The ReMarker | November 2016 by St. Mark's School of Texas

Managing editor Rish Basu, issues editor John Crawford and senior content editor Corday Cruz look at the varied options available for students who need extra assistance in the classroom. page 7

At a school with experienced teachers willing to help and a city with more than 1,000 private tutors, it’s a tough decision for students to make when needing help in classes. Although teacher’s offices are open before, during and after school, some students and families automatically resort to private tutoring, which is addressed in the school’s policy. But the proper course of action depends on what’s best for the student.

THE REMARKER

An ex-military alum’s insight into Veterans’ Day | page 3

Student debt and resumé padding | page 12

May Dell Sykes is on a mission of love | page 16

ONE LAST TIME

|THE REMARKER |news| November 4, 2016 |

2 Tips 13+ on being a Marksman's younger brother

Spurs Whit Payne, Rob Crowe, Will Cotten, Case Lowry, Harper Sahm and Teddy Koudelka lead the senior class as they cheer during the Homecoming pep rally.

A collection of wisdom gained from seven years of mistaken identities, free rides and hallway shoutouts

ccording to the student directory, there are 114 students whose older brothers also attend this school. To all of you guys, I wanted to share some wisdom I accumulated over my first seven years here. For seven years, I shared my gray uniform shorts and school-acceptable college sweatshirts with my brother Ross, who graduated in 2012. Now, you may be wondering why I’m starting with tip number 13. As a senior staff member for The ReMarker, Ross wrote a column entitled “The 12 things it took me 12 years to learn.” Naturally, as his younger brother, it's my duty to start where he left off and write the next seven things (one for each year we both attended St. Mark’s) I’ve learned from going to this school with my brother. 13. Get used to being called the wrong name. Anyone who has met Ross and I can tell you that we bear a striking resemblance, and naturally, teachers who had both of us tend to call me “Ross.” Some teachers get over it after the first few days of school, while others still call me “Ross,” despite his graduation a full five years ago. There’s no reason to get upset or indignant about this mistake — teachers are human, too. 14. Get to know your brother’s friends. At least know their name — being able to say “hi” to an older guy in the hallway is a real power trip, and you know that if you ever get pushed down JOHN in the hallway, they will alCRAWFORD ways have your Issues editor back, simply because they know your brother. 15. When your brother can drive, you can drive. As soon as your brother passes his driving test and gets his keys, you now can go to every football game, coffeehouse and spirit party as a part of his entourage. 16. Don’t mindlessly follow in your brother’s footsteps. When your brother is, say, on the yearbook or the math team, everyone will naturally expect you to follow suit when you reach his age. Your parents might even nudge you to follow in your brother’s direction. Make sure you’re doing activities you actually like, not just the ones you’re “expected” to do. 17. Your brother is a far better adviser than your actual adviser. He’s actually been through the slog you have, and he has seen it first hand. While your adviser is a reliable source of advice, your older brother knows the life of a student, he won’t sugarcoat it and he is almost never wrong. Take advantage of having a contractually-bound older best friend whenever possible. 18. Remember that your brother has one copy of nearly every book you’ll need for your entire student career. Ross has saved me on a number of occasions when I have left my book at school or lost the book entirely. Your brother’s got a backup copy he doesn’t need anymore on his bookshelf just waiting to save your butt from impending doom. 19. When your brother graduates, don’t pretend like he never existed. He got you to where you are today, and you owe him big time for that. Say “hi” to his teachers in the hallway even if you’ve never met, proudly nod your head when someone asks you if you’re related to him and keep him in the loop of what’s going on on campus. Your brother will want to remember his days here, and it’s your duty to help your brother relive his St. Mark’s career as much as he wants to.

NEWS

at a GLANCE

a peek INSIDE

A brief look at the news events on campus

Inside the news section

3 4

VETERAN ALUMNI a look into experiences of alumni in the armed forces to put Veterans Day in perspective. ELECTION find out more about key issues that affect you in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

FLIPPED CLASSROOM an

UPDATE ON CHRISTINA MORRIS Enrique Arochi was

SCIENCE BUILDING A look into features of the new science building that will encourage collaboration.

analysis of the flipped classroom and what changes it could bring.

found guilty in the kidnapping of Christina Morris. Her step-mom, office coordinatorAnna Morris, talks about this ruling.

Around the CORNER •

McDonald's Week

where: Preston-Royal McDonald's when: Nov. 14-17 what: Junior-run event benefiting Austin Street Shelter

•

Dallas Zoo dollar day

where: Dallas Zoo when: Nov. 23 what: $1 admission and other deals at the Dallas Zoo

SEVENTH GRADERS GET VIEW OF PECOS Members of the Class of 2022 faced the wilderness for the first time Oct. 27 and 28, dealing with heavy backpacks, uneven terrain and mental challenges on the seventh grade campout. Because the sixth grade campout last year was cancelled, Wilderness Program co-director Nick Sberna wants the boys to prepare for Pecos by setting up campsites together and cooperating in small groups. “We want everyone to begin learning the skills needed to have a safe and successful Pecos,” Sberna said, “but we also want them to learn something about themselves, their peers and the world around them. Naturally, we want them to bond as a class and have fun as well.” SENIORS AUCTION OFF TALENTS The annual Senior Class Auction took place Oct. 2 in the Decherd Auditorium. The event, which aims to raise money for numerous senior activities including

hiring entertainment for the annual Marksman Ball, senior buddy trips and a Class of 2017 legacy gift, was coheaded by seniors Ivan Day, Whit Payne, Eddie Yang and Daran Zhao. “The auction was such a success because the entire class contributed,” Payne said. “Our goals could only be met if we all worked together.” Pottery, private piano concerts and rocket launches were some of the many products up for bidding. FOOD DRIVE FEEDS SALVATION ARMY The annual twoweek food drive concluded Oct. 17 after collecting a total of 103 boxes of canned fruits, vegetables, dry goods and preserved foods. The donations have gone to benefit Salvation Army food banks across north Texas for more than 20 years. The food donated isn’t served in the shelters as meals, but is given out in an effort to help feed the homeless, veterans and unemployed that wouldn’t be able to sustain a healthy diet on their own. Food drive co-

chair Sahit Dendekuri believes the efforts of the school have helped both raise awareness and make a positive impact on the greater Dallas community as a whole. “The food drive was a success from start to finish," Dendekuri said. "We are really making a difference in the lives of others.” MOREHEAD-CAIN NOMINEE NAMED Gopal Raman is the school's 2016-17 nominee for the MoreheadCain Scholarship, which offers a merit scholarship to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Raman was selected by a school committee consisting of various faculty members and administrators. Last year's nominee and eventual winner of the scholarship, Philip Smart '16, believes the nomination reflected well on the school. "Being nominated for the scholarship meant a lot to me." Smart said. "I'm extremely lucky to have been given that opportunity to represent the value of St. Mark's education in the future."

— Michael Lukowicz, Antonio Ivarra, Gabe Bankston, Alec Dewar

say WHAT? comments made by students, faculty and staff around campus

“

You guys get one free L per trimester.

I like to put my nachos in a plastic bag and then put them in a toaster.

“

Sophomore Jason Peng on how he makes nachos

John Hunter history instructor

“

Aliens are real!

Junior Josh Huducek

“

Guys, this is the varsity for a reason, the training wheels are off.

Dr. John Perryman English instructor

Blake, do you ever get sad when you see other people walking around and you're in a wheelchair?

Ryan Norman junior, to classmate Blake Daugherty, recovering from a football injury

| November 4, 2016 |news|THE REMARKER |

VETERANS’ DAY

Honoring their sacrifice

WITH VETERANS’ DAY COMING UP NOV. 11, FORMER AND CURRENT MILITARY MEMBERS SHARE THEIR INSIGHT ON WHAT IT MEANS TO SERVE.

e can’t think with the noise. It overrides everything in his mind. He can’t speak, can’t move. All he can do is sit in his F-16 fighter plane and try to keep the noise out. The sickening noises: the explosions. The gunfire. The cries. The screams. All he can do is sit there. Sit there with nothing in his mind, frozen by the horror that fills his ears. He can’t move a muscle. He can’t even lift a finger. A finger that holds down the trigger. ••• Michael Wisenbaker ‘93, remembers this moment in Iraq, pointing out the massive impact it had on his life. He believes it is because of moments like these that students should take time to appreciate veterans on Veterans’ Day, which will be observed Nov. 11. “My time in Iraq really helped me appreciate Veterans’ Day more,” Wisenbaker said. “It really opens up a new way of thinking about veterans. You appreciate all that they have done after witnessing the horrors of war.” Wisenbaker also pointed out that he thinks people should do more than just recognize that veterans are out there on Veterans’ Day. “I would like people to recognize the sacrifices that have been made for our country,” Wisenbaker said. “I would hope they also thank a veteran and find a way to give back to those who have been wounded, as well as their families, whether financially or otherwise.” Another alumnus veteran, Jim Perkins ‘57, agrees with Wisenbaker on his views of how to celebrate veterans. “We should reflect on the thousands and thousands of servicemen that died for us,” Perkins said. “It is said so often that we should remember the dead that it may become trite if [we] really don’t think deeply about the carnage of battle.” Will Johnson ‘11, one alumnus currently in the military, thinks his time in the Naval Academy has opened up a new perspective as to why we should celebrate Veterans’ Day. “I used to think that only veterans who had been injured in combat or paid the ultimate price were the vets we should honor and thank,” Johnson said. “This mindset quickly changed when I started learning that the military isn’t just an exciting and dangerous adventure. Military service wears down families, ends relationships because of distance, and takes away many normal freedoms. It is a huge sacrifice.” Alumnus veteran Anthony Price ‘52 chooses to celebrate Veterans’ Day a different way, appreciating what his time in service did for him. “Coming out of St. Mark’s, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” Price said. “The Marine Corps introduced me to electrical engineering and after ending my time in the Marines, I became an electrical engineer.” Price also believes his time at 10600 Preston Rd. helped prepare him for tough situations in the Marines. “We were troubleshooting a missile and it wasn’t working out for any of us,” Price said. “Most people quit after the fifth week, but the perseverance I learned from the long nights at St. Mark’s allowed me to stick with it and fix the missile.” Wisenbaker agrees with Price and believes his alma mater helped him in many ways when he was in the Air Force. “St. Mark’s provided a very strong foun-

LOOKING BACK Jim Perkins ’57 (above) admires a photo from his time in the Marine Corps (above right).

‘

dation of learning that was applicable to the Air Force and learning in general,” Wisenbaker said. “Another part of our school that is overlooked is the ethics and leadership skills taught at St. Mark’s, they were also critical to my Air Force career.” Price believes when celebrating Veterans’ Day, one have to look at the amount of their lives veterans are willing to give to their country and the extent that they dedicate themselves to their cause. “What separates veterans from normal citizens is their extreme dedication to their cause,” Price said. “They are willing to take risks for a cause they believe in and dedicate years of their life to that cause.” hile these alumni veterans agree on why and how we should celebrate veterans, they disagree when it comes to whether or not veterans are treated correctly. “I think they are,” Price said. “For the most part, people do a good job of appreciating all that veterans have done for everybody and they get the appreciation they deserve.” Wisenbaker, who saw close quarters combat in the Air Force, strongly disagrees with Price. “Absolutely not –– the general public and, unfortunately, our government does not do nearly enough for veterans, especially those who are wounded,” Wisenbaker said. “The debacle at the Veterans Affairs is a great example. It is a travesty that we treat our veterans worse than drug addicts on the streets.” Wisenbaker also mentioned that, while war is a horrible thing, it does teach you things that you would have never otherwise learned. “You never know what you are capable of until you are put into a situation where you are forced to perform,” Wisenbaker said. “My friends and I did things we never thought we were capable of, all because of the pressure put onto us.” While being in service may have helped these veterans in some aspects of life, all of them believe that war is a situation that you never want to be in, no matter what it teaches you about life. “War is hell,” Price said. “Some of the images left in my mind and experiences that my friends shared with me will follow me for the rest of my life.”

’ STORY ALEC DEWAR ADDITIONAL REPORTING ANDY CROWE PHOTOS FRANK THOMAS

NEWS

|THE REMARKER |news| November 4, 2016 |

Model UN Club prepares for first competition by Zoheb Khan he new Model U.N. Club will have its first official competition, the Dallas Area Model United Nations, Nov. 12, in Irving, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Junior Mohit Singhal and sophomore Joe Lofgren, the co-presidents of the club, have been teaching members research and public speaking skills in anticipation of the competition. Singhal has been preparing his club by teaching his club members

various skills necessary for the club’s success at the competition. “We’ve been practicing for the conference by teaching the members exact parliamentary procedure,” Singhal said. “There are many different parts to a conference including committees, opening speeches, position papers, caucuses and voting.” After a five-year period without the club, Singhal believes the reborn Model U.N. brings a variety of benefits to club members.

“The benefits of this club range from public speaking to research to making friends around the world,” Singhal said. “From what I believe so far, the benefits are nearly endless. In many conferences, there are even committees for those in media, such as journalists and photographers. I firmly believe that everyone can benefit from joining Model U.N.” Singhal also hopes that his club members can gain valuable experience by

participating in upcoming competitions. “There are many things that one can learn from attending this club and the Model U.N. conferences,” Singhal said. “Public speaking, working with people you have never met and will never meet again, research strategies and an in depth knowledge of U.N. procedures and world processes along with the stances of many countries on arguable topics.” Despite the upcoming competitions and events

for the Model U.N. Club, Singhal’s main goal is get each and every member involved in the club. “Every member contributes to the success of the club through their feedback,” Singhal said. “If our members are happy and want to go through this process again next year, we hope we can attend even more conferences around the country such as Yale and Harvard Model U.N’s. Moreover, the members are the club, and without them, there wouldn’t be one.”

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

WITH THE ELECTION FOUR DAYS AWAY, WE LOOK AT THE ISSUES THAT WILL AFFECT YOU AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE WHICH CANDIDATE EMERGES VICTORIOUS.

THE PROS

THE LOCALS To localize these issues, we talked with members of the community ranging from a Middle School student to a master teacher.

The ReMarker sits down with Clay Jenkins and Phillip Huffines ‘77 for background on their parties and candidates’ stances on college debt and job creation. CLAY JENKINS TheDallas County judge, Democrat Jenkins was first elected in 2010.

PHILIP HUFFINES Republican County Chairman Huffines was elected in the summer of 2016.

COLLEGE DEBT AN ISSUE BETWEEN PARTIES JENKINS “ Clinton is pushing for free

community college, a very low cost, low debt state school in your home state and affordability for private schools like Rice or if someone wants to go to Georgia who lives in Texas. The reason that it’s really important is that it’s highly unlikely that people with a high school education [nowadays] are going to get a job with benefits and a pension that pays a living wage where they can pay for life’s necessities and pay for their [Children’s] future.”

HUFFINES “ Appealing is short-term. If I came to you and said ‘I’m going to pay for your college,’ that’s appealing. If I’m going to loan you money to go to college, that’s appealing. But who’s going to pay it back? Where’s the money come from? What are the consequences of that action? I think what most students get, it’s just a superficial circus. The Democratic platform is going to be based on the superficial in order to get the votes to get the power, not the intellectual thought process behind it.”

JOB CREATION A POINT OF CONTENTION JENKINS “ I was down at the inaugu-

ration of the governor of Tamaulipas, which is the state that borders Texas on the Rio Grande Valley. About a billion dollars in trade passes between Texas and Mexico every day, and so some of these ideas that Mr. Trump has would be devastating I think. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it would lose us 200,000 jobs in Texas. Conversely, Hillary Clinton’s plans are estimated to gain us over a four-year period around 900,000 jobs.”

HUFFINES “ Republicans are always

going to be better for the job market and prosperity because regulations, over-regulations and excessive tax burdens crush businesses and make it very difficult for entrepreneurs to start a business. Look at Texas. The reason Texas creates lots of jobs is because we have low taxes, low regulation and an entrepreneurial spirit. If you’re running a business, there’s one thing you desire more than anything: a level playing field with certainty.”

ON NATIONAL SECURITY ‘I believe Hillary Clinton has a better national security plan. Trump is trying to block off America from everyone else and kind of isolating [us] by not letting any immigrants in while this nation was founded on immigrants.’ — seventh grader OWEN SIMON ON EQUALITY ‘Hard to not go against someone who promotes xenophobia and Islamophobia and who has been caught on tape with misogynistic comments. Being Hispanic also makes it impossible to see how Trump would be able to reconcile many of his comments with ruling a nation.’ — junior MATEO DIAZ ON JOB CREATION ‘Trump’s plan for jobs is better. Hillary says she wants to invest in infrastructure which are short term, government jobs. I think lowering corporate tax and bringing businesses back into the United states. Like [Trump] says factories are moving to China and Mexico. I think reducing corporate taxes in order to bring them [factories] back will bring more jobs rather than just investing in infrastructure.’ — junior Hill Washburne ON NATIONAL SECURITY ‘Trump has a better plan for national security. I think that Hillary Clinton has had a lot of opportunities to prove herself which she has not used wisely.’ — math instructor MARJORIE CURRY ON COLLEGE DEBT ‘I don’t think either candidate has really addressed this problem. Hillary Clinton is all about, “well, we’ll just forgive your debt.” Then Donald Trump’s answer is simply, “Well, we’re going to have such great growth, everything’s going to be so wonderful that there’ll be enough money to go around and pay for these things.’ — Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Master Teachin Teaching Chair BRUCE WESTRATE

STORY BLAKE DAUGHERTY, ANTONIO IVARRA PHOTOS MATEO DIAZ, RYAN NORMAN ILLUSTRATION JOON PARK

NEWS

| November 4, 2016 |news| THE REMARKER |

NEW TEACHING STYLE

FLIPPED CLASSROOM CLASSROOM FLIPPED

With new technology and teaching methods frequenting classrooms, flipped classrooms have made their mark on campus.

e’ve all been there. 7 p.m. –– start your homework and watch the clock slowly roll over. 11 p.m. –– only have one more assignment left. Thirty-six pages in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Opening to the first page, you can’t understand anything Miller wrote. I’m never going to be able to finish this, you think. You can’t email your teacher this late. Your friends are probably asleep by now. And the teacher can tell if you used SparkNotes. 1 a.m. — mind drifting, you slowly slip into a deep sleep. None of the reading completed. 6 a.m. –– waking up, you can’t remember anything you read the night before. You know you’re going to be lost the entire class. To avoid this situation, some teachers are implementing a new teaching technique that is growing fast across America. This technique is called the flipped classroom, where the students take their lectures home with them and view them overnight — and then do their “homework” in class the next day. Malcolm and Minda Brachman Master Teaching Chair Martin Stegemoeller, Humanities Department chair Nick Sberna and science instructor Lukas Rahlson all use the flipped classroom model now. With the latest innovations in technology, a student is now able to and should have more than just a textbook

and a teacher to learn from. Videos and the flipped classroom should be able to bring a new way of learning into the 21st century. Three summers ago, Rahlson attended a teaching lecture at Columbia Teachers’ College in New York City that inspired him to start exposing his students to information before it was presented in class. “I started to introduce something for the first time using a video so that when they show up for class the next day,” Rahlson said, “we would be already two steps ahead to get started that day, so we could move through it quicker.” According to Rahlson, students are generally receptive to the new technique and are more enthusiastic to learn. “I would also say I think that students are more willing to watch a video then they are to read an article,” Rahlson said. “And if that helps them get the information but it’s a little more work on my part, I think it’s worth it.” Despite the extra work, Rahlson likes the accountability and consistency achieved by his videos. “I would say the students are more accountable for the information because they can’t really say, ‘Mr. Rahlson, we didn’t go over that, we haven’t seen that,’” Rahlson said. “I could just pull up the video and be like, ‘Well, that video’s online. Here’s the three minutes where we go over that.’” After seeing a student in the halls watch a video made by Rahlson, Stegemoeller adopted the method.

“If I had watched a student look at his textbook, I never would’ve payed attention to the book,” Stegemoeller said, “but I wanted to keep watching the video because it was so interesting.” Over the next summer, Stegemoeller created 45-50 minute-long videos summarizing the units his class had covered, but soon after sharing them with his students, he realized there was a problem DR. MARTIN STEGEMOELLER uses the flipped classroom method

with the length of his videos. “I just thought it wouldn’t be too hard for a kid to watch the first 10 minutes of a 45 minute video and then just pause it or stop it and come back to it the next day,” Stegemoeller said. “It turns out that there is something daunting about a video that is that long.” o make the videos more viewer-friendly, Stegemoeller began to cut his longer videos into shorter ones. He believes these videos promote a higher learning of the material. “Emerson’s essay on Compensation is really hard to understand and read,” Stegemoeller said, “and is it better just to throw the kids at the mercy of that as a reading assignment or to give them these videos that help them think through with some help?” Stegemoeller thinks that the understanding provided from the videos enables the class to begin more efficiently. “We start with a better understand-

ing, and we can dive right in to what it really means,” Stegemoeller said. “It allows us to start class at a higher level, and I think it makes a better and more fair use of the kids time at home.” Along with starting class at a higher level and a more efficient use of homework time, Stegemoeller believes videos create more collaboration between teachers. “So now other teachers understand how I approach a text, and when they make them, I understand how they approach a text so I can borrow from that if I want,” Stegemoeller said. “It just allows everyone to share what we are doing on the faculty side.” Eventually, Stegemoeller wants there to be collaboration between schools. “You can share them with teachers in other schools and potentially with students at other schools,” Stegemoeller said. “This is the long term goal where we have a great library of St. Mark’s materials that we can share with other schools as a way to have high level course materials. I think the students find these more effective, and the teachers find these more effective to watch themselves.” Sberna, who also has experimented with flipping his classroom, sees many opportunities to improve efficiency in learning. “Flipping the classroom has great potential to allow us to achieve some larger goals,” Sberna said, “especially by maximizing the efficiency of what we do here and minimizing the time we have to spend at home.”

STORY MICHAEL LUKOWICZ, LYLE OCHS PHOTO LEE SCHLOSSER

Hockaday juniors become involved in upcoming McDonald’s Week by Andy Crowe cDonald’s Week, an annual fundraiser run by the Junior Class benefitting the Austin Street Shelter, will be held Nov. 14-17. This is the first year Hockaday has been included on the McDonald’s planning committee. Junior co-chair Will Wood thinks this will help increase activity at this year’s McDonald’s week. “Davis [Bailey, co-chair] and I really thought that the best way for the Austin Street Shelter to benefit was by getting as many people out there as possible,” Wood said. “We thought the best way to do that was by including Hockaday and get them more involved.” Hockaday students on the

board are planning on hanging posters around Hockaday and emailing the McDonald’s Week video out to the Hockaday Upper School. “This is the first time they are including a Hockaday girl in the video which will make more girls want to watch it and go to the event,” said head of the Hockaday board Amelia Brown. “Overall I think it is a really good idea because now our two schools get to work together on a really cool project that raises money for a really great place.” Junior Class sponsor J.T. Sutcliffe is excited to see how the two schools will work together. “This class, more than others I have worked with in the past, wants to make Hockaday

an integral part of it [McDonald’s Week],” Sutcliffe said. “They are trying to give Hockaday a major role in some of the things going on.” In addition to getting Hockaday involved, the local committee is trying to get more juniors involved. “We have really tried to find other ways to get the whole Junior Class involved,” Wood said. “We think one of the strengths has been our movie. Our heads of the movie department are Matthew Thielmann and Sammy Sanchez, and they are really funny guys and have come up with a really great script. We are trying to get as many juniors involved as possible. We think over 90 percent of our grade is working on Mc-

Donald’s Week in some way.” Wood is excited to involve Hockaday in the planning process. “It’s definitely going to lead to a fantastic McDonald’s Week,” Wood said.

