review,” Sinkre said. “I cannot express the gratitude I have for my writers and designers. Even though this is a first-year publication, I applaud everyone on the team for taking this project seriously and always giving 100 percent effort.” JM: “When I came back from the United States, I told my parents that I wanted to get a master’s degree there and maybe get my first job there. A dream job for me would be a designer at Nike or Reebok or companies like that. That is where I picture myself. It could be in the States or Germany or Italy.” TM: “What I want to do is best serve my customers and make people happy. If I make my customer happy, then the customer will make the users of their products happy, and so on. Right now, I’m working in Australia and New Zealand, but in a couple of years, I could be working domestically. Either way, my stance won’t change; I just want to make the people around me as happy as possible."

INTERVIEW Ian Dalrymple PHOTOS Taisuke Mori, Juan Montabes