“Everyone is so eager to help. It’s going to be a very exciting week. I also think it will impact the rest of our time at St. Mark’s. It has really brought our grade together through a common goal.”

NEWS

|THE REMARKER |news| November 4, 2016 |

CHRISTINA MORRIS UPDATE

Holding on IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE CHRISTINA MORRIS WAS KIDNAPPED, AND THE MAN LAST SEEN WITH HER HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON. ALTHOUGH THE TRIAL IS OVER, DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR ANNA MORRIS HASN’T GIVEN UP HOPE.

BETTER DAYS Anna Morris smiles for a picture with her stepdaughter Christina, who has been missing for over two years.

nna Morris stares deep into the eyes of the man recently convicted of kidnapping her step-daughter. It has been exactly two years, one month and two days since Anna Morris had last seen, talked to or heard from her stepdaughter, Christina, but Anna Morris is as determined as ever to find the whereabouts of her beloved Christina. Question after question, hour after hour, day after day, but still no closer waking up from this nightmare. She begs the kidnapper to tell where Christina is. Silence. After nearly three weeks in court, a guilty sentence was handed down to Enrique Arochi, the man who was last seen with Christina Morris. Based upon witness testimony, security footage showing Christina with Arochi in the early morning of her disappearance and DNA found in the trunk of Arochi’s car, a life sentence with parole eligibility after 30 years was handed down to Arochi in court proceedings Sept. 30. Although the court case is over and a sentence has been given, things are far from being over for Christina’s stepmother, Development Office coordinator Anna Morris. “For us, nothing has really changed,” Anna Morris said. “We still don’t know where Christina is, we’re still actively searching, so we’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing all along.” August 30, 2014

With search parties and vigils held nearly every week, Anna Morris has continued to actively search for Christina — something she has done for the past two years. Nevertheless, seeing Arochi finally sentenced has brought some relief and a small amount of closure to their family. “I was relieved, I was really pleased with the verdict,” Anna Morris said. “You never know with the jury trial how things are going to be perceived, but they believed they had the right guy.” Most court cases end with the conviction, but since Arochi refused to release information regarding the whereabouts of Christina, this case is still ongoing, which — for Christina’s family and friends — means there is still hope for them. “This case is a little bit different because even [though] there’s been an

September 2, 2014

Christina Morris was last seen entering the parking lot at the Shops at Legacy.

September 3, 2014

Mark Morris reports his missing daughter to Plano P.D.

Police interview Arochi for the first time.

arrest made and a conviction and everything, [the] Plano Police Department still considers this an active case because she still hasn’t been found,” Morris said. “So they’re still working on the case even though there has been disposition to the perpetrator. The case is closed, and most cases would be finished at this point, but this one’s not.” Morris has received endless support from friends and coworkers, allowing her to keep her morale as high as possible. “The St. Mark’s community, the people I’ve worked with for so many years, the support that they gave me and my family was invaluable,” Morris said. “It was incredible, and I have a lot of gratitude. And hopefully I can pay that gratitude back as time goes by – I definitely owe a debt because everyone has been above and beyond in supporting me.” One of Morris’s closest friends, assistant controller Sherry Yates, attended court hearings on several different occasions, painfully enduring the trial alongside her long-time friend. “I think for us, it was like continually holding [our] breath, just waiting, and when the conviction and the sentencing came down, there was this strange sigh of relief,” Yates said. “I think within a very short period of time, we believed December 13, 2014 September 7, 2016

Plano P.D. arrest Enrochi in his home.

Opening statements made in the trial of Enrique Arochi.

[Arochi] had something to do with their disappearance, so there’s relief that he will be in prison and will not be free to do this to someone else.” Of the nearly three weeks at court, perhaps the most emotional moment came on the last day when Christina’s family was given a chance to address Arochi face to face and give their impact statements. “They needed to be able to look at him in the face because they had begged him for the last two years and certainly in the months before he was arrested to tell them what had happened,” Yates said. “And I think for them it was very cathartic to look at him in the face and to tell him what they thought.” Perseverance and hope. These two virtues alone keep Anna Morris going every day. The hope that one day her stepdaughter will be found will always be in the back of her mind, and she vows to never give up until she is found. “I still hope every day will be the day we find out everything we want to know, that we will find her,” Morris said. “I will say it’s hard not to be discouraged, but at the same time it is just not — you could ask your parents, it is not possible to give up when you are talking about your children, it just cannot be done.”

September 21, 2016

Enrique Arochi was found guilty of the aggravated kidnapping of Christina Morris.

STORY SAM SUSSMAN, WASEEM NABULSI PHOTO HELP FIND CHRISTINA MORRIS FACEBOOK PAGE

Robotics competes in new division

by Antonio Ivarra hanks to changes by state legislature, the robotics team now has the opportunity to compete against UIL (University Interscholastic League) schools. Robotics is now in the same category with other extracurriculars like football and band at the statewide level. “You letter in band, you can letter in some other things, so somebody approved STEM engineering projects as qualifying for the same sort of letterman status that band would,” robotics team sponsor Douglas Rummel said. “In the local area... we’re competing against UIL teams and then when it comes to the state finals they’ll split us off...that means the talent pool at the local level is much different than it used to be because there are more teams.” As a result, the school

NEWS

robotics team will face teams that are known for having a much bigger student body to draw participants from. Team captain and senior Adam Subel acknowledges these disadvantages, but notes the team’s main strength. “We’re a smaller school; we can only have people who have time,” Subel said. “They have a lot more manpower with people that are fully dedicated to robotics, but we have a lot more experience, though, which is good.” Despite there being no set “scouting report” on their new competition, Rummel believes the team’s mentality and consistency will ultimately determine their success. “We’ve got 13 years experience underneath our belts and we’ve been to state consistently, so I think we’ll be doing just fine,” Rummel said. “But we have to go in

with the idea that we really got to raise our game because there are some components now that are favoring large teams.” Regardless of the changes, however, the team is planning to use the same formula that has proven successful in the past, while spending more time on the finer details of their gameplan. “We’re just doing our same engineering process, trying to push for the highest number of points we possibly can,” Rummel said. “I think we got a very good team. It will be fun to watch the actual driving occur because it’s a pretty fine motor-skills-finesse game.We’re hoping to have a robot built by the end [Oct. 14-16 weekend] and get our guys out there driving this thing because it’s going to require some really good driver movements.”

ANOTHER WAY OUT PRIVATE TUTORS VERSUS TEACHERS, A DECISION THAT STUDENTS MUST MAKE IF THEY ARE STRUGGLING IN AN ACADEMIC COURSE. BUT WHAT’S THE PROPER COURSE OF ACTION?

t’s the middle of the second trimester, and then-freshman Henry Kistler is struggling. He’s not confident anymore. His self-esteem is at an all-time low. And he feels it’s almost impossible to get back on track. After starting out the school year with satisfactory grades — a few B’s here and there, sometimes a C, sometimes an A –– Kistler’s grades start to slip. 65. 72. 58. These were the kinds of grades Kistler did not want to start his high school career with. So, something needed to change. And fast. Kistler started to see his teachers before and after school for extra help in his subjects, but to no avail. “To a certain extent, the teachers helped, but just not enough.” But at the time, Kistler doesn’t know what else he can do. Test after test, quiz after quiz, the material is flying over Kistler’s head. And even though his parents continue advising him to consult his highly qualified teachers, nothing seems to be working. There’s only one other option for Kistler and his parents. An option many students, not just Kistler, at the school have relied on. An option that elicits questions as to what students should do when they are struggling in a class — private tutoring. For Kistler and many other students, the decision between a private tutor and seeking help from one of the school’s teachers has seemed to be an easy decision. Although the school’s policy states, “when a boy is having academic difficulty, his first recourse should be to seek assistance from his teacher,” a majority of students who have sought help in their subjects have done so with a private tutor. So, at a school with qualified instructors, the discussion remains between teachers, students and parents as to what the proper course of action is for a student who is experiencing academic difficulty. JOE MILLIET believes a student should see a teacher first

Math Department chair Joe Milliet, who has had many years of experience with students seeking help within his department, believes private tutors must be certified before the school’s students utilize them. “If I recommend a tutor to a parent or student, I have to use tutors from a list of approved tutors that have been vetted by the school for ability,” Milliet said. “If additional time with the classroom teacher outside of class is not sufficient to overcome the issues that the student has, then perhaps, the student might consider working with a qualified tutor from the approved list. Some tutors out in the public arena are just plain awful.” Similar to the school’s policy on tutorial support, Milliet considers private tutoring to be a last resort for a struggling student. “When a student is having trouble with content in a class, the first resource should be the classroom teacher,” Milliet said. “Meeting with the person one-on-one outside of class who will write the assessments, grade the papers, evaluate the skills, review the lab report, is always the best place from which a student should get the information and assistance.” Math instructor J.T. Sutcliffe, who formerly chaired the math section committee of the SAT questions, believes there are certain benefits and disadvantages in the teacher versus tutor discussion. Like Milliet, Sutcliffe concurs with

the school policy, hoping there is some sort of communication between the classroom teacher and private tutor. “If they [the students] feel that outside help is beneficial to them, I have nothing against that,” Sutcliffe said. “I would love for them to let me know that they’re doing that so I can be in contact with their tutor. If I were really confused about something and my teacher had tried explaining it, and it was still not clear, I would want to go to somebody else.” IN ADDITION TO help in academic subjects, the school’s students also seek help in the SAT and ACT tests. Given that Sutcliffe writes SAT math questions, she acknowledges the risk in helping students in that area. “When I did agree with the direction the SAT was going,” Sutcliffe said, “I had to be very careful about tutoring while I was on the committee because it could seem that I was feeding that student information that I shouldn’t be. Junior Matthew Fornaro, who has utilized the Scholastic Success tutoring program, is somone who has experienced success owing to private tutoring. Fornaro enjoys the more personalized approach to private tutoring compared to his experience at the school. MATTHEW FORNARO sees benefits in private tutoring in subjects

“The tutor is kind of more personal, and he’s more focused on me, whereas a teacher has a lot of things to worry about,” Fornaro said. “Teachers are focused on you, but there’s a balance that they need to keep.” For Fornaro, there are extra advantages to private tutoring that facilitate his life and workload at school. “There’s definitely an organizational part to it, because you don’t really want to go up to a teacher and be like ‘hey, how should I organize this for your class,” Fornaro said. “You could ask them for that, but it just feels easier to work with a tutor on that kind of stuff.” Adrian Ibarra, an employee of Scholastic Success and Fornaro’s private tutor, has been a private tutor of high school students for five months. Ibarra acknowledges the school’s competitive, educational environment and how it relates to tutoring as a whole. “It’s a very competitive school, and their parents want them to do well,” Ibarra said. “If they aren’t doing well, it’s their parents looking for a tutor, and then, them going out and seeking it themselves.”

owever, Ibarra still believes consulting one’s teacher could be the proper course of action. “A benefit of having a tutor is personalized help,” Ibarra said. “They’re going to be working with you every day, rather than a teacher who has to work with multiple students. But at a school like St. Mark’s, the teachers should always be a first resort, just because they are exerting more effort and they are always there.” Nevertheless, Ibarra believes private tutoring should be used efficiently rather than a scapegoat for students. “Our job isn’t to come in and teach someone the material, because the student’s job is to learn in class,” Ibarra said. “If they can’t make sense of it, my job is to help them make sense of it. I don’t consider myself to be a replacement for a teacher, I just consider myself to be a supplement. If you’re struggling because you don’t understand the material, I would get a tutor, but if you’re struggling because of time management

and stuff like that, I don’t think a tutor is a useful allocation of your time.” English instructor Martin Stegemoeller, who has tutoring experience in English, math and leadership, sees a major part of tutoring with some students as enabling them to succeed. “A decent number of kids, like they haven’t had success in something, so they’ve allowed themselves to be convinced that they can’t do it,” Stegemoeller said, “and so they just think ‘I’m dumb in math’ or ‘I’m dumb in English,’ and part of the coaching is getting them past that, like showing them that if you work at this you’re going to get better.” Christine Nicolette-Gonzalez, a former English instructor at ESD and now a tutor for many students here, recognizes that a tutor does not replace a teacher, but rather is a part of a collaborative effort. “I consider myself to be a part of the village that helps bring my students success,” Nicolette-Gonzalez said. “Often it takes so much more than teachers and parents to do this. When I take on a student, I consider myself to be a member of the village. I consider my primary job to be teaching skills; rather than give my students fish, I teach them to fish, because I really want them to learn the skills that will enable them to become life-long, independent learners.” TUTORING IN U.S. Additionally she sees supa quick look at porting a student in as many how high school aspects as possible as one of her students interact most important roles as a tutor. with private tutors “I really try to help my students throughout their lives,” Subjects that Nicolette-Gonzalez said.” In students are addition to helping them with tutored in most their English skills, I also assist nationally: them with their college appli1. Math cations and essays, and when I put on my career counselor 2. English hat, I even help them select a 3. Science college major that might be best suited to them. I try to be their cheerleader and help them be all they are meant to be.”

1 1 ,0 0 0 +

| November 4, 2016 |news| THE REMARKER |

TUTORING | CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

FOR ONE THING, Foreign Language Department Chair Nancy combined number of private Marmion has noticed a shift tutors and tutoring companies in the circumstances for which in the state of Texas students are tutored. “When I came to St. Mark’s, I don’t think you would $45-60 have had kids being tutored PER HOUR to make a B or make an A in a average hourly price of private class,” Marmion said. “They tutors nationally. might be getting tutored so they can make a C in the class. SOURCE: MarketWatch But my sense is there are more kids here now that are getting tutored so they can make honors or high honors grades.” Ultimately, Nicolette-Gonzalez wants to see the school’s students gain enough confidence to achieve success in their academic careers. “When I tutor I try to give encouragement, build self-confidence and teach skills,” Nicolette-Gonzalez said. “I try to make sure that my students have the life skills so they can fly.”

SOMETIMES KIDS NEED TO HEAR A DIFFERENT EXPLANATION OF THE MATERIAL, AND SOMETIMES FOR THOSE KIDS, HAVING A DIFFERENT APPROACH MAY BE A POSITIVE THING. — NANCY MARMION

STORY RISH BASU, CORDAY CRUZ, JOHN CRAWFORD PHOTOS FRANK THOMAS

NEWS

|THE REMARKER |news| November 4, 2016 |

TRANSPORTATION

CRUISE

CONTROL

SOME STUDENTS GET TO SCHOOL BY CAR, BUT OTHERS TAKE UNCONVENTIONAL FORMS OF TRANSPORTATION TO GET TO SCHOOL ON TIME

AVERY PEARSON ‘I get to see the Dallas skyline’ Mateo Guevara: What do you think are some advantages of public transportation, or do you think just driving yourself or going with your parents is better? Avery Pearson: Public transportation, because other towns have it. If you go to a college that is centered around a city, you are going to have take the subway and knowing how to get from A to B using that is really, really useful. Your parents taking you or you driving yourself is cool and all, but somedays you just don't feel like it.

HAPPY WHEELS Riding down Preston Road., his usual route home, senior Isaiah Kazunga cruises down the street with wind and cars whipping past his helmet.

ISAIAH KAZUNGA ‘A unique way to see the city’ Zoheb Khan: Can you explain any funny situations you’ve had while driving your Vespa? Isaiah Kazunga: Basically I was driving down the road and the light turns red. I brake to a stop and then find that I’m surrounded by a bunch of Harley riders. They all have the same jackets and they look pretty mean. I just kept my head down until the light changed and then took off. ZK: Do you prefer public or regular transportation? Why? IK: The Vespa is really nippy and good in traffic. You can squeeze into gaps and take little lanes of space that other cars can’t fit into. It is a lot faster and more enjoyable than taking a bus and I control everything, unlike driving with my parents. It is complete freedom. ZK: Have you learned anything through your experiences with the Vespa? IK: The biggest thing I’ve learned is quality defensive driving. When you’re on a little scooter you really have to fend for yourself and take matters into your own hands. When people are on their phones or people are talking to a passenger, they don’t check their mirrors before switching lanes. In a car, these things are mere nuisances,

but on a scooter, they can lead to lethal accidents. So it has really taught me to be a better driver in general. ZK: What do your parents think of you driving a Vespa? IK: My mom is pretty good with it and my dad freaks out pretty much every time I go anywhere on it. He doesn’t really think it’s the greatest way to get around, but he still lets me use it.

MG: Do you prefer public or regular transportation? Why? AP: I like public transportation and regular transportation, but public transportation allows me to get in the zone. I don’t know what it is about it, but it allows me to get in my headphones, music, or it lets me get closer to Dallas. I get to see the Dallas skyline, get to see the Dallas people on the train. I have a lot of interesting conversations with people, so I think the public transportation has a lot of benefits as opposed to regular transportation.

MG: What are some other situations where public transportation has come in handy? AP: My dad dropped me at the train station, or I would take the 400 to get up to the train station, then I would go to Garland, and I could take the 36 down to school. Also, when your parents are busy and don't want to drop you off somewhere and they have some really important stuff to do, I’ll be like, ‘Hey I’ll just take the train.’ It’s really easy, quick and boom, if you know what you are doing.

MG: Have you learned anything from using public transportation? AP: To be grateful for the things that we do have. We should be grateful for the cars that we have and can drive any day because those people on the train don't have cars. They don't have easy ways to get to work, and they have to take a couple trains, a couple busses to get to where they need to go, and I have learned to be very grateful for those days that I do have regular transportation.

ZK: Do you think that driving a Vespa allows you to connect more to Dallas as a city? IK: I definitely feel like you pay attention to your surroundings more when you’re on a scooter because you’re out there and you can feel the wind whipping past you looking around at everything, It’s really beautiful because you’re just ‘there.’ It’s definitely a cool and unique way to see the city. ZK: Have you ever fallen or had a scary experience while driving your Vespa in traffic? IK: There was one time where I fell while taking a left turn. I just leaned over too much and the next thing I knew, the Vespa fell out from underneath me. Everything besides that has been fine.

JUST CHILLIN’ Standing near the bus stop, junior Avery Pearson waits for his ride home..

INTERVIEWS ZOHEB KHAN, MATEO GUEVARA PHOTOS KABEER SINGH, FRANK THOMAS

Young debaters reach octofinals in local tournament by James Rogers oing into the fifth round of the Greenhill Fall Classic, junior Harris Wilson and sophomore Max Wang knew they had a tough debate ahead of them. “We got the pairing, or who we we’re going to debate,” Wilson said, “and we saw it was a team from Westminster School in Georgia, and there’s a consensus that they are one of the top five teams. We hadn’t really debated any of the top teams until this moment.” Wang and Wilson endured a tough debate that weekend, debating eight times in two days. They ended up reaching the octofinals, or the round of 16. “There are six rounds of preliminary rounds,” Wilson said, “and we debated in two elimination rounds. Each debate is one-and-a-half to two hours

NEWS

long, then 20 minutes for the judge to evaluate and give a decision. Then you have 30 minutes to prepare for the next debate. It’s brutal. We get there 7:30 in morning and leave at 10:30 p.m. both days.” Debate instructor Tim Mahoney was impressed that his team performed well facing tough competition. “Greenhill is a tier one tournament,” Mahoney said. “People are flying in from across the country only bringing their top 2 or 3 teams. The level of competition is really good, and it’s a tough tournament.” The school’s debate team has continued to thrive even without any seniors on the team this year. “Things are going really well,” Mahoney said. “Everybody is working to help everybody else. They just want to see our team do well. I feel like all

of our sophomores and one junior are living that day to day as debaters. Even though we’re young, we’re still having competitive success.” Wilson also is happy with the successes of the team without as much experience than in years past. “It’s kind of cool that St. Mark’s has always had a pretty strong debate program.” Wilson said. “At this Greenhill

debate, we proved that even though we don’t have seniors, we can still stay competitive.”

NEW SCIENCE CENTER INNOVATIONS

BLUEPRINTS TO THE FUTURE

COMING IN 2019, THE NEW WINN FAMILY SCIENCE CENTER WILL REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY THE COMMUNITY CONNECTS — THE WAY STUDENTS LEARN AND TEACHERS TEACH.

New Winn Family Science Center to offer collaborative spaces; lounges, maker spaces by Andre Arsenault fter the Eugene McDermott Math and Science Quadrangle was first built, it was ranked as one of the top five high school science facilities in the nation, fully equipped with the the most modern technology at the time. After more than 50 years, the science building is finally getting a makeover. With the most advanced technology to date and a carefully designed layout, the science building will not only change how courses are taught, but also how students interact with each other. “A lot of early conversations about the science building focused on the idea of creating more opportunities for interaction,” said Headmaster David Dini. “Spaces like our four lounges, office suites or

the science building lounges will be a lot more available in our new science building.” Dini says the new plans will facilitate communication between students and provide opportunities for collaboration, in an attempt to create an environment in which students can help each other succeed. “There’s going to be an atrium in the middle of the science building,” Dini said, “and it will be immediately adjacent to spaces where you can sit and work. We’ve looked at a lot of facilities, both high school and college facilities, to try to incorporate as many of the best ideas as we could so that it engenders working together and creates an open environment that is going to provide more open space for work.” Resulting from its dynamic layout, the new science building will facilitate collaboration between teachers

too, helping combine different science classes. “Not only will there be more opportunities for students to collaborate,” Science Department Chair Fletcher Carron said, “but there will be more opportunities for Lower School teachers to collaborate with Middle and Upper School teachers. There will also be an opportunity for teachers in computer science to collaborate with the science faculty. It will help integrate the different curriculums.”

Alternative teaching methods will be offered in the new Winn Family Science Center by Kamal Mamdani wing to studies on how to make school most effective and new teaching methods coming out in the recent years, Headmaster David Dini says the freedom and flexibility given to teachers is a big part in the enrichment of the school’s academic program.

“We’re an environment that’s open to exploring new, innovative ways to teach,” Dini said. “You get a wide variety on the St. Mark’s campus. Part of what we support and encourage is teachers continually looking for ways that they can grow and improve.” The school sends teachers to professional development opportunities where they can meet with other teachers to expand on their knowledge of new and effective teaching strategies. “Some faculty are starting to incorporate these ideas,” Dini said. “We want to encourage and support that in any way that we possibly can. If it’s going to make a teacher better and make your experiences better in the classroom, we want to make it as available as possible.” The administration trusts teachers to use whatever means they find most effective to teach, while still following

PHOTO COURTESY FLETCHER CARRON

the curriculum. “You could have two teachers teaching the same material but they deliver it in a different way,” Dini said. “Both equally effective, so we don’t want to mandate that they deliver it in a certain fashion, but we want to maintain consistency in terms of content and adherence to a base curriculum.” In Dini’s eyes, change is something that is very important to the school. However, he only thinks the school should change if it is beneficial. “One of the things that distinguished the school for a long time is a lack of complacency,” Dini said. “There’s always a desire for improvement here. If we’re going to make change, we’re going to make change that we know is going to make the school better and ultimately improve the experiences that Marksmen have day in and day out.”

| November 4, 2016 |news| THE REMARKER |

MALECALL

THIS ISSUE

WINTER TIPS THE ART OF THE BEARD DOC’S PERFECT SHAKE

Taking you back to the basic fundamentals of all things manly WINTER WONDERLAND

WINTER IS COMING

The handshake manual

The mark of a man

IT’S GOING TO BE COLD, AND THINGS WILL INEVITABLY GO WRONG. WE PUT TOGETHER A LIST OF STEP-BY-STEP TIPS TO HELP YOU SURVIVE THE SEASON. How to build the perfect teepee fire 1. Gather your wood; obtain small, medium, and large sticks. 2. Place your small sticks in the pit, making a teepee of kindling. 3. From your small sticks, continue collecting bigger and bigger sticks continue forming the teepee. 4. Place your large logs at the very outside of the teepee, making sure to maintain the structure. 5. As the fire burns, the logs will eventually collapse. When this happens, simply add another fuel log, not necessarily in a teepee.

How to jump your car battery 1. Begin with both cars turned off. 2. Obtain a set of Jumper Cables. There will be four alligator clips, two red, and two black. 3. Red clip on positive side of dead car battery. 4. Other red (positive) clip on positive side of donor car battery 5. Black (negative) clip on any piece of bare metal under the hood of the dead car. 6. Black (negative) clip on negative side of donor car battery. 7. Start donor. 8. Start dead.

|THE REMARKER |news|November 4, 2016|

o assistant athletic trainer Robert “Doc” Browning, the perfect handshake is the mark of a man. It makes or breaks first impressions. Browning teaches the perfect handshake to everyone, and he’s mastered the art of the shake over the years. We interviewed Browning to understand the key points of a well executed hand shake, and here are the results. . . 1. “Going in deep” Browning believes the first key to the handshake is a good connection. Extend your arm with your hand open and thumb facing up. When your hands meet, get the webbing between your thumb and index finger to meet the recipient’s. 2. “The squeeze” Once your hands have met, wrap your hand around the recipient’s and squeeze. You’re not trying to hurt the person, but a firm grip is key. 3. “The eye contact” Eye contact is very important to having a successful handshake, especially when you’re meeting someone for the first time. Make sure to lock eyes with the recipient, let him know you mean business.

How to make the perfect hot chocolate 1. Stir together two tablespoons of sugar and one tablespoon of coco in a large, microwave safe mug. 2. Stir in a few tablespoons of milk to make a smooth paste. 3. Add one cup of milk until the mug is full. 4. Microwave the chocolate milk for one minute on high power. 5. Remove cup, add a quarter cup of vanilla extract, stir once more and enjoy.

4. “The shake” Browning believes three to four shakes is optimal. More than six becomes awkward and weird. The shakes need to be assertive, but not violent. Keep it to a minimum, but get the point across.

How to Layer your Clothes 1. Base Layer: wool is a great material for a lower layer. It’s pretty comfortable, and the material will keep you very warm during whatever it is you’re doing. 2. Mid-Layer: a fleece or light down jacket is perfect for the mid layer. The mid layer will provide the most warmth, so make sure whatever jacket you get is nice and toasty. 3. Outer Shell: moisture and wind protection is the name of the game. A Gore-Tex jacket or something like it will trap in the warmth and prevent the biting wind from reaching your body.

Showing ‘em how it’s done...

LOOK ‘EM IN THE EYES When shaking a hand, Browning says eye contact is important.

THE MOST MANLIEST TIME OF THE YEAR NO-SHAVE-NOVEMBER IS UPON US; THE TIME WHERE MARKSMEN YOUNG AND OLD BOAST ABOUT THEIR FACIAL HAIR. HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT CHAIR NICK SBERNA SHARES HIS THOUGHTS Rett Daugbjerg: On a scale of one to ten, ten being the majestic beard of Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty, how great is your beard?

RD: What measures would you recommend Marksmen who lack facial hair take to grow a beard or even make it look like they’re growing a beard?

Nick Sberna: I’d rate mine at about a six. I definitely have more potential, but my wife and employer wouldn’t be too happy with me reaching my full potential.

NS: I’ve told Middle schoolers for years that if they pull some hair from the top of their head and put it under their pillow, eventually the beard fairy would show up and bestow upon them the extra dose of whatever hormone it is that makes facial hair. In the mean time, I’ve heard that a sharpie is a powerful beard manufacturing proxy, but once you rinse it you get sort of a five o’clock shadow underneath where it actually stains your skin. Also, there are quite a few tattoo parlors in the Oak Cliff area that I heard come highly recommended.

RD: At what age did you dream of growing a beard, and at what age was that dream realized? NS: I was shaving in eighth grade, not every day, but I had weird teenage shadow. The first time I grew it out was in college. I had sort of a fu-man-chu goatee thing sophomore year, and I don’t think I grew a full beard until about nine years ago. So full beard came in my mid-to-late twenties. RD: What kind of shaving kit do you use, and what would you recommend for bearded Marksmen?

Nick Sberna

NS: I use a pretty simple package. I wanna say its a Norelco beard trimmer or something and just a disposable razor for manscaping the lower chin and upper cheek areas. As for maintenance, I just use the same shampoo on my beard as I use in my hair. There are some expensive ones out there, but I’m too lazy, to be totally honest, which is a big part of having a beard in the first place.

NEWS

STORIES RETT DAUGBJERG PHOTOS FRANK THOMAS

STRONG GRIP Another key to a perfect handshake, Browning says, is a firm grip

“HANDSHAKES ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE OFTEN IT IS THE VERY FIRST IMPRESSION YOU MAKE WITH SOMEONE, IT’S AN UNSPOKEN THING THAT WE DEVELOP ABOUT SOMEBODY. YOU WANNA MAKE SURE YOU GET IN DEEP, USE A GOOD FULL HAND AND ITS EASY.” — DOC BROWNING

Beau Exall

| November 4, 2016 |life| THE REMARKER |

HOMECOMING

HANGING OUT WITH

FRANK THOMAS PHOTO

We’ve all seen his prank, attaching backpacks (and students) to walls with powerful magnets, but The ReMarker sits down with eighth-grader Beau Exall as he reveals the method behind his madness.

Where did the prank come from? Before, in fifth and sixth grade, I really loved science, but there wasn’t much to apply. But in seventh grade, I realized that I could actually apply what we learned, specficially magnetics, and that gave me an idea.

Upper School students dance the night away at the Atlantis-themed Homecoming Dance at the House of Blues. For more photos see page 20.

Where’d you get the magnet from? I got the magnet from Amazon. you’d be surprised what you can get from there. I got this, and I was very skeptical about the specs on it. What made you want to do it as a prank? I thought it would be kinda funny just to do it, and I also just wanted to see how strong it was, so I thought I could bring it here and try it out.

KYLE SMITH PHOTO

a peek INSIDE

at a GLANCE

Life stories on the inside

A brief look at the events around campus

a look into the col12-13 COLLEGE lege debt crisis and the notion of “resume building”.

How did people react to it at first? I’d always bring it and hang people on that wall. At first, they’d be like, ‘I don’t believe it, that hockey puck can’t beat me’, but then I would stick them on and they would immediately freak out. What are the specs for the magnet? The magnet is neodymium, which is almost as strong as electromagnets. Whats it like to wield this much power? It’s kind of fun. Sometimes it’s kind of annoying, because I’ll hang a person on the wall, and then people will start lining up behind, saying ‘me next!’ and I can be 15 minutes late to class for that.

SOCIAL MEDIA ART how students use social media to showcase and sell their art.

BOOK RECS opinions from 12 teachers around campus about their favorite books.

MICHAEL DOOREY A profile of a Marksman, working with Vince Vaughn in a new feature film.

What’s the most worrying experience you’ve had? There have been times where it’s been stuck in a way where it would be hard to get it off, and I told him to put his backpack on with the magnet, but then he put the magnet back on the pole by itself. My brother, a friend of his, and I all got a lacrosse stick and peeled it off, but it took 30 minutes. How do your friends react to it? A third of the time, people ask for me to stick them, and sometimes I can, but some other times, they freak out when it happens. Some people scream ‘it’s the magnet kid!’ and run away.

PHOTOS COURTESY SAMMY SANCHEZ

What’s your favorite experience with the magnet? It would be sticking somebody’s backpack to the ceiling, because there was this one time where a really tall guy helped me put it on the wall and stick up on the ceiling to have his friend find it. It was hilarious.

CLOTHING DRIVE ACCOMPISHES GOAL The Clothing Drive was a success and achieved a lot of participation from the community. Two truck loads of clothes were donated. The clothes provided support to the thrift store at St. Vincent de Paul and other organizations in Dallas. Community Service Board Co-chair Gopal Raman believes that the drive was a success, and he is eager to get started on the next project. “I want to thank everyone who gave clothes,” Raman said. “We’re all really happy with the outcome, and we look forward to the next drive.” EVENSONG SET FOR NOV. 13 The upcoming Evensong service will be held in the chapel Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. and will offer music from the choir.

artists in ACTION

DAVIS BAILEY PHOTO

LIFE

5 COMPETE IN YOUNG ARTS Five industrial arts students submitted pieces of their work to be judged in the National Youngarts annual competition. Seniors Hyer Thomas, Christian McClain, Andrew Chuka, Brian Buckenham and Adam Subel submitted their pieces to the National YoungArts Foundation Oct. 14 in the hopes of winning cash prizes up to $10,000. Having had previous success, industrial arts instructor John Frost is looking

forward to seeing how his students perform. “We’ve had a pretty solid record from this program,” Frost said. “I’m obviously hopeful, and I don’t expect it, but I’m hopeful that we’ll have at least one or two.”

“The St. Mark’s Choir will sing a service of Choral Evensong,” Choirmaster Tinsley Silcox said. “The service of Evensong is a service of music. The prayers, the Psalm and other elements of the service are sung. It is a service of reflection and meditation for the St. Mark’s community.” Other Evensong services will also be held in the chapel at 7 p.m. roughly every two months, with the next service taking place Jan. 29. UNICEF HOLDS TRICK OR TREAT The UNICEF club, run by president Todd Murphy and vice president Davis Bailey, participated in its second annual Trickor-Treat for UNICEF project throughout the entire last month. The project aims to help people in countries who are in poorer conditions by setting up donation boxes in stores across Dallas. “It’s a way for kids who don’t have the resources or time like adults to help those around the world,” Bailey said. “The whole UNICEF club gets involved in this event and spreads the

-Matthew Zhang, Waseem Nabulsi, Duncan Kirstein, Mark Tao, Dylan Liu

What other pranks do you have? I also have a prank with an element called Gallium. I would show people a bottle with Gallium in it, and they would have to guess how it got in there. Why do you enjoy pranking so much? I almost wouldn’t call it pranking, but just joking around because it’s really fun to play with what we learn in science about magnetic fields, and it’s fun to use the stuff we learned. It’s also just fun to play a fun joke on your buddies.

CINEMATIC Stills from two of Sammy Sanchez and Matthew Theilmann’s most popular films.

ORCHESTRA TO AUDITION All-State Orchestra auditions will be held tomorrow and Nov. 12 and will be recorded by orchestra instructor David Fray. Freshman Nicholas Cerny sees the audition as a good performance opportunity. “The All-State Orchestra allows students to improve their leadership skills, technical ability, and musicality,” Cerny said. “It provides a challenge for students: the etudes are not easy, regardless of your playing ability.”

SAMMY SANCHEZ AND MATTHEW THEILMANN

films created together.

full minutes of footage

“We take inspiration from the Phil and Chris duo, of Lego Movie fame. We try to incorporate our sense of humor into our storytelling, and we always work together on the projects. Whenever we work together, you can be sure that the final product will be weird, wacky and definiely ‘us.’” — junior Sammy Sanchez

|THE REMARKER |life| November 4, 2016 |

12 Director of College Counseling Veronica Pulido’s

8 BEST COLLEGE TIPS

SENIORS HAVE TO FACTOR IN BOTH HOW TO GET INTO THE UNIVERSITIES OF THEIR CHOICE AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF EACH OPTION THEY HAVE, MAKING COLLEGE APPLICATIONS BOTH STRESSFUL AND MULTIFACETED.

THE

BUILDING A RESUME

Figure out as a ninth and tenth grader what kind of legacy you want to leave behind as you walk across the graduation stage. As a younger student, as a ninth and tenth grader, I don’t think there is enough focus on, not necessarily the college process, but more legacy. What kind of legacy would you like to leave when you walk across the graduation stage. To have those conversations early on, to then say this is what I want and this is how I get there. What is my plan to get there? Have both short-term goals and long-term goals. There isn’t enough discussion about that in the younger years, but having those particular ideas and goals and just thoughts younger on can help a student then eventually figure out how do I get there in terms of the path, the journey, the goal. Take advantage of the resources available at school. Students cannot rest on their laurels of St. Mark’s. They need to take advantage of what we have to offer. Connect with alumni. That would mean figuring out alums in the area, figuring out what jobs they do, how can you be connected to that and figure out what might be helpful to you. Join clubs and organizations or start your own ones. Taking advantage of the clubs and organizations, and if there is something that is not there, create something. Figuring what you want to do in your path in your four years as an upper school student. Figure out what you are good at in terms of academics and take those classes. The other thing that I want to say is, on the academic piece of it, figuring out what you are good at and like to take. You obviously are going to show that interest to the teachers. Develop strong relationships with teachers. Potentially, that teacher could be more apt to be one of your letters of recommendation when you apply to college. Take the process in pieces. You don’t need to be excellent in everything academically, but if there are a few things that you gravitate towards let’s see if we can establish some good relationships with teachers early on and that can then open up some different doors for you.

LIFE

nveloped by the sound of his fingers clattering across his Macbook’s keyboard, Roland Salatino ‘12 sits hunched over, maniacally pounding out the scourge every high school senior across America must face, college applications. Dartmouth. Princeton. Yale. Salatino checked off each Ivy as he hit enter on the application form. Brown. Penn. Columbia. Cornell.

He was qualified, wasn’t he? Hadn’t he done enough? But the Ivies are a crapshoot, even for the most qualified people, he keeps telling himself. Interrupting his marathon of applications, the signature lowtone ding sounds in his inbox. He quickly glances at the address, an unfamiliar name with Harvard.edu attached to the end. Bracing himself for the worst, Salatino takes a deep breath, and clicks the mail icon. He’s in. A massive sense of relief floods over Salatino. After 4 years of late nights spent cramming for tests, hours dedicated to memorizing Chinese Instructor Lei Zhang’s latest vocab lists and grueling wrestling practices with Coach Ortega, he’s finally in. ••• ‘Tis the college applications season, and across the nation, high school seniors will spend caffeine-fueled binges carefully highlighting the past four years of their lives, deciding what to include and what to leave out on the oh-so-important college resume. “The most selective colleges are trying to figure out the uniqueness of this individual student and look at a highly qualified, well-rounded class of freshmen,” College Counseling Director Veronica Pulido said. “Your persona in terms of what you have brought to the table.” Pulido says that highly-selective colleges look for applicants who truly added value to their respective communities in high school. It’s not necessarily an elected position that means the most, rather it is how a student has positively affected a given community or organization. “Highly selective colleges are trying to find impact players,” Pulido said. “Nowadays, that is more in the fewer and more impactful opportunities. So not necessarily the well-rounded student that does a little bit of everything because those students are going to be harder to separate themselves from the pack.” Salatino, one such “impact player” found that his passion for Chinese gave him an edge over the competition. Although he lacked the doorstopper of a resume that too many college applicants tend to fall back on, his pointed focus in a few key activities truly helped separate him from the pack. Constantly looking for ways to master the language, Salatino felt

driven, not by a desire to look good on a college resume, but instead to pursue something he loved. “Dr. Zhang let us come into her ROLAND SALATINO suggests building a resume based on one or two strengths

office at lunch,” he said. “I would come in there almost every lunch period. And I started working at a Chinese restaurant on Sundays. Dr. Zhang also told me about the Chinese Bridge competition. I worked really hard on it, and I ended up being able to go to China. I competed against 120 teams from 35 different countries.” alatino reiterates his motivations as passion and love for the language rather than solely driven by a college application, suggesting and encouraging high school students to resist the temptation of resume padding and dive deep into two or three activities that really interest them. “Your passion can be whatever you want,” he said. “You should do things because you want to, not say ‘oh this is going to make a good resume.’ But once you’ve found that passion, you have to take it to its fullest extent. That is what colleges want to see.” Pulido wholeheartedly agrees with Salatino’s approach to the application process, suggesting that students dive

into extracurriculars, sports and clubs driven by a love for the activity, not to add a section to a college resume. “You need to do a couple of activities and do them really well to make yourself stand out,” she said. “Obviously, you don’t have a lot of time to do too many other activities beyond the school hours, so if there is something that can take you to the next level, do something to separate yourself and make your mark, that’s going to be important.” While too many students fall into the trap of viewing a college application as a laundry list of small involvement in every possible opportunity available at the school, the process is holistic showcase of the applicant’s passions and skills. Going forward in the application season, it is important to remember that what truly impresses a college is making a mark on one’s communities, not a mile-long resume. “Students need to realize that it is a competitive world in terms of the college admission process,” Pulido said. “Colleges are looking for people that are going to just dive right into college are going to be active participants in the class in their community in their dorm, the whole nine yards to figure out why they should select you over someone else who has the same grades, same academics, same everything.”

STORY SAHIT DENDEKURI, AUSTIN M

COLLEGE QUESTION Students can choose their college based on a variety of factors – a certain location, a campus, a unique program. But increasingly, higher tuition costs have forced many high school students to consider whether or not they can afford the university. Director of College Counseling Veronica Pulido believes that the increasingly high tuition in higher education is a result of colleges trying to compete for students . “I think college tuition and everything in general has skyrocketed because of colleges trying to ‘keep up with the Joneses,’” Pulido said. “One college has a climbing wall, or a new science building, or a recreational area, so now everyone needs one if they want to compete for students. That has increased the cost of tuition and fees, but also the overall academic and personal experience a student has once they get to college.” Pulido, as a mother of two, also doesn’t see a means to an end for increasing tuition in colleges across the nation. “Where it is going to end I have no idea,” Pulido said.“It’s shocking, and it’s a little overwhelming to think of where college tuition will be in the next ten years, especially as my two kids, fifth grade and second grade, and I can only imagine the costs for them.” With the daunting price tag that comes with higher education, more and more students are graduating high school with student debt. lthough the amount of debt a student can take on every year is capped by the federal government, it still is a very real concern that faces most high school seniors. “Overall, a student is going to have a quality education from School A to School B,” Pulido said. “It’s up to the student to figure out if it’s worth it to pay the money. Is it worth it to go out of state? Is it worth it to be in a big city? It comes down to each individual family and student to determine what’s right for them.” Colleges are aware of the problem of student debt and have worked to implement generous financial aid packages to help students graduate debt free. “Some of the more selective institutions, have implemented a system if you fall into a certain income range, you’ll only have to pay either tuition or room,” Pulido said. “ They’re saying ‘if the student is admissible, we do want him or her on our campus, and the financial piece shouldn’t be a limitation’.” To offer high-achieving students a chance to avoid paying a majority if not all of the tuition, colleges also offer merit based scholarships. After undergoing a rigorous, highly-competitive application process, Williams was selected Jefferson Scholarship at UVA, which is a merit based scholarship that offers a full ride to the prestigious university. When Williams was deliberating between UVA and Stanford, he, like many other students, considered the financial aspect of his college experience. “At UVA, I got to choose what I wanted to do,” Williams said, “and the scholarship gives a lot of flexibility. At Stanford I’d have been paying $61,000 a year.” Ultimately, while debt does play a major role in the college decision process, Williams feels that students should got to the place that best suits them. “You’re picking a place to do homework for the next four years,” Williams said. “And you have to think about that you might want to do afterwards.”

BUCKETS OF STUDENT DEBT

he acceptances came in. Now came the hard part: making a decision. Palo Alto’s endless summer or Virginia’s tranquil, rolling hills? The more “impressive” name, or the more fitting one? Cardinal or Cavalier? After his two college visits, Luke Williams ‘14 began to imagine himself wearing his cap and gown four years down the line. In Charlottesville, Virginia as a Jefferson Scholar or in Palo Alto, California as a Stanford graduate.

But the price tag for Stanford’s signature red-laden cap and gown came at a cost. A big cost. A cost that meant sacrificing his financial flexibility in the long run. WIliams had made up his mind. He was going to graduate debt-free. ••• As December rolls around, high school seniors across the nation will be experiencing both the thrill of acceptance and the defeat of rejection. But at some point when the dust clears, seniors will have to make a decision. A decision that will not only affect their next four years of education but also the trajectory of their lives beyond. “[The college admissions process] can be a very interesting time,” Williams said. “A lot of advice from a lot of different angles, pretty intimidating, kind of daunting.”

SOCIAL MEDIA |

Better be careful what you post on social media. Colleges are checking you out.

40%

of college admissions officers visit applicants social media pages

27%

look up applicants on Facebook

35%

of those who looked say they found something that negatively impacted the applicant’s chances of getting in

SOURCE: IVYWISE.COM

MONTGOMERY, DAVIS BAILEY PHOTO FRANK THOMAS

LIFE

| November 4, 2016 |life| THE REMARKER |

COLLEGE

|THE REMARKER |life| November 4, 2016 |

the box WITH 17 NEW CLUBS ON CAMPUS, STUDENTS ARE ABLE TO EXPLORE MORE INTERESTS. THE REMARKER HIGHLIGHTS TWO PROMINENT CLUBS ON CAMPUS - SNEAKERHEADS AND VEST DAY CLUB.

lubs are officially in season. As the clock hits 10:30 a.m., nearly 400 boys fill Spencer Gym, rushing to look at the year’s display of clubs. More than 56 of them compete to catch the attention of the students. Almost a third of them are new, including Model UN and ping-pong. Within minutes, two booths gather a large crowd Vest Day Club and Sneakerheads Club. Seniors Fabian Reyher and Rish Basu command their impressive collection of signature Jordan and Adidas sneakers, hoping to get as many signups as possible for the new club. Meanwhile, juniors Sammy Sanchez, Davis Bailey and Carson Crocker rock their trademark vests and introduce groups of eager freshmen to a new campus tradition. The clubs may seem trivial, but their impact and the culture they represent is anything but novel. The start of a tradition began just over a year ago with the original idea for Vest Day, the predecessor of Vest Day Club. Since then, Vest Day has expanded significantly. What was once just a single day of the week has taken root in the community. Now it’s become a full club, with one of the largest memberships on campus. "We wanted it [Vest Day] to be more of an organized thing," co-founder of Vest Day Club, junior Sammy Sanchez said. "We thought that would be cool. We’re also going to give it a community service aspect, and it's always good to service the community." Sanchez hopes the community involvement will continue to grow and expand, establishing a long standing tradition here. "I want to be able to come back to campus ten years from now on a Vest Day," Sanchez said. "That is the legacy I hope to leave behind." Vest Day, which initially only involved the Upper School, has since expanded to middle schoolers with the appointment of a Middle School liaison. "We want to spread love and brotherhood through vests and make the world a better place,” Sanchez said, “while keeping our cores warm and our arms mobile."

SHOWING OFF Senior Gordan Gunn (top) displays his Masi road bike to prospective club members, while new Model UN Club members (above) explain the rules of the competition.

Put simply, he loves sneakers. Over the summer, senior Fabian Reyher realized that he wanted to share his passion for shoes - so working with assistant basketball coach Ryan Parker and senior Rish Basu, Reyher arranged to make his own club devoted to everything sneakers. With the creation of Sneakerheads Club, Reyher hopes to implement a charitable aspect to the club, including participating in an event called “Soles for Souls.” "Rish Basu and I talked with coach [Ryan] Parker over the summer," Reyher said. "I’m hoping that we have some plans for selling t-shirts and donating the money to a shoe charity. We’re coming up with ideas of what we want to do at the next meeting." Reyher's inspiration came from his love for sneakers, starting with an obsession with basketball shoes. He believes that by making the club, people will see sneakers the way he does. “Our goal for the club was to get more people into shoes,” Rehyer said. “We wanted to hear the opinion of other kids in the Upper School, so we’re looking to see what they’re into. We just wanted to share our opinions on sneakers and have a place where all sneakerheads can gather and just talk about what they like.” Although the Sneakerheads club was originally created as a light-hearted way for friends to discuss new kicks, the club serves a greater purpose, acting as a forum for students to connect over a common passion. "Clubs allow for students to explore topics they wouldn’t usually be able to in class," Reyher said. "I think they’re very important for the students because they give them a chance to meet with people with the same interests.” The club is novel, but Reyher has gotten the new club on its feet and hopes that it can establish a long lasting legacy. ••• With 56 clubs this year, Head of Upper School Patrick Andrén feels the opportunities for students

SOLE SHOW Sneakerhead founder Fabian Reyher puts his favorite kicks on display at the Activities Fair.

to participate in something they like has never been greater. “It strikes me that a lot of students like to get their hands dirty, which is great to see,” Andrén said. “It was just really neat to see both the interest and the pitch that various clubheads are giving to attract people.”

Club

HIGHLIGHTS

/ clubs returning from last year

If you’re looking to... help somone: Austin Street Committee, Ramp Club try a new sport: Cricket Club, Cycling Club hablar Español: Spanish Club connect with alumni: Student Alumni Association make some bank: Investment Club, Entrepreneurship Club bake some cupcakes: Tasty Club

STORY ANDRE ARSENAULT, JASON PENG PHOTOS COURTESY DAVID CARDEN

Upper School play set to premiere tonight by Sahit Dendekuri After months of preparation, the Upper School fall play, The Revenge of the Space Pandas, is set to premiere tonight at 7 p.m. in the Eamonn Lacey Black Box. Among the cast is lead sophomore Will Hunt, who is participating in his first ever school production. In the play, Hunt plays a 12-year-old boy who invents a time-travelling clock with his friends, one of which is a sheep. Although the play is a comedy and doesn’t require as much in-depth character analysis, Hunt is still nervous about making a mistake during his performance. “I have a lot of lines to learn,” Hunt said. “The only thing that I’m nervous about is that I’ll forget a line or say something wrong.” Not only does he have to memorize his lines, but Hunt is also working hard to perfect the comedic elements of his character. “There are plenty of jokes in the play,” Hunt said. “They’re a little awkward because this play was written in the 1980s about the 1960s. Some of the jokes fall flat but the way that we say them and our cadences and the way we speak gives it a lot more humor.” In order to prepare for the role, Hunt has been rehearsing everyday in front of his mom. “My mom, when she was in high school,

LIFE

used to do all of the school plays,” Hunt said. “I give her my script and she reads all of the other parts, and I say my lines to her.” Upper School drama instructor Marion Glorioso believes Hunt is more than prepared for the role. “Will has been a delight to work with,” Glorioso said. “He is a focused actor, he’s got a great sense of humor. He works well with all of the ensemble, and from a directorial point of view if I asked him to do something, he’s a yes man, which is great.” Glorioso also thinks the acting and set have really come together as a whole over the past few months. She believes this particular production has something for everyone to watch and enjoy. “We have not in a very long time here at St. Mark’s had a children’s comedy,” Glorioso said. “And this specifically being a children’s comedy is written for everybody from the age of seven and up. It’s sort of like in the genre of Shrek. It really does cater to anybody and everybody.” Hunt urges everyone to come out and see the play in action and says people will get a kick out of watching the cast play these really absurd characters. “We’ve put a lot of work into it,” Hunt said, “and you get to watch me and a whole bunch of other people embarrass ourselves on stage.”

Senior Henry Roberts receives grant for training guide dogs by Albert Luo enior Henry Roberts could only smile alongside his puppy, Dutch, in front of the crowd of 10,000 people in Globe Life Park while receiving a $5,000 sponsorship from the Texas Rangers for raising guide dogs. As both a baseball player and a Rangers fan, Roberts was overwhelmed by this unique experience. “I was walking through the dugout and stuff and that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done,” Roberts said. However, Roberts’s amazing opportunity originated from years of dedication to

Working through the

raising guide dog puppies. Roberts first began training guide dogs in the summer of 2013 for his Eagle Scout project after doing a little research and finding Guide Dogs for the Blind, a foundation that trains guide dogs for visually impaired citizens. “I got my first dog in October of freshman year,” Roberts said. “I knew I wanted to do something with animals and that’s what it started out as.” Since then, Henry has fell in love with the process. “I really like just seeing the end result,” Roberts said. “I’ve seen firsthand a blind person receiving their dog for the first

time and like the graduation ceremony and it’s really touching.” Although Roberts enjoys training guide dogs, the process demands hard work, dedication, and responsibility. “It’s hard work,” Roberts said. “I have to clean up after it, I have to train it for a year and a half, but it’s worth it in the end because I know where the dogs are going.” Then, while Roberts was visiting colleges during the fall of his senior year, he received word that he would have the chance to receive a sponsorship from the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park.

“When they told me,” Roberts said, “they were like ‘Okay, yeah you’re going to get to go on the field and get all this’ and I was like ‘Oh my god.’” However, David Adams, leader of Lone Star Guide Dog Raisers, the local chapter Roberts trains guide dogs for, was not surprised by Roberts’ accomplishment. “We weren’t surprised at all because Henry is very outgoing, positive, optimistic and it was not a surprise that those attributes led to a grant,” Adams said. According to Adams, Roberts had been a “model puppy raiser” for the foundation.

“Being able to speak in front of the public, taking his puppies to the appropriate places at the appropriate age and has set a very good example for those that see him,” Adams said. In the future, Roberts does not plan on training puppies in college, but plans to join the school puppy-raising club and possibly raise a puppy later on in his life. “I’ll be a part of the club and help out if they need anything,” Roberts said, “but post college, if I’m living in a place where there’s a group and I have a stable job then I would probably do it again.”

LENS

STUDENTS AND RECENT ALUMNI INVOLVED IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND CERAMICS USE SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE INTERNET AS A PLATFORM TO SHARE ART WITH THE WORLD.

hen students enter Upper School, they’re offered a wide variety of options for a fine art course. Ceramics. Photography. Film studies. Woodworking. To most students, these are just classes they can take for four years. But for others, they’ve extended their passion for art outside the classroom. Using their own electronic and social media accounts, these students use the Internet as a platform to showcase their artwork for people outside the city, professional artists and people from around the world. With social media, they built their own businesses. One student who took his art online is senior Dhruv Prasad, who first created his ceramics Instagram account to broaden the audience of his artwork. “My original intention was to present my artwork to people outside of the DFW Metroplex,” Prasad said. “I wanted to share my artwork around the world.” Initially, Prasad’s account started out as a casual hobby, but as he posted more and more, he became more serious and invested in his account. “This summer, I started posting content almost everyday, which helped my account grow,” Prasad said. “Also, this account has helped me start my own business, Prasad Pottery.” After a few months, Prasad started to receive advice from professional artists around the world through his website and Instagram. “More and more people started following and professional artists began critiquing my work,” Prasad said. “Now, I have grown my audience to a size that enables me to form bonds with many international artists and market my work on a grand scale.” Like Prasad, Zak Houillion ‘16 has his own Instagram account dedicated to pottery. In addition to receiving online praise and criticism, Houillion’s social media account also helped him sell some of his pottery. “I made my account just to sell pieces on the Internet because I was trying to showcase my pottery and sell it,” Houillion said, “and I thought this was a way to market my stuff online. I got a few followers and basically made this an

online gallery for pottery that I could sell.” Now, Houillion has over 12,000 followers. However, he still finds more value in the quality of his posts rather than the number of followers he has. “I didn’t expect my account to get the following that it did,” Houillion said. “Having that many followers doesn’t feel any different, either. I would say that people sometimes recognize me for it though.” Even though using social media for art has given him multiple benefits, Houillion believes managing his account also comes with many challenges and hardships. “Sometimes I feel like SHAPING ART Senior Dhruv Prasad makes changes to his pottery, electronically showing his pieces to the world. I’m pressured into posting work and to tell the story behind a often,” Houillion said. but over time I have also learned how to “And if I’m gone to college where I don’t picture or an entire portfolio. In other market work to fit other people’s tastes. words, the web presence extends beyond Social media has definitely helped me have much time to post, it gets hard.” a simple gallery page to become a forum Houillion puts in a lot of effort learn more techniques and grow as a where students learn to write about their towards his ceramics account, and while potter.” ideas and their work.” he thinks that having a social media Hunt, like Houillion, feels that one account didn’t affect how he made his of the main benefits of having a web pottery, he still felt that it pushed him to INSTA-STATS presence is the exposure to a broader auimprove his skills and master his craft as dience and allows the students to receive a potter. Zak Dhruv more feedback and advice on how to “It was basically a way I could make their work better. ‘publish’ my pottery,” Houillion said. “I Prasad Houillion “I think because our audience is guess the account was just another outlet so much broader than it used to be, it for me to show bigger and better things Instagram handle makes sense for these guys to have a and another little bit of encouragement web presence,” Hunt said, “as opposed to make better stuff.” zhceramics to just a portfolio that sits in a box in esides ceramicists, other artists their house. The quality of the work that around the school, such as photogprasadpottery these boys do is so strong that audience raphers, have had social media accounts should be broader than what we have dedicated to their works as well. here.” In fact, photography instructor Scott ••• Amount of followers Hunt requires his honors students to Overall, Prasad believes social create their own website to showcase media has improved his artwork for their photos. the better, and it has helped him reach “With the proliferation of images a bigger audience. Additionally, Prasad through various web and social media feels that creating his own business has platforms, it is important for our boys Number of Posts helped him become a better artist. to develop a working understanding “Using social media to broadcast my of how to market and share images artwork has given me more insight to responsibly,” Hunt said. “Perhaps more what other people find visually apimportantly, the development of a web pealing,” Prasad said. “I started out by presence allows artists, including our making pieces that were pleasing to me, boys, to share ideas, to explain their

STORY MARK TAO, DYLAN LIU PHOTO OWEN BERGER

12,200

732

108

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| November 4, 2016 |life| THE REMARKER |

|THE REMARKER |perspectives| November 4, 2016 |

16 17

MAY DEL

‘Mama.’ W

AS THE ‘MOTHER OF THE SHE NOT ONLY CARES F

e walk past the food stands in the cafeteria which usually form a barrier between the students seeking sustenance and the employees serving it. But the person we are looking for has no concept of this barrier. We walk through a doorway and into the stainless steel belly of the cafeteria, where most food service employees carry out their jobs to perfection behind closed doors. But for the person we are looking for, cooking is only a portion of the job she’s given herself. We get to the end of the offices and ask around to find out where May Dell Sykes is. We explain we want to write a story about her. But the first thing we hear is, “You’re going to do a story on Big Mama?” That’s exactly what Sykes, commonly known as Ms. May, is: a mother to everyone she even brushes with her ever-growing sphere of love and kindness. She beams love, radiates kindness and her self-described purpose is that she, “just wants people to be happy.” But behind the floral shirts and under the ever-present hairnet, May Dell Sykes is a woman of steel. ••• Sykes raised five children as a single mother, all the while serving as an unofficial cook and on-call nurse for her South Dallas neighborhood. A feat for which she credits her mother as the main source of strength and inspiration. “I learned how to cook from her, I learned how to survive,” Sykes said. “She showed me that there wasn’t anything that was impossible. You can go as far as your mind and ambition can go. She could have quit anytime, but she never did. She showed us the strength a family could have.” But five kids just weren’t enough for her. Even with her children and their families now cycling through her house and the whole neighborhood looking to Big Mama for help every now and then, the moment she saw another person who needed help, she provided. That person came in the form of food service employee Shawn Robinett. Shawn came to work in the cafeteria through Launchability, an organization which helps children and adults with developmental disabilities achieve their maximum potential and lead fulfilling lives within their communities. “One day, he called me mama. And I said, ‘Oh Lord, this is not gonna work. He can’t call me mama in front of people.’ He then said, ‘I love you mama.’ I didn’t know how the cafeteria staff and the mothers would react. But there was just something in his voice, and I told him I loved him, too. And he would get in front of people and say it all the time. And I would say it back. We bonded, and bonded, and now we’re very thick. He comes home with me on the weekends, and he’ll come for the holidays.” hawn is now part of Sykes’s close family, which is something he will be a part of for his whole life, even if Sykes herself isn’t there to make it happen. “I always ask my kids, ‘If something happens to me what are you going to do?’” Sykes said. “And they always answer, ‘Take care of Shawn.’” Family has always been a central part of Sykes’s life. She was born into a large, close-knit family in Huntsville, Texas. She and her seven siblings grew up in the church and

around the people in it, whom she calls her “family.” At the age of 17, Sykes volunteered to teach younger children about the Bible in Church. “We had children’s church,” Sykes said, “and we had three of us at first, and more people came and brought their kids. It soon became something that happened on every Sunday.” Her father, Isaiah Williams, passed away after she turned six. Several years later, her mother married the “giant man” Nelson Redding, who quickly made a great impression on her and her siblings.

that famous recipe. Ms. May’s Mac and Cheese We asked copy center assistant Ann Hamilton, Sykes’s daughter, what one of her mother’s favorite dishes is to make

1 package (7 ounces) elbow macaroni 6 tablespoons butter, divided 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups milk 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 3/4 cup dry bread crumbs 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

MOTHER AND SON Sykes has taken food services employee Shawn Robinett into her professional and personal family.

‘“When he first came,” Sykes said, “I went to the door, and just gasped. I had never seen a man that big.” “He was tall, broad, and you could tell that he was sure of himself. He had to win me and my siblings over first to stay with my mom (*laughs*), and he definitely won us over.” And now the strength and lessons have been handed down through the decades from grandmother to mother to daughter as Sykes’s eldest daughter, Ann Hamilton, now benefits from over a century of trickle down strength, knowledge and cooking recipes. “[My mother’s teachings] really made me who I am and gave me the strength to go through some of the things I’ve been through,” Hamilton said. “There was a lot of stuff she went through. And I even got my degree, and that’s one of the reasons why. It

wasn't for a job, it was to show that I c do it, and I think she was more proud than I was when I did receive it.” Sykes’s family has been bound to for years by their shared love of food cooking. Sykes’s mother passed her recipe techniques down to her, and she pass her’s down to her daughter, Hamilton Now, Hamilton has taken over the du the “best meal of the year”: Thanksgiv dinner. “I do all the cooking for Thanksg Hamilton said. “It takes me about a w and a half to cook all those meals, and whole entire family comes to my hou year.” nd the “best meal of the year” ne longs to her close family alone. In Big Mama fashion, Sykes overheard th

STORY CASE LOWRY, ZACH GILSTRAP, GOPAL RA

PERSPECTIVES

LL SYKES

E CAFETERIA,’ MAY DELL SYKES HAS BEEN A BEACON OF LOVE SINCE HER ARRIVAL ON CAMPUS IN 1986. TODAY, FOR HER OWN FAMILY BUT ALSO FOR A COWORKER, SHAWN ROBINETT — AND 850 OR SO OF ‘ HER BOYS.’

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master teacher Ray Westbrook might not have a place to eat Thanksgiving dinner at and immediately intervened. “She knew I didn’t have any family in town,” Westbrook said. “So she invited me over to her place to eat Thanksgiving dinner to a house that I’m sure was already full of people, and if you know her at all, you know she meant it.” Starting work at St. Mark’s in 1986, Sykes’s day usually started and ended in the kitchen, a far cry from nowadays where Sykes is often seen interacting with students in the lunch room. “When I first came here,” Sykes said, “I didn’t see it as a community, I just saw it as a school. I just stayed in the kitchen. That was it. But now, I’m everywhere. The Lower School, Upper School Office, Development, Headmaster’s Office. I pretty well know everybody.” er relationships with her fellow cafeteria employees and, particularly, the students blossomed into ones of lifelong endurance, with many viewing her as their personal confidant or just someone they can talk to. “I had one boy here who recently had a death in his family,” Sykes said, “and he came into my office every I LOVE A LOT morning to have OF PEOPLE coffee and just talk AROUND ME with me. The parents THAT I WORK were alarmed when WITH. I TELL I told them about it, THEM THAT I because [as] they told LOVE THEM me, he never talks at BECAUSE home. He wasn’t a TOMORROW’S popular kid, and he NOT would always sit by PROMISED. himself. One day, I — MAY DELL told him to inch over, SYKES and next time I saw him, he was sitting with everybody, laughing and having a good time. When he comes to campus he always comes to me.” Sykes’s loving aura has rubbed off on Cafeteria Director Sally Stephens, who hopes the relationship they’ve built will last a lifetime. “She brings about a joy, a way of living life with joy,” Stephens said, “and when she’s concerned about something, she’ll call and talk to me about it. I feel like I can do the same with her. I don’t think I’ll lose contact with her. If I weren’t working here or eventually when she retires, I feel that we have a bond that will continue beyond that.” The effect Sykes has had on others is obvious. And it’s easy to see why if you look at what she really wants out of life: to love. “I want people to know that I’m a good person,” Sykes said. “I love the Lord, I love my family and I love a lot of people around me that I work with. I tell them that I love them, because tomorrow's not promised. You have to say what you're gonna say, whether good or bad, and tomorrow, if you say something bad, hopefully God will give you enough time to get it right. All of us make mistakes. I make mistakes all of the time. But, it’s a choice. You can make good choices and bad choices. I try to get it right, I probably haven’t gotten all of them right, but I do my best.”

AMAN PHOTOS FRANK THOMAS, COURTESY MAY SYKES

Through the 12 photos below, May Dell Sykes recounts events from her life including family reunions and other gatherings. 1

11 12 6

1. Sykes’s brother George on horseback at a rodeo in Boley, OK 2. Sykes’s great-granddaughter, Lyndsai 3. Son and grandson, Sean (bottom) and Marquise (top), the latter nicknamed “Ty” 4. (From left to right) “Ty,” Layla, Trumarian 5. Sykes’s mother, Christine, and Christine’s great-great-granddaughter, Lyndsai 6. Family photo taken on Christine’s 90th birthday. 7. Sykes’s daughter, Ann (right), and her granddaughter Jalisa (left) 8. Sykes’s friend Sheri (center), and her great-grandsons Marquise (left) and Maurice (right) 9. “The five generations picture” (Clockwise from top left) Sykes’s granddaughter Sofia, May, daughter Robin, mother Christine and great-granddaughter Lyndsai 10. Ann, Sykes’s daughter, riding a bike 11. Maurice (left) and Marquise (right) 12. Sykes with her children in a family photo (clockwise from top left) Sofia, Shawn Robinett, Ron, Ann, Lindsey, May, and Sean

|THE REMARKER |life| November 4, 2016 |

TEACHER BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

COVER-TO-COVER LAPTOPS. CELLPHONES. TABLETS. ADULTS TALK ABOUT HOW THEY DIDN’T HAVE THESE ‘FANCY GADGETS’ WHEN THEY WERE GROWING UP, INSTEAD ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES USING BOOKS. SO, WE ASKED SOME TEACHERS FOR A FEW SUGGESTIONS ON SOME FACULTY FAVORITE COVER-TO-COVER READS. 1. Answering Jihad Marietta Johnson, permanent substitute, in-school tutor: ‘I wanted to know more about the Quran and to see if I could understand a little better about terrorists and what inspires them to take the steps they do, and to ask how can the Muslims I know and the terrorists look to the same basic philosophy and coexist.’

2. Boomerang Math instructor Corindo Martin: ‘I thought he [author Michael Lewis] did a really good job of explaining the significance of entire countries defaulting on their loans, and he made it entertaining by picking out these characters. What makes these guys so interesting is they’re betting on which country will fail, and when they fail, this guy in Austin, Texas is making millions because he was smart enough to say they’re gonna fail .’

5. A Fine Balance Trustee Master Teacher Lynne Weber: ‘ A Fine Balance is a fascinating Indian novel about two parallel sets of men in India, one is a pair of beggars and the other is a pair of university students and follows them and their parallel paths in India.’

4. A Voyage for Madmen Marcus Master Teacher Bruce Westrate: ‘ A Voyage for Madmen is about a race that took place back in the ‘60s around the world, a sailing race, single person, to see who could win. I think a lot of people embark on things like this, they need this stimulation to keep them going. History is full of people like this. Many of them are highest achievers. But there’s a price to pay for it, surely. That I think is my biggest takeaway from the book.’

6. In Our Time Latin instructor Dave Cox: ‘When I discovered Ernest Hemingway I especially liked his short stories and I read a collection called In Our Time. I really liked his style in a many ways is simple, but the ideas conveyed are often very complex, and I think that is the sign of a really good author.’

12. The Atrocity Archives Science instructor Kenneth Owens: ‘The more math you do, the more dark intelligences are attracted to the earth and want to eat your brain. It’s the story of a guy who accidentally figures out some higher math and almost gets the world killed. And so to keep him under control, the British government hires him to keep anyone else from doing it.’

10. Challenger Deep Cinda Thoma, Library and Information Services Assistant Director: ‘I think that Challenger Deep is written in such an imaginative way that anyone who reads it gains insight into a very challenging illness.’

8. Give and Take Malcolm and Minda Brachman Master Teacher Martin Stegemoeller: ‘It’s a study about different approaches to interacting with other people. [Adam Grant] thinks through what the outcomes are for givers, people who give more than what they will get, vs matchers, who give as much to you as you give to me, or takers, whose goal is to get more out than they put in.’

LIFE

3. A Prayer for Owen Meany English Department Head Michael Morris: ‘I’ve read it three or four times and every time it makes me cry. That to me is testimony to a book. The first sentence is quite compelling and part of it reads I believe as follows: he [Owen Meany] is the reason I believe in God .’

7. If I Can, Y-Y-You Can! Nelson Master Teacher Jon Valasek: ‘It’s an autobiography, about a guy that started out with no self esteem and nothing going for him, and a stutter, an immense stutter, [who] could not speak and one thing leads to another and he ends up being an all American quarterback in Baylor, and leads his team to accomplish the championship. It’s a good book for both persons that need encouragement and for the encouragers.’ 9. The French Lieutenant’s Woman English Instructor Curtis Smith: ‘The book, when I was that age, that stirred me up the most was The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles. I was reading it and I said ‘no, this is not happening,’ and it made me get up out of the chair and throw the book across the room. I thought it was a very powerful book when I was 18. That’s the one that got the most reaction out of me.’ 11. Why is There Something Rather than Nothing? The Rev. Stephen Arbogast: ‘It’s a small book, it has about 30 questions in it, that are all the big questions that people think about when they wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep. It’s one of those books that you can have from now until you’re 110, and ask those same questions over and over again and get different answers.’

13. All the Light We Cannot See Math instructor Clara Ann Norman: ‘It shows two lives during World War 2, a blind girl in France and a young boy in Germany and how they gradually end up in the same place. It also gives an amazing insight to that time during World War 2– what was going on in the two different camps and how young people were growing up and how they each used their own strengths in very adverse conditions.’

14. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Tinsley Silcox, Library and Information Services Director: ‘‘HeLa’ cells came from a poor African American woman who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Probably the most remarkable part of the book is that this is allowed to happen. And that the people who took those cells and generated more cells and figured out a way to make a huge amount of money off the woman’s discarded tissue never even thought that it wasn’t ok.’

STORY MATTHEW ZHANG, ALBERT LUO PHOTO OWEN BERGER

Rahul Maganti earns all-state band honors Three others cited for excellence By Sam Shane

fter a rigorous audition, band director Tim Hicks was anxiously waiting for the results. He checked every five minutes to see if the results were taped up on the board. Finally, they were put up. Hicks rejoiced. Senior Rahul Maganti had made first chair in the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Jazz Ensemble. The TMEA Jazz Ensemble is no small feat for a student to make, and it is even more impressive for a private school student like Maganti to make it. “The ensemble takes about 40 auditions per instrument from public and private schools all around the state,” “Hicks said. “And there are two alto sax chairs that are up for the taking, so for Rahul to make the first alto sax chair, what people consider the quarterback of the band, is a huge achievement.” The audition process is extremely different from the regular band performances that Maganti and Hicks are used to, so it took a lot of time for them to prepare. “At the auditions,” Hicks said, “there is zero room for error. You’re being judged on your performance. At our band concerts, however, the people in the audience are friends and family. They won’t care if you mess up.” longside Maganti, seniors Chirag Gokani and Keith Kadesky and freshman Neal Reddy all recently made waves in the band program with their notable performances. The three of them made the Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB). “For me,” Gokani said, “making the ATSSB shows me that my work in the band during class has paid off.” Their auditions were different as well because it wasn’t a normal band concert that the three were performing at. Their auditions weren’t as intense as Maganti’s was, however. “My audition was actually really similar to a normal band performance.” Gokani said. “The only difference was that it was a judge rather than an audience.” Throughout both Gokani and Maganti’s experience, they both learned a lot about their instruments and learned a lot about themselves, too. “It was really fun,” Gokani said. “And it gave me more work with the bass guitar, so that’s always a big plus.”

CINEMATOGRAPHY

| November 4, 2016 |life| THE REMARKER |

WITH THE DEBUT OF BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 ON THE HORIZON, MICHAEL DOOREY ‘13 TALKS ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH HOLLYWOOD STARS AND WHAT IT TOOK TO GET THERE.

Behind the camera IN GOOD COMPANY Doorey (above) with high-profile actor Don Johnson on set in New York and (above right) Doorey with movie star Vince Vaughn.

e pulled up to the parking lot. The rising sun was like a backdrop. He grabbed his gear and took his first step on set. The frantic film crew, the occupied makeup department… a bald Vince Vaughn. It was overwhelming. He didn’t know what he was getting into, but he was ready to find out. ••• Michael Doorey ’13 would have never thought he’d be offered a once in a lifetime opportunity at his local church. When a producer showed up, that’s exactly what happened. All he had to do was show the portfolio he had created through his company, DJD Productions, and he landed a job working on an upcoming indie film. “It happened almost immediately, very quick, very unexpected,” Doorey said. “I’m very grateful that I get to be a part of it.” Amidst all the information thrown at him, there were a few outliers that really piqued his interest. Brawl in Cell Block 99. Vince Vaughn. Don Johnson. That’s when he realized this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill film being made. Before long, he was in the thick of things. “My first day on set was a lot to take in,” Doorey said. “I drove to set early that morning expecting to see a good amount of equipment and crew, but I pulled up to much more: trailers, tents, buses… everything. They had basically turned this massive parking lot into a

small village.” It was a little overwhelming at first, but Doorey didn’t have a choice but to just jump in. Once he did, he found himself enjoying every day of it. “My main duty was taking all of the behind the scenes footage and photos, so I had the greatest excuse to see and learn about anything I wanted to,” Doorey said. “From scouting locations to being at all of the fight rehearsals with Vince Vaughn, I got to see it all, and knowing how many moving parts there were made it even more rewarding to be a part of creating ‘Brawl.’ I can’t wait for the premiere because that’s when it’ll feel the best. Almost like getting closure.” But, like most jobs, there was a lot of stress and lofty expectations. “It was hard mentally and physically,” Doorey said. “Everyone wants every little detail to be perfect because IT’S PRETTY we all know how MUCH much of a difCONTROLLED ference it makes CHAOS. once you get — MICHAEL into the editing DOOREY room.” And the editing room was the best part of Doorey’s day. “Watching dailies was very exciting,” Doorey said. “Dailies are basically the good clips that you get from that day. I would get to watch dailies with the director some days, and having him be able to evaluate them so intricately, and have so many notes on what might have

been an eight-to-ten second shot, and be able to pick out so many different things is just mind blowing.” Aside from his director, Doorey loved the interactions he had with the actors, especially Vince Vaughn. “I mean, they’ll have conversations with you, they’ll joke with you and then when they’re needed they just turn it on,” Doorey said. “They just walk on set and they’re a different person. [Vince] would be sitting there in [his] chair getting makeup touched up and talking football with me, and all of a sudden they would say ready on set, and [he] would walk onset and he was no longer Vince Vaughn. He was the main character.” According to Doorey, Vaughn was a dedicated member of the set, doing everything possible to fit the character he was playing. “So, in the movie, we totally shaved Vince’s head,” Doorey said. “He was completely bald, and we had to shave [it] every single morning.” But Vaughn wasn’t the only one bringing his A game. All of the departments, from special effect to hair and makeup, were doing their best to make the movie as realistic as possible. “We had a bunch of in-scene shootouts,” Doorey said, “and instead of just doing CGI post-production stuff, we actually went to a police department and got permits. We had live firing guns loaded with blanks. We had real pistols, real explosions and real shootouts.” After all of the positive experienc-

es he has had, Doorey doesn’t plan on bringing his film career to a stop anytime soon. He believes he can use what he has learned from everyone he’s worked with in future projects. “In this little amount of time,” Doorey said, “it’s kind of staggering to myself. I think the biggest thing I learned was probably some of the intricacies of how movies work.” To get to this point, Doorey believes his experiences at school helped pave the way. He never would have thought his elective courses would amount to more than hobbies. “None of these opportunities would have come up if I hadn’t taken film studies and if I hadn’t done so much work with journalism and as a photographer,” Doorey said. Photography instructor Scott Hunt has seen students he has taught apply the skills they learned in a variety of ways, much like Doorey has. “Some of them have had jobs that involved photography,” Hunt said, “some of them have been able to utilize things they learned in photography such as lighting techniques that they then apply to things like 3D modeling and engineering, design and other activities.” Doorey thinks students should be open to all kinds of careers. “I think it’s incredibly important to actually look at these different paths that might just seem like electives,” Doorey said. “It’s still your schedule. You really can find something you’d unexpectedly love.”

STORY NAFTAL MAUTIA, DUNCAN KIRSTEIN COURTESY MICHAEL DOOREY

STORY NAFTAL MAUTIA, DUNCAN KIRSTEIN PHOTOS MICHAEL DOOREY

LIFE

|THE REMARKER |life| November 4, 2016 |

HOMECOMING

JOURNEY TO ATLANTIS FROM THE 10:30 A.M. PEP RALLY OCT. 22 TO THE 8 P.M. HOMECOMING DANCE THE NEXT DAY, BOTH THE CAMPUS AND THE HOUSE OF BLUES WERE TRANSFORMED INTO ATLANTIS. ALL-SCHOOL PEP RALLY Upper, Middle and Lower Schools congregate in Hicks Gym for a pep rally led by the cheerleaders.

HOMECOMING COURT King and Queen nominees (left to right) Andrew Whigham and Ashna Kumar, Dominic Lambert and Emma Paine, Rohin Maganti and Isabel Smith, Rene Reeder and Hannah Sung, Luke Rogers and Joy Nesbitt take the field at half time.

CROWNED Student Council VicePresident Andrew Lin crowns senior Andrew Whigham as Homecoming King.

QUEEN Hockaday senior and head cheerleader Emma Paine is crowned Homecoming Queen.

THE RETURN Fan favorite DJ and recent graduate “DJ” Umer Nadir ’15 returns once again to perform at Homecoming.

LASER LIGHT SHOW The Homecoming venue, House of Blues, transforms into an electric, laser-filled party.

MIXING MUSIC With the light show cut to just black and white, “DJ” Umer Nadir ‘15 jams out to EDM hit Sandstorm.

LIFE

PHOTOS FRANK THOMAS, KYLE SMITH, RILEY SANDERS, OWEN BERGER, RETT DAUGBJERG

HEADLINERS

Reviewing the best of the best — and the worst of the worst.

SHORTSTACK SHOWDOWN Pancakes. They’re the undispted kings of the breakfast table, but in a market flooded with mediocre flapjacks, finding a worthy pancake can be tough. So where can one find a quality breakfast? We sent Austin Montgomery and Duncan Kirstein to find out.

Norma’s

A throwback to a bygone era when the American people didn’t bother counting calories, Norma’s offers an updated take on the classic greasy spoon atmosphere. While the menu is fairly standard, offering a roster of traditional breakfast standbys, Norma’s executes each of them flawlessly. The bacon is thick and juicy, the eggs rich and creamy and the hash browns are fried to perfection. The crown jewel, of course, is the pancake stack—three buttery, artery-clogging monstrosities that melt in your mouth with every bite. Norma’s opts for quality over quantity—the plain pancakes are the only flavor, but they are the undisputed masters of their domain, easily crushing any who dare compete. You aren’t going to finish them (you think you will, but you won’t), but trying is definitely worth the experience.

B+

Angela’s Café

Angela’s Café fails to realize that giving a customer a good deal on pancakes doesn’t matter when the pancakes themselves aren’t good. For $5.50, you get three pancakes, served hot with butter and syrup. The pancakes don’t come with anything else though, and you need to drop a few extra dollars if you’re in the mood for something besides carbohydrates. While such an issue would normally be excusable, if you don’t add ungodly amounts of syrup, the food you do get has more in common with a brittle, misery-infused frisbee than a breakfast food. As your pancakes crumble onto the plate, disappointment stares you in the eyes. You may start crying over your wasted money, but at least your pancakes won’t be as dry.

IHOP

IHOP’s pancakes, to this day, give me faith in humanity. It’s a shame though, that after a stack of God’s gift to man, nobody ever really feels like hopping. Sadly, there is one thing that may keep people away from the restaurant. It is truly impossible to order a Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N’ Fruity without feeling a chunk of your masculinity slipping away. Trust me. I tried. There’s also not much to be said about the state of the tables. It’s harder than it should be to find one that your fingers won’t stick to (it is just syrup...isn’t it?), but if you can get past that, then feel free to enjoy your breakfast. IHOP sets itself apart from other pancake restaurants with variety, offering a host of dishes that range from the simple to the extravagant.

B+

Smoke

One wouldn’t think to order pancakes at a restaurant that continually sings the praises of its meat, but Smoke’s unorthodox take on the dish may be the most underrated item on the menu. Described as “heavy-handed”, the pancakes, made with ricotta cheese and blueberries, have a light, crispy crust that gives way to a soft, deliciously sweet center. To further distinguish their pancakes from the pack, Smoke chooses to eschew the typical pancake toppings in favor of warm, caramelized apricots and fresh cream. It’s an imaginative, slightly odd combination, but a glorious one.

REVIEWS AUSTIN MONTGOMERY, DUNCAN KIRSTEIN PHOTO FRANK THOMAS

LIFE

|November 4, 2016|life| THE REMARKER |

BUZZ

THIS ISSUE PANCAKE REVIEW

THE REMARKER

|THE REMARKER |commentary| November 4, 2016 |

November 2016 Monday

EDITOR IN CHIEF CASE LOWRY

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

MANAGING EDITOR RISH BASU ISSUES EDITOR JOHN CRAWFORD CREATIVE DIRECTOR GOPAL RAMAN SENIOR CONTENT EDITOR CORDAY CRUZ

MAGAZINE EDITORS CRAWFORD MCCRARY, KOBE ROSEMAN

End of 1st Trimester

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR RETT DAUGBJERG GRAPHICS DIRECTOR NAFTAL MAUTIA RESEARCH DIRECTORS WASEEM NABULSI, REECE RABIN

HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER FRANK THOMAS PHOTO EDITOR OWEN BERGER COMMENTARY EDITORS NICK MALVEZZI, JIMMY RODRIGUEZ NEWS EDITORS BLAKE DAUGHERTY, ALEC DEWAR NEWS WRITERS ANDY CROWE, MATEO GUEVARA, ANTONIO IVARRA, ZOHEB KHAN, DUNCAN KIRSTEIN, MICHAEL LUKOWICZ, KAMAL MAMDANI, NAFTAL MAUTIA, LYLE OCHS, JAMES ROGERS, MOHIT SINGHAL LIFE EDITORS DAVIS BAILEY, ZACH GILSTRAP LIFE WRITERS SAHIT DENDEKURI, JOHN GUNNIN, ERIC HIRSCHBRICH, DUNCAN KIRSTEIN, DYLAN LIU, ALBERT LUO, JASON PENG, MARK TAO, MATTHEW ZHANG SPORTS EDITORS WILL FORBES, MIKE MAHOWALD SPORTS WRITERS C.J. CRAWFORD, JOSH DANIELS, PARKER DAVIS, NATHAN HAN, ZACH LANDRY, JAHAZIEL LOPEZ, CONNOR PIERCE, NICK WALSH CAMPUS COORDINATOR SAM SUSSMAN REVIEWS SPECIALISTS PARKER MCWATTERS, AUSTIN MONTGOMERY BUSINESS MANAGER CARSON CROCKER COPY EDITORS ANDRE ARSENAULT, SAM SHANE CARTOONIST CHRISTIAN MCCLAIN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS MATEO DIAZ, GRAYSON FEICK, WESLEY HIBBS, JAYAN JOSHI, ADNAN KHAN, RYAN MCCORD, CHRIS MCELHANEY, RYAN NORMAN, TUCKER RIBMAN, CHARLIE RUBARTH, RILEY SANDERS, KYLE SMITH, KABEER SINGH, MO SINGHAL, JAKE YARCKIN STAFF ARTISTS JOON PARK, MATTHEW COLEMAN ADVISER RAY WESTBROOK ONLINE VIEWING. Each issue of The ReMarker, along with archival copies, can be viewed on the school’s website, www.smtexas. org/remarker. READER INVOLVEMENT. The ReMarker encourages reader input through letters, guest columns and story ideas. Contact the appropriate editor for submissions. Suggestions will be given due consideration for future publication. ADVERTISING. Contact the business staff at 214.346.8145. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Inclusion of an ad in the newspaper’s pages is not an indication of an endorsement by The ReMarker, any of its staff members or faculty or staff members of St. Mark’s School of Texas. DISTRIBUTION. Press run is 3,800 copies. Copies are provided free of charge to students, faculty and staff at various distribution sites on campus. More than 2,600 copies are mailed out to alumni courtesy of the school’s offices of External Affairs, Development and Alumni divisions. MEMBERSHIP. The ReMarker maintains membership in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, New York City, NY; National Scholastic Press Association, Minneapolis, MN; and the Interscholastic

EDITORIAL

Regarding no homework weekends: here's something you can do

e’ve all heard teachers say these on the Friday afternoon before no homework weekends: Since it’s a no homework weekend, both this and another worksheet will be due Tuesday. You don’t have to do anything for Monday, but there will be a test on Tuesday. No homework this weekend, but you will have two nights worth of homework due on Tuesday.

By school policy, teachers are prohibited from giving homework those two times a year that students are allowed a break from the rigorous workload that comes with this school — the end of the trimester. However, some teachers circumvent the no homework weekend that comes at the end of the first and second trimesters by giving extra homework for Tuesday, knowing that if students wish to earn a good grade or get a good night’s sleep on Monday night they will have to work over the weekend. If teachers do this, they are breaking the Honor Code that has been in place for decades and that they themselves sign. This begs the question: why should adults expect students to follow that same code when they are unwilling to do so? Head of Upper School Patrick Andrén has been working diligently to improve the situation,

and we have high hopes for more consistency from all teachers across campus in terms of the workload they give over those weekends. We applaud Andrén for what he has already done in teacher meetings, such as making announcements of the expectations of no homework weekends and what they mean to the students who work so hard for the rest of the school year. He has also sent out the dates of the no homework weekends to teachers so they can plan accordingly. Granted, teachers here provide us an ambitious syllabus that gives us a quality education. However ambitious a teacher

Increasingly frustrated by teachers who bend the rules regarding no homework weekend? The ReMarker offers you a plan of action.

League Press Conference, Austin.

might be, he or she must still adhere to the policies set forth. To that end, teachers should be held accountable for their actions, just as students are held accountable for theirs. The ReMarker has presented two editorials about this subject before, yet there are still some faculty members who have disrespected the policy and assigned homework. We feel it is time for action. To help uphold the policy, we encourage students to take a more aggressive role: we have created an email account to accept reports of a teacher’s abuse of the no homework weekend as they occur. To do this, all we would need would be a report of the class, the teacher and the assignment sent to remarkercommentary@ gmail.com. After the end of the trimester, we will give the findings of the reports to administrators. (Students’ names will not be included in the reports.) We applaud Andrén’s willingness to help students’ voices be heard among the faculty, and we believe changes are overdue. It’s time to make no homework weekends actual no homework weekends.

EDITORIAL

Utilize resources at school; don't be so quick to hire a tutor

n certain situations, tutors can be huge benefits to the students. Tutors can repackage information in different ways and use different study methods to help their clients, which can ultimately lead to an improvement in the student’s grade. Tutors can be successful when they’re used as an additional resource, but not as a crutch. However, that is often not the case.

COMMENTARY

Students are repeatedly going straight to a tutor rather than trying to work out their issue with the teacher first, and parents are panicking over one bad assessment. Our entire faculty is comprised of a collection of some of the best teachers in the nation, all of whom are willing to help students outside of the classroom. We need to seek out our teachers' advice and

consultation before giving up and searching for a tutor. Our teachers can help provide more specific information and helpful advice specifically tailored to their course and the way they teach their course, rather than generalized information that could be different from the way a certain instructor would like the material to be taught. Our faculty is always open to

meeting with their students, and most teachers are available before school starts. As students, we need to consult with our teachers first before impulsively finding a tutor. Let’s take advantage of the opportunities being given to us by our faculty, instead of impulsively reacting to one bad grade or mid-trimester by hiring a tutor right away.

Managing editor Rish Basu talks about the importance of finding role models in one’s life.

here is nothing that would be more appealing to me than working within the business operations of a professional sports team. Therefore, faced with an opportunity to go anywhere in the world at any period of time, I see a relation between Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory character, Charlie Bucket, and me. With a golden ticket to explore Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, Charlie embarks on a tour that forever changes his life. Similarly, I would like to go on a personal tour of Mark Cuban’s office. Dallas Mavericks owner and multi-millionaire Mark Cuban is an atypical entrepreneur. He has accumulated almost $2 million in fines to the NBA, invested in over 100 startup companies and acquired a reputation as a distinctive television personality through his work on Shark Tank. With an accomplished background in the fields of business and sports, along with RISH BASU natural charisma, Cuban is a modManaging editor ern-day icon and personal role model for his inclination to help others and to be innovative. Not unlike Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, I envision Cuban’s office holding a myriad of secrets to his “recipe” for a successful business. More specifically, Cuban’s office will serve as a timeline of his adult life that I could use and apply, allowing me to explore his endeavors in a chronological order. Starting the tour inside of his office, I would hope to learn about his upbringing as a bartender and dance instructor, viewing pictures and other memorabilia that detail his interactions and transactions when he held these jobs. I want to have the opportunity to experience multiple areas of business in the upcoming years, so I will ask Cuban why they were important to his development as a young businessman. fter delving into Cuban’s ventures as a budding entrepreneur, the tour will shift to his enterprise in professional sports. When I was a child, I watched live streams of Dallas Mavericks basketball games every day and utilized sports broadcasting, a concept that jumpstarted Cuban’s success in professional sports. As a result, the next portion of the tour would revolve around Cuban’s creation and sale of Broadcast.com, the first live-streaming website of the dot com boom. Because Cuban is known for selling his initial businesses, I will engage in a discussion as to why he sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo about the benefits and deficits of selling a company. Although the domain Broadcast.com is currently a relink to Yahoo’s website, my golden ticket will allow me to access the original Broadcast.com website, a valuable relic for sports fans like me. More importantly, Cuban’s human touch that he brings to his interactions and his ability to appreciate drive and work ethic in others has allowed him to build a reputation of approachability and helpfulness, traits that I hope to exemplify. His emphasis on personal relationships and cooperation allow me to see aspect of myself in him, making this tour more than a fantasy expedition. The character that Cuban embodies is one that I hope to emulate, truly affirming him as a role model in my life. Finally, the end of the tour once again bears an uncanny resemblance to the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Accordingly, the fictional comparison of Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka to Rish Basu and Mark Cuban is still applicable. Similar to Willy Wonka rewarding Charlie with the entire factory itself after completing the tour, I am hoping that after an entire day spent with Mark Cuban, I will be rewarded with the keys to his empire for a few hours, which includes the ownership of the Dallas Mavericks and a one-time appearance on the reality television series. So, I hope those who read this find a personal role model in his or her life, because even though I have no idea what I’m going to do later in life, there’s always that one dream that might come true.

It’s ok to discuss the election unless you interject your own opinion into the discussion to persuade others to support the candidate.

Word on the

STREET Students and faculty share their opinions on issues in the news and around campus.

Seun Omonije junior

SHORT &TWEET A view of the student body in 140 characters or less

waseemthedream

sammysanchez_19 “Today I found a toy in my cereal bowl and I wasn’t even excited. Is this adulthood?”

“*screams internally*.”

Junior Sammy Sanchez

Junior Waseem Nabulsi

samshane27_

lildrew1515

“rt if you signed up for 17 clubs too many today at club fair” Junior Sam Shane

“Noooooooooooo” Senior Andrew Whigham

gfeick26

jasonyoo53 “all I do is hang with the young and heartless”

Freshman Jason Yoo

“I’m going to commit to University of Phoenix for lacrosse just so I can say I’m committed.” Sophomore Grayson Feick

trinidadshanez

RemarkerSports “Football with the huge 49-0 blowout of TACA for their first win of season”

“ I would straight up take the PSAT every year just for the a1 tweets.”

Follow ReMarker Sports on Twitter!

Sophomore Shane Ndeda

THE SIGNAL

Full bars Sophomore Retreat The sophomore retreat was a huge success, helping the class of 2019 develop plans for the future with the help of the juniors.

Calls dropping

No signal Wi-Fi signal

Senior shoes on Fridays

The Wi-Fi connection has been spotty lately, making it very difficult for students to do work at school when they need to do it.

If seniors are allowed to wear different shirts and shorts on Fridays, the shoes shouldn’t have to follow the uniform policy.

It’s important for us to know about the election because we will eventually have to vote.

I believe the pertinent issues regarding the election are important to be discussed in an academic setting.

Dean Clayman assistant head of Middle School

Judson Dommer freshman

Yes, because its important to our nation, and it will decide who will run our country.

Thomas Philip seventh grader

With such a controversial presidential race happening this year, it seems like everyone has an opinion on the two candidates. With the election coming up, do you think we should talk about it in class?

“

No, in the sense that although there are many people that are accepting of others’ beliefs, there are those who aren’t willing to hear and most likely turn the discussion into a pointless argument. Jack Katz sophomore

| November 4, 2016 |commentary| THE REMARKER |

The Willy Wonka experience

Yes, the election should be discussed. But teachers should talk through the issues that seem important but stop short of stating opinions. I have no problems with kids talking about the election though.

Martin Stegemoeller Malcom and Minda Brachman Master Teaching Chair

Yes, because we need to know what is going on in the world, even if it’s a bad election.

Will Ingram senior

COMMENTARY

A gnarled, white-fanged wolf

was only 14, but I knew nature. I domesticated it. In neat, properly-capitalized sentences, nature silently sheathed its canine claws and obeyed. While I’d never truly been immersed in nature, I’d seen pictures— wide, sweeping panoramas of mountain fog; sun-drenched horizons of bleached sand and frothing sea-foam; purewhite wolves Gopal Raman Creative Director nestled in soft snow. That was what my nature was—the kind worth writing about. In my mind, I thought nature belonged with all of her flora and fauna, in other words, outside. And as a student and writer, I belonged inside, looking through a window. Then, I was pushed out the door. No longer could I twist a knob and control my climate. No longer could I close my notebook and escape to the Internet. No longer could I hide from what I thought I knew so well. With more than 80 other classmates, I embarked on one of the school’s most revered and hallowed traditions: the Pecos wilderness trip. For 10 days, I was to retreat into the wild and discover myself. After a few days on the trail, I’d

dirtied up my hands and nails a bit, gotten used to the hikes and even slept pretty well in my fairly thin sleeping bag, but I was clogged. I couldn’t write. I even brought a “Rite in the Rain All Weather Journal,” but its yellow plastic cover just glared back at me. I didn’t get it. Wasn’t I supposed to feel an endless stream of inspiration in nature? Now that I had “shed all my comforts,” shouldn’t the world open itself up to me? This deeply unsettling writer’s block kept frustrating me every time I looked at my journal, so I decided to shove the waterproof pages down to the bottom of my pack and just ignore it. Then came the solo experience. On this famed day, each student was given a tarp, cable, sleeping bag, two Nalgene bottles, a pen and a journal. For 24 hours, we were supposed to be alone and reflect on our lives. Still feeling clogged and bloated in my head, I started setting up my camp for the night, and I had just finished tying my knot on the bending branch when I saw the beast saunter past. A gnarled, white-fanged wolf. I could do nothing but stare, dumbfounded, at the dust-speckled animal walking by and paying no mind to me. Air shot in and filtered out through his jagged teeth, and I could hear his wild pant. The moment the snow-furred wolf left my sight, my knees wobbled, and I immediately sat down on my sleeping

bag. Ideas, phrases and details all rooted in the wolf’s image coursed through my veins, and I started writing something radically different. I didn’t try to talk about every animal or every wild beast or even every wolf—I talked about that one wolf, that one wolf I actually saw. This insistence on narrow, vivid imagery broke through my sluggishness. After truly biting into my experience with the wolf, I learned to apply that focus to other aspects of my trip, like the night sky. On one of my last nights in Pecos, the night’s white jewels burned into my mind like light on inky filmstrip, and their back-lit fires blazed awake once more, 11 months later—in an apple. lmost a year after Pecos, I travelled to Sewanee, The University of the South, where I attended the Young Writers’ Conference. One day, my teacher carried in a bag drooping with the weight of a dozen apples and plopped them down on each of our desks. By focusing only on my fruit for what seemed like hours, I dissected the apple with words. On its skin, there was a “watercolor war / between burning reds and lazy yellows,” and Pecos nights came to life in its “starry core, a white midnight / constellation.” In the apple’s brushed brown seeds, “satin brown…cellulose skeletons” blended with “orchards of Monrovia” and “nitrogen south of Nigeria.” In every atom, this small apple pulled together vastly distant parts of

EXPLOSIVE SITUATION | CARTOON CHRISTIAN MCCLAIN, KOBE ROSEMAN

my world. While my poem doesn’t tell the stories of millions of people or animals, it tells the story of something I think is just as important: one beautiful apple. By biting deep into such a narrow subject, I tasted the sweetness of imagery and found my voice. Writing is such a core part of my identity, and once I found my own style, I knew myself more deeply. I knew that I loved connecting intimately with my audience, no matter how big or small. I knew that I could become a better person and poet by always coming from a place of love and empathy. And most importantly, I knew that as a poet, my poems weren’t just my own—they were my audience’s too. By sharing my poetry, I get to connect and create experiences with other people I might’ve never known. I get this incredible opportunity to give somebody else a piece of art and let the reader absorb it into his or her life. The real reason I write is because I love to create. When I sit down and write, I pull something entirely new and unique into existence. I dig deep into the earth with bare hands and mine for something fresh. Sometimes, I find that gem, that little apple or wolf. But sometimes I don’t. Sometimes, all I’m left with are dirty nails. And that’s okay.

WAKE UP CALL

Surprising numbers from campus and beyond

52% 38%

SOURCE: Census.gov website

Age range

GRID

NOTICED

THE

School spirit

Our opinions on what’s going on around campus, all in one place.

The low turnout across the school for the recent home game against TACA was awful. Let’s pick it up and support our fellow Lions.

Atlantis

Despite being at the same venue as last year, Homecoming was a great success. Thanks to the Student Council for such a fun night!

Fenced off grass

BRILLIANT

The grass has been fenced off very early this year, which is not allowing middle schoolers to play their football games before school and at lunch.

Respect the cafeteria

Let’s stop leaving our dirty trays and food wrappers around the cafeteria for others to clean up. Is it really that hard to take care of your own tray?

COMMENTARY

Pep rally with Hockaday Hats off to both St. Mark’s and Hockaday student councils for organizing a great pep rally. We would love to see more of these in the future.

Food drive

No double homework over Yom Kippur

Waiting to serve

Let’s not wait until the last weekend to try to cram in our community service hours. The community needs our help throughout the trimester, not just on the last weekend.

45+

30-44

AMERICA

60%

24-29

This is risky

70%

18-24

Percent of people who voted

Which wire do we cut?

BAFFLING

|THE REMARKER |commentary| November 4, 2016 |

OVERLOOKED

It was great to see the faculty not assign two nights of homework over the Yom Kippur holiday, allowing those who observe to not have to worry about extra homework, and those who don’t to get some rest.

We had a successful food drive this year led by heads Ben Hurst and Sahit Dendekuri. Great job to all involved.

Sports editor Will Forbes talks about the real motivation behind high school sports.

MAKING PLAYS Hauling in a pass from quarterback Will Forbes, senior wide receiver Rish Basu makes a move against an EHS defender before his helmet is ripped off.

oming from an academically-focused school like St. Mark’s, for most of us, the end of high school will coincide with the end of sports. Sure, there will be a couple people who go on to play in college. And sure, for those of us who really want to, we can pursue intramurals as a way to stay athletically active in college. But realistically, most of our athletic aspirations don’t extend much past chasing SPC championships or trying to beat ESD and Greenhill. There comes a point in WILL FORBES every young Sports editor athlete’s career when they recognize that they aren’t going to be professional athletes, and they realize their time playing sports is finite. For me, this moment came last year after a loss to Kinkaid in the SPC semi-finals ended my sophomore football season. I hadn’t gotten any playing time that season and had done almost nothing to contribute to the team’s success, but nonetheless that team, the first varsity team I had been part of, meant the world to me. Seeing the seniors, guys like Jackson Cole and Matthew Placide and Drew Baxley, who I had looked up to since middle school, taking off their pads for the last time, put things in perspective for me. They were crushed. I thought watching their season end NO FRUSTRATION with a heart- THAT I FEEL CAN breaking loss COMPARE TO in the playoffs THE TOLL THIS was bad until SEASON HAS TAKEN ON OUR this season. SENIORS. My junior football season was, in a word, frustrating. In lots of words, my junior football season was the combination of an inexperienced roster, a plethora of injuries and schedule that was a gauntlet of matchups against division one prospects that led to on-field successes being few and far between. But as frustrating as the season was for me, no frustration that I feel, or any of the other juniors and sophomores on the team feel, can compare to the toll this season has taken on our seniors. The hardest part of this season was watching them get rewarded for all their years of work with such a frustrating season. Obviously losing sucks, but as a junior with a whole other season left to play next year, losing for me is nothing compared to what it is for the seniors. But I look up to the seniors the same way I looked at last year’s. Even though we didn’t win many games this year, those guys stuck it out through one of the most frustrating seasons in school history. I just wish we could’ve gotten them more wins.

RYAN NORMAN PHOTO

a peek INSIDE

at a GLANCE

Inside the sports section

A brief look at sporting events on campus

MAKING A MARK What the pros and cons are of walking on in college

MALE CHEERLEADER A look at the first male cheerleader since 2002

FAMILY AFFAIR The pressure involved with being a coach’s son

FREEZING TIME ReMarker staff members test out cryotherapy

JV TEAMS CHANGE TRAVEL POLICIES As of this season, junior varsity teams now travel to places such as Houston and Oklahoma due to the SPC realignment. These distances are new to JV athletes. “It was a good experience,” freshman Andrew Laczkowski said, speaking on the JV volleyball team travelling to Houston. “And we also beat the team in straight sets.” Laczkowski mentions the quality of the bus when travelling with the volleyball teams. “There were T.V.’s, tables and there were mattresses in the back,” Laczkowski said, “granted they were for the varsity team members, but it was an extremely nice bus, and it definitely exceeded my expectations.”

for the RECORD A status update on Lions sports teams

Varsity football

1 wins

8 losses Varsity volleyball

15 wins

ALUMNI MAKE THEIR MARK IN THE PROS Alumni Sam Acho ’07 of the Chicago Bears and Ty Montgomery ’11 of the Green Bay Packers have both made significant impacts in the NFL this season. Acho, an outside linebacker for the Bears, has record-

losses JV football

wins

losses

Follow @remarkersports on Twitter for live updates on Lions sports teams

ed 11 total tackles and one sack for the season. His best game this year came against the Philadelphia Eagles Sept. 19 when he made three tackles and had one sack. The Bears’ next game is Nov. 13 when they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa Bay. Montgomery, a wide receiver, running back and kick returner for the Packers, had a breakout game against the Dallas Cowboys Oct. 16. Montgomery caught 10 passes for 98 yards, rushed three times for six yards and had 64 kickoff return yards in the Packers’ 30-16 loss. Montgomery’s next opponent with the Packers is the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 13. MIDDLE SCHOOL SPORTS FINISH Both eighth grade football and volleyball have been dominant, each boasting perfect records. Led by quarterbacks Connor Gaffney and Matthew Epperson, the eighth grade football team holds a 5-0 record coming off of a recent 20-0 shutout against Oakridge.

Seventh grade football holds an impressive record of 3-1-1 with a recent 14-6 victory over Oakridge. Eighth grade volleyball continued their 15-game win streak with a recent victory over Trinity Valley by a score of 2-0. 7th grade volleyball looks to improve their 9-7 record with an upcoming match against Greenhill on the 18th. JV TEAMS WRAPPING UP The junior varsity football and volleyball teams have continued to succeed, but they both feel they need to improve. “We only have about 12 freshmen who are all-in for the team,” offensive and defensive lineman Carr Urschel said, “and that’s what is going to help us for the rest of the season to succeed, and maybe go undefeated.” “We still have room to improve,” sophomore volleyball player Mark Tao said, “and hopefully we will continue to find success on the court.” The volleyball team sits at 12-1, and the football team finished its season with a 6-2 record.

—CJ Crawford, Conner Pierce, Josh Daniels, Jahaziel Lopez

in the SPOTLIGHT

404

receiving yards by the junior receiver this year

Matthew Fornaro

JUNIOR MATTHEW FORNARO

2 13

touchdowns scored in the first eight games of the season Fornaro’s average yards per catch

SPORTS

| November 4, 2016 |sports| THE REMARKER |

Winning one for the seniors

|THE REMARKER |sports| November 4, 2016 |

WALKING ON

SOAKING IT IN LSU running back Justin Jones (left) poses in his new locker before the first game of the season. Following a nail-biter championship game, unseeded North Carolina celebrates in the stands (below). Riley Graham ’14 (right) poses for a photo after one of his practices.

hen Riley Graham ’14 walked across Hunt Field following his last game as a high-school lacrosse player, he knew he wanted something more. He knew he couldn’t be done for good. He knew he had the motivation and passion to play the sport at a higher level. Before he even stepped off the field, Riley Graham made up his mind. For him, the thought of playing a varsity collegiate sport had always been appealing. The glory of being a Division One athlete is hard to deny, but Graham’s situation was a little different. Admitted as a preferred walk on at the University of North Carolina, his spot on the team was earned, not given—just as every walk on athlete’s is across the nation. Guys like assistant athletic director Josh Friesen and Justin Jones ’16 know all too well the effort that’s put into walking on a collegiate sports team. “Like I tell people all the time, football is a job, actually more than a job, it truly is a grind,” Jones said. “Your whole schedule—classes, workout times, practice, team meetings—is planned out months in advance. If I’m not in class, at home or eating, I’m at our football operations building working out, watching film or going to some team meeting and practicing.” Jones, who played running back in high school, opted to walk on to the football team at LSU because of the benefits it provided both athletically and academically. “Walking on provided me with the ability to basically choose my college from an academic aspect,” Jones said. “Meaning that based on my aspiring major, I chose a school that was widely acclaimed as producing successful environmental engineers.” Friesen, a former dual-sport athlete at the University of Kansas, feels that walk ons must be disciplined in order to manage this harsh student-athlete lifestyle on a day-to-day basis. During his experience at Kansas, he realized how difficult being an athlete really is. “Basketball was basically 10 hours a week from November through the end

THE SACRIFICE IS GREAT, BUT THE REWARD IS GREATER. EVERY WALK-ON ATHLETE IN THE NATION KNOWS HOW MUCH WORK IT TAKES. BUT IN THE END, IT’S ALL JUST. . .

STEP TOWARD THE FUTURE of March,” Friesen said. “Ten hours a week for five months. And then track and field was even more.” For Graham, his commitment is even more extreme. At a top lacrosse program like UNC, he has to devote 24 to 30 hours to lacrosse weekly depending on the season. A month after matriculating to the University of Kansas, Friesen made the decision to walk on the university’s basketball team. At a slender 6’6”, he had all the tools to give basketball a shot. “I built up the guts and walked into the basketball office and started talking to the coaches,” Friesen said. “They took a chance and said, ‘Why don’t you come to some of our open gyms. If we think you can play, we’ll invite you back.’” Friesen, like Jones and Graham, made the cut his freshman year, and he was fortunate enough to play on the varsity and JV teams, where he got most of his game reps. “I walked on with very little glory,” Friesen said, “you don’t get to suit up for every game, and you’re expected to work just as hard in practice. We even had an opportunity to play some games at the JV level.” As a preferred walk on at UNC, Graham had less of this problem. He was still a step below the high school commits who received scholarships for

their ability, but Graham knew early on he wanted to make a significant impact on his team. “I came in at a level below most of the other guys on the team,” Graham said, “so I spent countless hours throughout my freshman year throwing on the wall, doing extra conditioning and attempting to learn the schemes. I definitely would not say it was an easy process.” lthough putting in the countless hours was by no means easy, Graham’s work allowed him to make that impact he was striving for. According to Friesen, this is the mindset that a walk on athlete must have. Being a walk on, he realized he was not playing for the awards. “You have to have a unique personality in order to be a walk-on,” Friesen said. “Because you are gonna be putting in a lot of work for zero glory. There was never any kind of expectation of playing time. If you got any, you felt like it was just icing on the cake. So you didn’t expect it whatsoever.” He realized that he was not in it to impress other people or establish an identity encompassing basketball. He believes it’s the relationships that make the complete walk on experience. “You have to do it for you,” Friesen said. “You don’t want to do it for other

people, and you don’t want to do it to impress people. Because people aren’t going to like you just for being on a team.” Jones also feels that unique identity as a walk on. He believes that the appeal lies in the love for the game rather than the starting job. “Most guys feel like they still have the ability to play and also just love the game with a major passion,” he said. “The popularity and the gear is a definite plus, but in the end, that is only a small fraction of the full experience. Being with the guys and getting to know your teammates on a personal level is probably the most interesting and exciting thing that attracts most walk ons.” While the playing time is hard to come by, a walk on knows that the end result is often worth it. And according to Graham, if you don’t focus on making the team better everyday, you shouldn’t walk on. “If you have the mindset of not playing much going into the whole process, then you shouldn’t be doing it at all,” Graham said. “Your focus should be on improving as much as you can every day so that you can help your team in any way IF I HAD possible. It’s not ASKED about the individABOUT ual as much as it PLAYING TIME, I DON’T is about the larger goal of the team.” THINK THEY For Graham, WOULD’VE it was indeed TAKEN ME. well worth it. The — JOSH countless hours of FRIESEN managing practice time vs. study time vs. free time all paid off. Because two years after Graham made that decision to pursue a dream, he was hoisting a national championship trophy with the best team in the country. “It was probably the happiest day of my life.” Graham said. “While I had no idea this would happen when I was starting the process of walking on, the thought that it could should be a big enough appeal for those considering the process.”

STORY MIKE MAHOWALD, ZACH LANDRY PHOTOS RYAN NORMAN, RILEY GRAHAM, JUSTIN JONES STRIKING A POSE Riley Graham ’14 (second row, fifth over) poses along with his teammates. The North Carolina Tar Heels defeated Maryland to claim the 2016 national championship.

SPORTS

Junior Cooper Johnson pursues passion, shadows orthopedic surgeon by Zach Landry e’s not the star football player, yet he is an integral part of the team. His job often goes unnoticed, but he takes pride in what he does. Junior Cooper Johnson loves sports medicine, and now he’s shadowing an orthopedist, elevating his passion to another level. “I’ve heard a lot about [orthopedics] and read a lot about orthopedics and orthopedic surgery, and I feel like it’s an extraordinary opportunity to see if it’s something I’d like to do,” Johnson said. Johnson will shadow orthopedic surgeon and football team doctor Dr.

Brett Raynor, who works at Texas Orthopedic Associates. And when it comes to sports medicine, Raynor is a jack-of-all-trades. “He does all kinds of orthopedic sports injuries.” Johnson said. “He’ll do knees, elbows, ankles, legs, hip replacements [and] ACL surgeries.” Johnson will get a first-hand look at Raynor’s rigorous daily routine. From short consultations with patients to lengthy surgeries, Johnson will see it all. “I’ll definitely see the inner workings of what goes on in surgery centers and what goes on beyond the office in the doctor’s room,” Johnson said. “I

get to see different kinds of surgeries and see different kinds of injuries, and it’s really an experience, [seeing] the grunt work of the job.” Training and sports medicine have always been Johnson’s passions, starting at an early age. “I’ve really been with [head athletic trainer] Matt [Hjertsted] since the sixth grade waterboy program.” Johnson said. “But I’ve done athletic training since seventh grade and as a student athletic trainer for the school since eighth grade. And it’s really all I’ve known in the fall.” Johnson’s relationship with Hjertstedt is what gave him the opportunity

to shadow Raynor. “Being close to Matt and getting to know him, he invited me to come shadow [Raynor] in the operating room,” Johnson said. Johnson plans to pursue orthopedics and go to medical school after college, hopefully leading to a profession as an orthopedic surgeon. “I’d like to go into orthopedics or medicine in general,” Johnson said. “That really is something I want to do in the future. Going into sports medicine and going into athletic training and medicine, [shadowing] gives me really good preparation going forward.”

MALE CHEERLEADER

A familiar face HE’S THE FIRST MALE CHEERLEADER HERE IN 14 YEARS, AND NICK KOWALSKE IS READY TO LEARN THE ROPES.

reshman Nick Kowalske finds his spot next to the cheerleaders at the first pep rally of the year. He stands in front, ready to stunt. He practiced enough, both at home and with his teammates, but he’s new and inexperienced. He thinks back to the hours he’s spent teaching himself. He’s ready to perform.

“The first pep rally was lots of fun, but I was still very new,” Kowalske said. “Getting to stunt at the second one was a good opportunity to show what I had learned so far and that I was becoming a part of the team.” Rewind 51 years. Warren Foxworth ’66 stands in front of the entirety of his upper school peers. He’s poised and eager to try out for one of four coveted male cheerleading spots. He’s in his school uniform, but he knows he has to put on a cheer that leaves the gym with a good impression. “I remember it vividly,” Foxworth said. “I tried to do this thing where you jump and touch your hands to your feet. I’m not limber, I’m not coordinated, and I ripped my pants.” Even though Foxworth admits his ability to cheer was lacking, he was still elected as a member of the cheerleading team--a position he shared with three other classmates. This legacy is continued by Nick Kowalske, the first male cheerleader the school has had since 2002. With more than 50 years separating them, Foxworth acknowledges that Kowalske’s experience will be unlike his own. Cheerleading has become more competitive and less of a popularity contest. “Cheerleading was a lot different back then,” the Middle School head said. “We had no cheerleading skills. We had no cheerleading coach. The boys were elected, and the girls were just chosen by the boys. They didn’t try out.” For Foxworth, being a cheerleader then was comparable to being today’s superfan men, the two student-elected “hype-men” of pep rallies and Upper School assemblies. Somewhere along the way, though, male interest in cheerleading lost its foothold.

Now, the cheerleading team is organized and carried out by Hockaday. Foxworth and Kowalske both agree this has been very beneficial for the communities to become more involved with each other. “Now it seems to be Hockaday cheerleading, which is fine,” Foxworth said. “I appreciate the support from Hockaday. It’s nice that they have that venue and outlet for the girls who have that interest.” But this yearwith Kowalske joining the squad, there are more opportunities for the school to engage. And for Kowalske, despite having no experience cheering, he uses his prior gymnastics knowledge to help with cheers. After playing on the volleyball team fell through, he opted to take a leap of faith and join the cheer squad. “I was interested because I learned a little bit with a friend, so I thought it’d be fun just to try it,” Kowalske said. “It was mostly an independent decision, and when I told people about it, they supported me to do it.” As he continues his run as a cheerleader, Kowalske is optimistic about his future. The freshman plans on further perfecting his skills and attending the summer training camp so he can bond more closely with his fellow spirit leaders. To Foxworth, the training Kowalske will undergo is undoubtedly more intensive than his experience. “We’d go to a Herkie Herkimer [former SMU cheerleader, founder of the National Cheerleading Association] cheerleading camp at SMU in the sum-

mer,” Foxworth said. “You’d learn some cheers and some basic old fashioned lifts, but nothing like the tumbling and the stuff they do today.” Unlike Foxworth, Kowalske has the opportunity to cheer for the entirety of his high school career and really hone on his skills. “I’ll probably cheer for the rest of my time at St. Mark’s, but I’d like to be more involved and definitely be able to try out at the end of the year,” Kowalske said. “I’ll be prepared and able to go to the camp over the summer. It’ll help me prepare for next season, and I’m looking forward to the rest of this one.”

VARIETY Freshman Nick Kowalske and his fellow cheerleading squad members practice on the football field, preparing for their upcoming pep rally.

EVERYONE IS REALLY SUPPORTIVE AND KNOW THAT I’M NEW TO IT, AND THEY’RE HELPING ME LEARN HOW TO DO THINGS— NICK KOWALSKE

STORY CJ CRAWFORD, MIKE MAHOWALD PHOTO RYAN NORMAN

SPORTS

| November 4, 2016 |sports| THE REMARKER |

|THE REMARKER |sports| November 4, 2016 |

WRAP-UPS

THE BOYS OF FALL GETTING READY FOR THE FALL SPC CHAMPIONSHIPS, THE LIONS’ FALL TEAMS ARE ANTICIPATING PLAYING THEIR FINAL GAMES AND PREPARE FOR TOURNAMENT PLAY, HOPING TO END THEIR SEASONS ON HIGH NOTES

Volleyball Young squad grows into championship contender

Football

Frustrating season provides valuable experience for underclassmen

VOLLEYBALL RECORD: 15-7 SPC STANDING: Second THEY SAID IT: “I think we have a good shot of winning SPC. We just have to really buckle down on our communication and then I think we’ve got it” - Jacob Hum, senior volleyball captain KEY MOMENT: Comeback victory over Greenhill to finish SPC schedule ahead of championship tournament. FINISHING THEIR CAREER: John Crawford, Nate Dix, Killian Green, James Hancock, Jacob Hum, Liam Sohn

FOOTBALL RECORD: 1-7 SPC STANDING: Seventh THEY SAID IT: “We’ve had to overcome many hurdles this season, the biggest one being the amount of injuries we’ve sustained to several key player, but we have no quit in us.” - Clarke Wood, senior football captain KEY MOMENT: 49-0 victory over TACA FINISHING THEIR CAREER: Rish Basu, Bryce Blinn, Grant Brooks, Chris Chen, Boyd Howard, Reid Johannsen, Dominic Lambert, Hyer Thomas, Eli Ware, Clarke Wood.

Cross Country

After losing key leadership from last year, cross country looks to get back to its winning ways in SPC meet. CROSS COUNTRY BEST FINISH: Second place at Lovejoy XC Fall Festival THEY SAID IT: “By the time you get to SPC, it’s not a matter of hoping — it’s a matter of competing to your best ability, I think we can be there and be able to compete for the top spot.”- head cross country coach John Turek KEY MOMENT: Beating Greenhill at the SPC North Zone meet. FINISHING THEIR CAREER: Daniel Cope, Nolan Jenevein, Scott Smythe

SPORTS

Fencing

Nearing end of season, fencing squad looks to place well in final tournaments

FENCING NOTABLE: For each weapon, the fencing team has two captains THEY SAID IT: “I think there is a lot more structure there this year. I feel like this season, the leadership has been a lot stronger this year,” - René Reeder, senior fencing captain KEY MOMENT: New policy held the team accountable for showing up to practice, insuring that everyone would get consistently better. FINISHING THEIR CAREER: Kevin Choi, Ivan Day, Kaden Han, Keith Kadesky, René Reeder, Eric Shang, Eddie Yang, Thomas Zhang

| November 4, 2016 |sports| THE REMARKER |

CROSS COUNTRY TRADITIONS

RUNS IN THE FAMILY PASSING DOWN TRADITIONS LIKE PRACTICE RUNS AND HELPING YOUNGER MARKSMEN STRUGGLE THEIR WAY THROUGH GRUELING WORKOUTS, CROSS COUNTRY SENIORS USE THEIR EXPERIENCE TO BOND THE TEAM TOGETHER. Will Forbes: How does senior leadership influence the team? Sophomore Seth Weprin: Without them a lot of the stuff we do wouldn’t happen, like our Friday morning runs. If it wasn’t for them none of that would happen. A lot of the stuff we do outside of running wouldn’t happen, like going to breakfast and everything. I think they’re really a big part of the team. Freshman Luke Evangelist: They’re sort of a way to connect with us through coach Turek so they do exactly what coach Turek tells them, and obviously we’re not always going to do exactly what coach Turek says, but we have the captains to listen to us, so we can tell something to the captains he’ll tell it to coach Turek. They’re really a way to communicate, and so they help bring the team together. WF: How do you hope to take over the leadership role as you become upperclassmen? SW: When I’m an upperclassman, I hope we can do more of the runs we used to do on Sunday because those are a great way to bring the team together, we just go for a run somewhere and go to breakfast together afterward. It’s usually fun for everyone. It’s a lot more chill than a normal practice, there’s no coaches or anything, and everyone wants to do it, so it’s a lot better atmo-

sphere than a normal practice. LE: It’s just great to know that the leadership has been passed down, and just a way of remembering those before you and that without them this wouldn’t be possible. It’s a really good memory, to know that these people that the runs are named after, these were the Marksmen that came before us. If we can model what they did and run like they did then we’ll be good. WF: What are some of the runs you guys go on that have been passed down over the years? SW: The two we go on most are Short Hock, which is a five-mile run, it goes around Hockaday, and Jeremy’s, which kind of goes back into the neighborhood behind St. Mark’s. Those are two runs we do a lot, but we also have a lot that have been passed down. WF: Does it make practice easier knowing that successful upperclassmen have done the same runs as you? SW: Yeah, for sure. That’s what I think about every once in a while while I’m running and it gets really tough. I think: “Even the seniors, they’ve done it countless times.” They’ve done it many more times than I have and they’ve made it through some really tough ones. I think about that some-

times when it gets really difficult on a run or something LE: We know that they’ve been doing this for four years, they’ve been working really hard and so if they can get through these runs we can do it. WF: Do you guys ever get involved with middle school cross country at all, trying to set that precedent now? SW: The captains are usually the ones that have done that. Sometimes they’ll go on recruiting missions for new middle schoolers, or they’ll kind of watch the middle schoolers and see who’s good, because they’re really a good look into the future of the team. Honestly, without them we don’t have anything. You don’t have any future. It’s good to look at them. LE: It’s important to be involved with the middle schoolers, because when I was in Middle School and JT [Graass ‘16] was a senior it was great to have him come up to me once in a while, give me encouragement because that’s a guy that I’m really looking up to, and the captains we have now would come in and talk to us. It’s just good to have people around you because those are the people I’m going to look up to in four years, that I’m going to be running with. Just to have the whole program come together is a good experience.

WF: Psychologically, what effect does having upperclassmen that you can really lean on, and really help you out? SW: It’s a lot like knowing that someone has done an assignment before. You know they’ve been through it, they know what it’s like, they’ve felt it more than you have. You know they’ve gotten through a whole other year of this, or a whole other two years of this than you have. That’s at least a little bit of consolation when you’re not feeling so great during a workout. You know that they’ve been through it, you know that they’re feeling the same thing, so at least that gives you some sort of comfort. LE: Yeah, the captains are really people that we trust this year, that we really like. I’m sure everyone on the team agrees with me that we want to be like them in four years. When I’m a senior, I want to be like the captains I had right now. I know that if I want to be at the level that they’re at, then I have to do these runs. If I can just push through it I know I can be like them. That’s my goal, is to be like the people above me. WF: Cross country is an extremely demanding sport. Does that grind make you tighter as a team? SW: Yeah, once you know that you’ve been through it all together. It’s kind of like Pecos; you’ve been through something really tough together and you come back as more tightly knit than you were before. Even just after one hard workout, you feel closer to the person next to you because you know that you’ve been through the same thing and you got through it.

INTERVIEWS WILL FORBES, JAHAZIEL LOPEZ PHOTO OWEN BERGER, FRANK THOMAS

|THE REMARKER |sports| November 4, 2016 |

COACHES AND SONS

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON? YOUNG TALENT Grabbing the rim, Cooper Guiler (right) stands atop the shoulders of his dad, head basketball coach Greg Guiler. .

BONDING TIME Cael Turner spars with junior Tucker Ribman (top left) during preseason wrestling . As the son of head football coach Bart Epperson, eighth grader Matthew Epperson (left) will continue playing football in Upper School.

IT’S NOT EASY BEING A COACH’S SON. BUT THESE THREE FATHERS AND SONS HAVE DISCOVERED A WINNING FORMULA.

ourth grader Cael Turner was on a wrestling mat before he could walk. He would sit by his dad, head wrestling coach Justin Turner, as Justin coached the wrestlers Cael looked up to. He dreamed of being just as big, just as strong, just as talented as they were. By age five, Cael had developed a true love for wrestling. At the same time, Justin was already pushing Cael hard, training him extensively and trying to instill in his son the importance of winning. To his dismay, Justin’s passion for wrestling almost drove his son out of the sport he loves so dearly. Justin and Cael are experiencing a dilemma every coach and son pair go through during their lives. Does the coach push their kid to the sport they teach or let the kid find his or her own way? Justin is thankful his son has begun to redevelop the passion for wrestling he nearly lost five years ago. He also feels Cael naturally gravitated toward the sport because it was a huge part of his dad’s life growing up. “I don’t know that he [Cael] knows there’s another way of life,” Justin said. “That’s all he knows. When you’re little and you want to hang out with Dad, well Dad’s in the wrestling room, so you end up there.” Head football coach Bart Epper-

son has told his kids, seventh grader Maddox and eighth grader Matthew, that they will play football. While the physical side of the sport is one aspect Bart loves, the unique life lessons the game teaches are what he hopes his kids will take away from the game. “I think that is something you can’t get anywhere else, and that is something that will pay great benefits when they are in their professions later in life,” Bart said. Matthew and Maddox, both of whom have played football the majority of their lives, said they haven’t stopped enjoying the game since they became a part of a team. “When I first tried out for football, I really liked it,” Maddox said. “You can tackle people and you won’t get in trouble for it, and you can get your aggression out.” Third grader Cooper Guiler, son of head basketball coach Greg Guiler, knows his dad continues to influence his love of basketball, and thinks watching the players his dad has coached over the years has pushed him in that direction as well. “I would go to all his [Greg’s] games, and it looked really fun when the varsity players were out there, so I wanted to be like them,” Cooper said. As is the case with many things in life, the coaches agree it is important to balance coaching duties with being a father, both in terms of having fun with the sport and giving pointers

to their kids. Greg said the biggest key for him knowing when to coach or not has been listening to what Cooper wants and trying to support that. “So far, he has wanted me to coach all the time and that’s been one of the great blessings of my life,” Greg said, “but I’m sure that window is closing as he gets older and older.” Though he does all he can to achieve the perfect balance I FEEL EVERY between dad and KID COMES coach, Justin feels that balance can OUT OF be very difficult THE WOMB WANTING TO sometimes, espeBE GOOD AT cially because of SOMETHING. the odd nature of a coaching job. THEY PLAY “Nothing WHAT comes before THEY’RE my family or my GOOD AT. kids,” Justin said. — GREG “That’s a non-neGUILER gotiable. It’s hard because I care about my athletes, I care about my students. And this isn’t a nine to five job. The hours are all over the place, and sometimes our family gets circumvented a little bit in that.” In his experience, Justin has learned it is best to set boundaries for when he and Cael can talk about Cael’s athletics. “There was this street near the

field that he used to practice [baseball] on,” Justin said. “At the end of that street we didn’t talk any more about baseball. It was done. After that, we talked about hunting or fishing or anything else.” Thanks to assistant coaches with more than 65 years of coaching experience between them, Bart is able to leave practice early every Thursday to go see both Maddox and Matthew’s games. Because they are in seventh and eighth grades this year, they play at the same location, which is something he cherishes each week. “My wife Tiffany [Epperson] and I will never get this time back in our lives watching our two boys play back to back games,” Bart said. “Tiffany takes off work early every Thursday so we can watch as a family because family comes first. Next year Matthew will be on JV and Maddox eighth grade, and they play at different locations, so we will have to split up watching next year.” This isn’t lost on Matthew and Maddox, both of whom feel every game is more special because both of their parents can be there. After this season ends, they will likely have to wait another three years before they can have the same experience. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Matthew said. “However, if he stays as head coach, and we play varsity, there will be another opportunity.”

STORY PARKER DAVIS, NICK WALSH PHOTOS OWEN BERGER, FRANK THOMAS

Record number of rowers join offseason crew by Josh Daniels ports like football, soccer and lacrosse are expected to have high numbers in terms of athlete interest. These more traditional sports are expected to have large tryouts and have to make cuts. Not crew. Senior captain Aiden Blinn understands that crew is not the most popular sport on campus. “It’s not a sport that a lot of people think of when they think of traditional sports,” Blinn said. However, with more than 50 guys signing up for crew this year, the numbers are unlike anything Blinn has ever seen.

SPORTS

“I think it’s the biggest team trying out that the crew team’s ever had,” Blinn said. This major increase in numbers will force the coaches to make cuts, an issue that the team has never been forced to deal with. “It’s going to be a big challenge in terms of how we are going to make cuts and how many people the coach is going to decide to cut, just cause we’ve never had to deal with that before,” Blinn said. As to why there has been this sudden increase in popularity, Blinn thinks he may have the answer. “I think a lot of kids when they get into freshman year

decide that they want to try a lot of new things, and crew just seems like this new thing,” Blinn said. Despite the hard decision that will come with making cuts, there is some definite upside due to the attention that the sport is getting. Blinn believes that this positive attention will allow more guys, especially underclassmen, to learn about crew and what it has to offer. Also, with a greater talent pool to choose from, the team will become a lot more competitive, and may be able to place better in competitions. “I think it will get a lot more interest in crew, cause as

you have more kids, it almost grows exponentially,” Blinn said. “A lot of kids, if they really enjoy the sport, will talk to there friends about it and convince them to join the following year.” Two major tests will help the coaches in their process of selecting the best rowers. The first is a 2,000 meter test on the erg machine. This test is especially important because the national qualifier is a 2,000 meter race on the water. The other is a continuous row on the erg machine for 20 minutes, which focuses on maintaining a consistent amount of power over a long period of time. However, with

kids who are entirely new to the sport, this may not be the best method. Other factors will certainly help Head Coach Pitts Yandell with his decisions. “Desire is hard to quantify and especially hard to project out over a four year career, but a good attitude and work ethic usually present themselves relatively quickly,” Pitts said. Ultimately, Blinn hopes the team will be narrowed down to around 40 kids, an easier number to accomodate. “I don’t want to cut everyone, but I think bringing it down to a manageable size is great, because once you get above 40, it’s just really hard to handle all those kids,” he said.

WINTER WONDERLAND WITH PRESEASON COMING TO A QUICK CLOSE, WINTER ATHLETIC TEAMS ARE GETTING THEIR FINAL PREPARATION IN FOR THE SEASON AHEAD.

Wrestling led by two returning captains

Basketball optimistic with young team

Swimming looks for nine in a row

2015-2016 Record: 20-13 2015-2016 SPC Record: 10-1 2015-2016 SPC Finish: 3rd

2015-2016 SPC Finish: 2nd THEY SAID IT Head coach Justin Turner: “We have some really talented individuals that can do some really good things, and we are hopeful that they

THEY SAID IT Head coach Greg Guiler: “I’ve always loved the phrase ‘Full effort is full victory.’ I think if our guys show up every day, our hard hats on and the coaches, too, we’ll be tough to beat. I think we’ve got those kinds of guys on this team. We just have winners who will find ways to beat other teams even if they might be a little more talented.”

have a chance to compete for a state and SPC title.” NOTABLE The team attended camp over the summer in Colorado. The team will be led by returning captains Eli Ware and Tucker Ribman. Will Wood is returning state champion. 2016 SPC CHAMPIONS Will Wood at 106 lbs. Ivan Day at 120 lbs. Tucker Ribman at 126 lbs. Bryce Blinn at 170 lbs.

ALDEN JAMES PHOTO

NOTABLE Although the team lost four key seniors to graduation, eight players from last year’s team will return to the roster this season, including three juniors: Sam Sussman, Reece Rabin and Garrett Mize.

EYES ON THE PRIZE Finishing first place in SPC last year, swimming looks to continue the hot streak.

RETURNING ATHLETES Will Wood, Ivan Day, Tucker Ribman, Kal Buscaino, Rob Crow, Eli Ware, Colin Neuhoff, Gabe Bankston

2015-2016 SPC finish: 1st

RETURNING ATHLETES Will Ingram, Fabian Reyher, James Hancock, Sam Sussman, Reece Rabin, Garrett Mize

THEY SAID IT Head coach Mihai Oprea: “Every year has been spectacular for us lately, so a challenge for us is how we can top that. Not necessarily in terms of results, but how we can top that in terms of being a team and chemistry and enjoying what we’re doing.”

RYAN NORMAN PHOTO

THEY SAID IT Senior Easton Honaker: “The seniors last year put up a lot of records, so one of the things we really want to try and do is see how many records we can touch. I think we have the talent and ability to do it.”

HOLD THE PIN With first place in mind, junior Kal Buscaino prepares to secure a victory.

RETURNING ATHLETES Edward Ro, Christian McClain, Andrew Lin, Jacob Hum, Matthew Yang, Alan Jiang, Ethan Pittson, Benjamin Hurst, Cooper Johnson

RYAN NORMAN PHOTO

NOTABLE The swim team seeks to win its ninth straight SPC championship.

THE DISTRIBUTOR Glancing down the court, senior Will Ingram looks for a forward to pass to.

STORIES JAHAZIEL LOPEZ, NICK WALSH, PARKER DAVIS

SOCCER BOOSTED BY KEY SENIOR ADDITION by Sam Shane he third place finish in the 2016 winter SPC tournament still stung in head soccer coach Cory Martin’s mind. Their health, or lack thereof, had done them in. Their luck, or lack thereof, had done them in. Their aggressiveness, or lack thereof, had done them in. When Martin heard some great news regarding his team, however, he knew the time for excuses was over. It’s SPC or bust. Senior Josh Bandopadhay is returning to the soccer team. For all of his life, Bandopadhay has been an active player on the Dallas

Texans, his academy soccer team. Once sophomore year came around, he joined the school soccer team, making varsity in his first year. After his sophomore year, however, academy obligations forced Bandopadhay to stop playing for the school. Although it was hard leaving the school team, Bandopadhay loved his experienced in academy. “Academy soccer was an awesome experience,” Bandopadhay said. “There is no doubt in my mind that I improved tremendously over the past four years, and I don’t regret my time in the program at all.” This year, Bandopadhay made the difficult decision of leaving academy soccer and returning to the team.

“With everything going on in senior year,” Bandopadhay said, “with college apps and a challenging workload, I don’t think I would have had time to cope with the intensity of academy and the rigor of life at SM. Also, it’s senior year, the last year to represent my school and play with some of my best friends.” Martin believes with the combination of Bandopadhay returning and the chemistry they have on the team, SPC is well within their grasp. “We had a lot of chemistry and camaraderie last year,” Martin said, “and it makes all the difference. In addition, the return of Josh [Bandopadhay] will be great. He’s one of those guys you want on your team.” Even though the team has high aspirations, they are not without their flaws. Last year, it was the amount of injuries that did the team in. This year, even before the season has begun, the team has already experienced a setback. “We lost a wealth of experienced defense,” Martin said. “So our first goal and challenge is to build up a defense that can stop goals from being scored.” Bandopadhay notices another part of the team’s play that needs to be worked on in order for them to win. “St. Mark’s hasn’t traditionally been the toughest, most aggressive team in SPC,” Bandopadhay said. “Some of the South Zone teams that

2015-2016 SPC Finish: 3rd THEY SAID IT senior captain Jake Vaughn: “We have a very solid group of guys coming back this year. And with the addition of Josh [Bandopadhay], I really feel like we can make a run in the SPC tournament. We’ve always been an aggressive team so if we can keep that trend going I’m sure we will reach our maximum potential this year.”

NOTABLE After giving up playing on his academy soccer team, senior Josh Bandopadhay will be a massive addition to the school’s soccer team this season. 2016-2017 CAPTAINS Midfielder Jake Vaughn Defender Corday Cruz

we might play in SPC are known to be strong and aggressive teams, so we need to be able to physically compete with them. Also, we won’t be the biggest team this year, so our game in the air might not be the best.” Martin and Bandopadhay both recognize that the team has some obstacles to overcome in order to win SPC. However, they both remain confident in the team’s abilities. “I’m sure we’re all looking to improve and develop over the course of the season,” Bandopadhay said. “But as of now, the only goal in my mind is to win SPC.”

SPORTS

| November 4, 2016 |sports| THE REMARKER |

WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWS

LION PRIDE Led by superfanmen Josh Bandopadhay and Gordon Gunn, the student section at the volleyball game against Greenhill Oct. 27 was the most raucous experience in Hicks Gym yet this year.

ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS

10600 PRESTON ROAD DALLAS, TX. 75230

THE REMARKER THE BACK SPORTS PAGE THE REMARKER FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2016 PAGE 32

THE BIG CHILL

The newest trend in physical therapy, cryotherapy, is the focused use of freezing cold temperatures to treat a variety of tissue damage and soreness. Editors Will Forbes and Zach Gilstrap give it a try.

Three minutes of brutal cold well worth it —Forbes by Will Forbes stood shivering in the cryotherapy machine, a combination of fear and cold. My CryoZone specialist reminded me to keep moving when she turned on the machine and to not inhale the nitrogen that would make my body temperature below negative 200 degrees. She pressed some buttons, activating the machine, and a fog of nitrogen gas enveloped my body. It hit me. I gasped immediately because of the cold, having to remind myself to keep moving and to not inhale the gas. It felt similar to jumping in a pool in the middle of winter. My whole body was utterly and completely numb. My session was supposed to be two and a half minutes long, but I felt like I had been in the machine for ten minutes already. “Only a minute left!” Wow. I thought I was almost done. I gritted my teeth as the onslaught of cold continued

until the machine finally stopped emitting the gas. The specialist cracked the door to the machine open, and the room was flooded with freezing fog. It was like something out of a movie, like the mad scientist just opened the cooler. Feeling rushed back to my extremedies. I was instantly relieved. All the pain gone, the soreness vanquished. It had been less than five minutes since I finished my treatment, and I was already feeling the benefits that the CryoZone advertised on their website: the soreness that I had felt from the last night’s football game and the lift earlier in the morning had disappeared. The cryotherapy was as good as advertised. It relieved all my sorness. It got rid of all my pain. I don’t know how it happened, but the five minutes in the freezing deathtrap made me feel better than I ever have before. I highly recommend cryotherapy for anyone who needs a quick tune up.

ARCTIC BLAST Sports Editor WIll Forbes endures the bone-chilling temperatures of the CryoZone chamber. His body underwent temperatures of sub -200 degrees Fahrenheit.

SPORTS

BITTER COLD Fearful of the low temperatures, Life Editor Zach Gilstrap cringes as the first wave of freezing liquid nitrogen hits him.

- 200 degrees more difficult than expected —Gilstrap by Zach Gilstrap aiting in line, I saw one of the customers ahead of me, his head poking out of the tall cylinders, shrouded by fumes of nitrogen gas. I was nervous. I hoped this procedure would alleviate the pain from the previous night’s football game and the lift I had finished that morning. The line was getting shorter and shorter. My time was approaching. When it was my turn, the representative for CryoZone brought me into the room where the cryotherapy would take place. She went through the list of things needed to be done in preparation, such as getting rid of all bodily moisture and wearing special shoes and double-layered gloves. I entered the tall, intimidating cylinder, noticing the ice accumulating on the floor. “Are you ready to begin?” the representative asked.

STORY WILL FORBES, ZACH GILSTRAP PHOTOS RYAN NORMAN

I said yes. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. After the machine turned on, the nitrogen fumes gradually got colder and colder, to the point where it felt as if my skin was frozen in place. As ordered, I had to move around every 10 seconds or so, as to make sure the cryotherapy did its wonders on my whole body. After a while, my nerves calmed down. I stopped shivering. I started to go numb. The last few minutes of the procedure were a breeze, as the cold didn’t bother me anymore. Once the therapy was over, I stepped out of the cylinder, with the nitrogen fumes wisping past me. It took a while for the cold to subside and my body temperature to level out. Once it did, I didn’t know how to describe it. It was the best I had felt in weeks. The pain and soreness was gone. My joints and muscles were now loose and had regained all mobility.

FOCUS MAGAZINE A ReMarker Publication November 2016

what blooms in

the aftermath July 7, 2016, today and beyond

CONTENTS THE STORY Misty McBride, survivor Campus cops, near and far Mike Day, carrying them home Preston Gilstrap, racial barrier breaker Dr. Brian Williams. attending physician Jack Parolisi, an American abroad Aditya Inaganti, a downtown resident Claudia Cabrera, hostess and witness

4 4 7 8 10 12 13 13 13

THE TALK William Ingram and family Shane Ndeda Avery Pearson and parents

14 15 18 20

OUR GENERATION Desensitized Diversity education Legacies

22 22 24 26

Dallas seemed to be in ruins. By the time July 7, 2016 was over, a peaceful protest over the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling just days before had taken a turn for the worst, ending in the deaths of five police officers: Brent Thomson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens and Michael Smith. It was the deadliest day for law enforcement since 9/11, and a level of tragedy Dallas hasn’t had to face since the assassination of John F. Kennedy 53 years earlier. So it makes sense that that night left the city in chaos and shame — roads were closed off, social media blew up and citizens across the area could only wonder: how could this happen here? People across the world were glued to television sets watching in horror as a protest that began with

RUINS?

FOCUSMAGAZINE Focus, a thrice-yearly magazine supplement to The ReMarker focusing on a single topic, is a student publication of St. Mark’s School of Texas, 10600 Preston Road, Dallas, TX 75230.

EDITORS

hugs ended with an explosion. But when the shooter was gone, the police sirens were silent, and scarred protesters were safe in their homes, the eyes of the world remained on Dallas — waiting to see the reaction of a damaged city. What next? Within a few hours, it was evident something special was blossoming in the aftermath. Our world-renowned skyline, a skyline that was recently voted best in the world, lit up in blue. That night, under the bright blue glare from Dallas’s biggest buildings, citizens began placing flowers on the ground outside of the police headquarters’ glass doors. By mid-afternoon the next day, a squad car parked in front of the building was completely obscured in letters, flowers, balloons and candles. This magazine not only strives to examine what happened that night, but also to look at the

Crawford McCrary Kobe Roseman

WRITERS

Rish Basu John Crawford Corday Cruz Rett Daugbjerg Alec Dewar Zach Gilstrap Zoheb Khan

Case Lowry Nick Malvezzi Waseem Nabulsi Reece Rabin Gopal Raman Jimmy Rodriguez Sam Shane

aftermath of those events and how our community has and will address the issues it exposes. We talked to protagonists that were there that night, and we spoke with African-American students and their parents about the new reality they are forced to face — and the conversations that surround that reality. Conversations between parents and their children are occurring in living rooms across the country. Conversations that are a matter of life and death — how to interact in public around law enforcement officers. The response of Dallas citizens to JFK’s assassination ushered in an unprecedented era of wealth and prosperity for Dallas. After the most recent shootings, what’s next? Will we recover? Can we ultimately benefit from the discussions we are forced to have — discussions resulting from the night of July 7, 2016?

PHOTOGRAPHERS Owen Berger Chris McElhaney Ryan Norman Riley Sanders Frank Thomas

ASSISTANTS

CJ Crawford Andy Crowe Parker Davis Mateo Guevara Duncan Kirstein Dylan Liu Michael Luckowicz

Albert Luo Kamal Mamdani Lyle Ochs Jason Peng James Rogers

PAGE 3

THE STORY The planned protest started as expected. Eight hundred people, assembling in orderly fashion to protest the death of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. Just over two hours in, the calm stopped. Violence errupted at the intersection of Main St. and Lamar St. When it was all over, five officers had lost their lives, and the eyes of the world shifted to Dallas. But months later, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear that the night of July 7, 2016 is full of stories of courage, bravery and perseverance. These are the protagonists who drive the narrative of that night, and tell the story of the days, weeks and months after.

BY RISH BASU, CJ CRAWFORD, CORDAY CRUZ, CRAWFORD MCCRARY, REECE RABIN, KOBE ROSEMAN PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANK THOMAS, RILEY SANDERS, OWEN BERGER COURTESY: PRESTON GILSTRAP, MIKE DAY, BRIAN WILLIAMS

PAGE 5

‘DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR ME’ MISTY MCBRIDE COULD HAVE DIED THAT NIGHT OF JULY 7. BUT SHE KNEW SHE HAD A PROMISE TO KEEP.

s Misty McBride walks out the door for work, her daughter, Hunter, calls out to her and says the same thing she says every morning. Do something good for me. The 10-year-old knows what her mom does. She knows there’s bad guys out there. She has seen it on Misty’s face after a fight at work. But she knows her mom’s always coming home. Misty reminds her of it every morning before hopping in her squad car. But on July 7, 2016, Misty didn’t know whether she was coming home or not. Misty thinks she should’ve died that night. But Hunter knew otherwise. She knew because her mom reminds her of it every morning. I’m coming home.

‘I’VE BEEN HIT!’ MISTY TELLS HER PARTNER.

••• It’s a humid, rainy day. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officer Misty McBride is doing what she normally does — talking to civilians who ride the DART trains and taking calls from fellow officers. A former partner has taken her squad car, so she’s riding in the back seat as two other officers sit in the front. It’s just after three in the afternoon when Misty gets out of the car to calm down a crazy lady at 7/11 — just another day at the office for Misty McBride. Misty’s former partner meets her a block down from 7/11 with her midnight-black squad car, and they get out to eat dinner with fellow officer Brent Thompson before the protest. Misty thought she would just have to stay until 9 p.m. tonight — that’s when she normally gets off. But tonight is the Black Lives Matter protest right by El Centro College in downtown Dallas,

and Misty and Thompson are working overtime. “It’s just protests,” Misty says on the phone to her mom. “Everything’s cool… I’ll text you when I’m leaving.” Misty’s phone battery is down to four percent. That will be the last time she talks to a family member for the night. Misty plugs her phone in, and tosses Thompson the car keys; he’s on the phone with his wife. “I love you!” Misty teases Thompson. Thompson repeats it to his wife. ••• Misty and another officer are standing on a corner close to the intersection of Elm and North Market Street. They’re talking about the protest in front of them, comparing it to Martin Luther King Jr’s civil rights protests in the 1950’s. What’s changed, what’s the same. “Hands up” a few protesters yell, anticipating a response. “Don’t shoot!” It’s a little past 9 p.m. when a shot from a Saiga AK-74 gun hurls from above. Misty and the officer next to her jerk their heads and start looking around. Then they hear a couple more shots. “Get out of here!” Misty yells at some of the 800 scattering protesters and bystanders around her. Misty runs towards El Centro College — towards the gunfire. She makes it about a block before it happens. She suddenly feels like someone punched her in the arm. Really hard. “My arm flew and it started burning real bad.” Misty throws herself on the ground and immediately knows something is wrong. She’s crawling away from the cement pillars of El Centro College, but the only thing she can hear is the ring of gunshots around her. Continued on page 6

PAGE 6

After the shootings, a resolve to honor a fallen partner Continued from page 5 “[The doctors] found the second [shot], because I didn’t know I had gotten hit in the abdomen.” But Misty did. While crawling to save her life, Misty is shot at a second time. And a third. Once right under her chest. And a second that strikes her radio’s battery — a quarter of an inch away from her hip. One of her partners runs up to her and picks her up. “I’ve been hit!” Misty tells him. He rushes her to cover, and starts putting pressure on her arm. Then, he pulls out Misty’s tourniquet and wraps it around her arm to slow the blood flow. Misty is thrown into a squad car and rushed to a nearby hospital. “So that was, you know, a normal day,” Misty said. She can joke now. ••• It only takes eight minutes. 9 p.m Misty sits on the corner talking about life, talking about the times we live in, watching the protest as an officer on duty. 9:05 p.m. The first shot rings. And within eight minutes, Misty feels that first punch, is pulled to the side and is on the way to Baylor University Medical Center. “It could happen that easily,” she said. “I mean, [before the shootings] I had a normal day. It was a normal day.” Just hours before the shootings, Misty was joking around with officer Brent Thompson over dinner. Riding in his car. Hearing him tell his wife he loves her. But today, months later, she wears a metal bracelet with his name on it — honoring his death that night. “It could happen that easily.” Misty doesn’t get details about the shooting until she wakes up in the hospital the next morning after surgery on her arm. She is in shock— mad, upset and angry. She cries and then she screams.

“I was hurt.” People around the hospital are giving her cards, greeting her with a thousand thank you’s. If Misty needs something, she pretty much has it. One man even tells her she saved his life that night. “Everyone was calling us heroes,” Misty said. “I don’t think I’m a hero. I went to work that day, and I just got shot.” And today, total strangers thank her. They know her. They recognize her. They check in on her and her daughter. But she doesn’t really get it. She says she has a job just like they do — some people are firefighters. Some people are schoolteachers. Misty can’t handle those jobs. She’d rather get shot than burned. She’d rather take 30 bullets than have to deal with 30 kids. She’s wanted to be an officer her entire life. And when people ask her if she’s coming back to work, she answers without a doubt in her mind. “Yeah, I’m going back!” This surprises some people. They can’t believe she’s going back. But the idea of quitting after the shootings never even crossed Misty’s mind. “Hell, I’ve grown up wanting to be a cop,” Misty said. “And I’m not going to let one person ruin my career and ruin something I’ve worked hard to do. It’s what I want to do. I knew going in that there’s always that chance. So, I’m going back. It’s not going to stop me.” ••• Three months after the shootings, Misty screams in pain as she tries to lift a one-pound dumbbell. But she knows if she wants to go back to work, she has to get through these twice-a-week physical therapy sessions. She says each one is hell. Just this morning she was crying by the end of the session — her arm can’t take it. It’ll be months before Misty gets her strength back. Months before she can move out

of her parents’ noisy house back to her townhouse in Garland with Hunter. Months before she can get dressed without help. Misty wishes she had run faster or stopped sooner that night. Then, maybe, just maybe, she could’ve avoided one of the shots — maybe even saved one of the five police officers who were killed that night. But she doesn’t dwell on the past. Misty’s too humble to tell you herself, but if you ask her friends, they are quick to say she’s brave and strong. And she’s determined to get through therapy if that’s what it takes to get back in the uniform someday. For those who recognize her, she’s a hero. But if you didn’t know better, officer Misty McBride looks like your average person. She stops by the Starbucks on Greenville and Caruth Haven every day. She laughs and jokes around with the baristas at the counter, picks up her usual order and continues with her daily activities.

‘EVERYONE WAS CALLING US HEROES. I DON’T THINK I’M A HERO. I WENT TO WORK THAT DAY, AND I JUST GOT SHOT.’ And even though the events of the shooting have entirely changed Misty’s life, something remains the same. Even on a day like July 7, 2016. Misty puts on her uniform and goes to talk to Hunter. Hunter reminds Misty to do something good for her today, and Misty gives her the promise. It’s a promise she hasn’t broken to this day. A promise that survived two bullet wounds. A promise that Hunter knew she would keep, even when Misty wasn’t so sure. As Misty walks out the door on that humid rainy day, she promises Hunter — promises her just like any other morning. I’m coming home.

By the intersection of Main and Elm Street, Misty McBride felt the first shot.

FROM CAMPUS...

PAGE 7

Local officer Valentine makes his way up to the second floor...

fficer Rick Valentine sits at home watching TV after just getting back from a family vacation. He isn’t even supposed to be back to work for another couple of days. First, he gets a text, then a call. He is told that there was a shooting downtown. There had been officers shot — and he’s in shock. Throwing clothes on, he rushes downtown to meet up with his unit, the whole time listening to his radio and hearing the action playing out. He arrives at the scene in front of the parking garage and sees officers hunkered down behind their cars, hiding from the shooter who had already taken lives. Riding with the rest of his SWAT team, Valentine makes his way up to the second floor and waits during the standoff between the shooter and the police. An officer for 16 years and on campus for five years, Valentine has always been drawn to service. He was in the Navy for eight years before becoming a police officer. After the shooting, Valentine believes and shootings in the future cannot be prevented. “If you’ve got a bad guy who’s determined to cause harm to police or the public in general it’s sad to say, but it’s probably going to happen,” Valentine said. “We can’t be everywhere and know everything that everyone’s doing.” The only preparation that police can make, Valentine

believes, is more training. “What we can do as a police department and as a SWAT team is train, respond, and handle it as best we can when we get there,” he said. But even with preparation, Valentine believes that shootings are caused by a lack of respect. “Whether it be people’s freedom of religion, people’s poverty, or just people in general, I don’t think we respect each other anymore,” Valentine said. Valentine thinks that respect starts at home, at a young age. In fact, he recently spoke to his son’s football team about the subject. “Kids need to start learning to respect one another starting at home with their parents,” Valentine said. “If you can establish that healthy respect for your parents in your life then it will take you a long way in life.” Valentine just wants people to know that the police are there to help and the community should not be scared. And even in today’s times, Valentine tries to keep a positive attitude. “Right now things at the police department are kind of in a downward swing as far as morale,” he said. “It’s difficult at times, but I try and stay as positive as I can.”

Officer Rick Valentine has seen everything from SWAT and police operations to protecting our campus. But nothing could have prepared him for the night of the shootings.

...TO THE STREETS

...while Sartin wishes he would have received the call

Whether it’s on campus or in the streets of downtown, Sgt. Bodie Sartin hears the call of public service. But that night of July 7, all he could do was watch.

e feels helpless. There’s no way he can help anyone. He doesn’t have the gear. He isn’t called in. And he’s not on any of the emergency response teams. He thinks he’ll only get in someone’s way. All Sgt. Bodie Sartin can do is watch the events unfold from a live stream on his computer. All he can do is watch as men and women he had worked with tried to capture the shooter. Sartin, who has worked on the force for 29 years and has spent 15 as an officer on campus, has always wanted to help others. “Growing up, police officers were a positive influence in my life,” Sartin said, “and I wanted to pay back what they did for me and provide a service for others.” Sartin used to be in SWAT, and he now works in Narcotics investigations, which is why he wasn’t called in to the shootings. After the Dallas shooting, Sartin believes that people who aren’t capable of making rational decisions cause shootings. “I think anytime there’s disagreement and there’s people on the fringe who are not rational thinkers will take it upon themselves to try act in a violent manner,” Sartin said. “Most people try to resolve conflict through discussion and understanding what the other party may be going through or

experiencing, but there is a small segment of society that violence is the only way to solve an issue that they don’t agree with. The Dallas shooting I think is perpetrated by people on the fringe that felt like that is there only avenue to express themselves is by hurting others.” Sartin also says the Dallas Police Department has been taking steps for over 20 years to prevent these sorts of incidents. “We’ve been providing cultural awareness and race relation training diversity training,” Sartin said. “Our community leaders would agree that Dallas PD had been taking steps to talk and to discuss and we were transparent about our police shootings so we’ve been doing things ahead of what you’ve been hearing on the news now.” Sartin thinks that during these turbulent times, everyone can learn and grow from these experiences. “During those times, we as law enforcement learn things and the community learns things about each other,” Sartin said. “For over 20 years here in Dallas, we’ve been trying to keep that bond with the community to hear the differences. What can we do better? How can we be better public servants?” In the end, Sartin believes everyone wants similar aspects in their community. “We want to raise our kids in a safe environment away from crime and raise them with respect,” Sartin said.

PAGE 8

PEOPLE STILL CARE Mike Day was given the responsibility of honoring the officers through their funeral services. But while driving the hearse of officer Lorne Aherns, he saw just how deeply the community had been affected by the shootings.

e only remembers the goosebump moments. He remembers helping officer Lorne Ahrens’ 8-year-old son off the horse-drawn coach when his father’s casket arrived at the grave. He remembers how officer Michael Krol’s family flew in from Detroit and stood over the men who died with Krol. He remembers officer Michael Smith’s daughters standing over their dad’s casket — and him, choking back tears as he thought about his own daughters’ ages. And the Friday morning following the shootings, Restland Funeral Home general manager Mike Day remembers what he had told his wife before going to work. Babe, I don’t know what time I’ll be home. I really don’t. So y’all just make plans to do whatever you want to do. But besides moments like these, the whole week is a blur. Because by the time he came home that Friday, he was overseeing the funeral operation for three of the five officers killed in July’s shootings. “On top of that we still had 46 other families that lost their mother, their dad, or their son,” he said. “And their services were just as important as the three [officers] that we were going to be taking care of.” The Restland management team met three times a day to talk about the day’s events. 6:30 a.m. 2 p.m. 6 p.m. Then back home. Day was mentally exhausted. He doesn’t normally like to talk about work when he gets home. Maybe that’s a bad thing. He’s not really sure. But this time was different. “I’ll go back and I did talk to my wife,” he said. “It’s very hard to sit there and watch the little girl tell her dad bye, knowing that she’s never going to see him again. Talking about stuff like that — you have to decompress every now and then. Because it can take a toll on you if you let it.” But Day has been in the industry since the age of 19. He went to college for this stuff.

LAID TO REST At Restland Funeral Home, fresh flowers and ribbons adorn the graves of several of the fallen officers, even months after the shootings.

PAGE 9 And even without that, you can see his whole life has been surrounded by…well… death. His dad died when he was three. After his nephew committed suicide, he was the one who went out to get him. And his grandmother died when he was in the seventh grade. “I’m pretty fortunate,” he said. “I knew what I wanted to do [for a living] when I was very young. I was in seventh grade, when for some reason I can’t answer why, I wanted to work in a funeral home… When my grandmother passed away, I attended the funeral. And, I was curious. I had seen at an early age how someone could take care of someone who had just lost the love of their life, and I wanted to be the one that could help someone. I wanted to be the one that could guide people.” At 46, Day has almost 30 years of experience in the industry. He’s had crazy weeks like this one before. Crazy weeks that made him miss his kids’ school events. Miss their games. Miss Thanksgiving day. Even Christmas morning. “I’ve had to miss that early morning Christmas thing because I was at someone else’s house taking care of their loved one that just passed away,” Day said. “But I would hope that [my family] would recognize that I do have a passion, and I do care for not only everything here, but everybody I work with.” The week surrounding the shootings was one of those crazy weeks. Restland was caring for 49 families at the same time, and the officers’ funerals were some of the biggest Day’s ever seen. But because he has years of experience, he was able to kick into autopilot that week. That’s why it’s all a blur. That’s why only the goosebump memories stick with him today.

“IF YOU CAN FIND SATISFACTION IN SUCH A TRAGEDY, IT’S TALKING TO EACH ONE OF THOSE OFFICER’S FAMILIES PERSONALLY.” Countless police motorcycle escorts drive in front of him. “Just pay attention to what’s in front of you,” he thinks. He doesn’t turn on the radio. He has to stay focused. But in front of him, lining the highway’s overpasses for miles, he sees what he calls, “respect.” People stand with their hats off.

Their hands rest on their hearts. They wave flags over the edge. We’re sorry. We support the blue. “If I live to be 103, I’ll tell that to my grandchildren,” he said. “Unfortunately, it takes a tragic event like [the shootings] to really bring the community together,” Day said. “But when it does happen that’s when you really see it. In and amongst all the crazy stuff that we experience in life, there truly are great communities out there that do come together.”

eing involved in the officers’ funerals was an honor for Day. People have sent Day pictures of him escorting the casket to the hearse in a sea of blue — nothing but officers around him. And he keeps those pictures. He cherishes them. “Because I was fortunate enough,” Day said. “It’s not about being front and center of the media. I totally tune all of that out. But, I was the one that was fortunate enough to pay respect and to take care of three gentleman that died protecting us.” But even to this day, Day thinks back to that crazy week and thinks about how Restland could’ve made the funeral experience even better for those three families. “It’s hard to make an experience like that good, however, the whole thing in funeral service — there ain’t no do-overs,” he said. “... We don’t have that opportunity. We don’t have that amenity. So naturally, yeah, I think back.” Day’s job isn’t for everybody. He says it’s a calling, and the people who don’t belong in the industry get weeded out. And he admits his job can be sad at times. After all, each day at the office is surrounded by death. But Day has a passion for what he does. He says it’s not a job — it’s an opportunity to help people. And his reward comes in the form of handshakes and hugs. “Let me tell you — there is nothing more rewarding in our industry than to have an adult man hug you crying, saying, ‘you just don’t know how much it helped us,’” he said. “You can’t put a dollar on that reward.” Two of the officers killed in the shootings now lie in Restland’s cemetery. There’s a closed off area dedicated exclusively to officers and firefighters who died in duty. In the center, a just-over-20-foot statue shows an angel holding a police officer in one hand and firefighter in the other — taking each to heaven. At the base of the statue, cast iron police and firefighter uniforms lie wrinkled on hooks, as if these men are done with work for the day

FALLEN OFFICER For funeral director Mike Day (in suit and sunglasses) assisting with so many services brought a flood of memories. and are ready to go home. Just a couple of feet next to the statue, you can hear the trickle of water coming from a fountain in the middle of a small lake. Other than that it’s silent. One of the officers in this area was Day’s friend’s nephew. And one of the firefighters was a friend Day grew up with — and he used to hunt with his dad all the time. Day’s says his life is at Restland, and you can see it’s true by how quickly he tells you the backstories of everyone in this closed off area. “It puts it in a different perspective,” Day said. “You are standing here listening to the water. It’s very quiet. And just knowing that each one of these gentlemen here died protecting us.” And even three months after the shootings, the two officers’ graves are still covered in fresh flowers, stuffed animals, and notes of appreciation. That same respect Day saw on the highway’s overpasses is still present. For Day or anyone else standing in the middle of the area, it’s obvious that people still care.

PAGE 10

‘I REALIZED THAT POOR COMMUNITIES AND COMMUNITIES OF COLOR NEED TO HAVE A DAILY DELIVERY OF QUALITY LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES THAT ARE COMPASSIONATE, PROFESSIONAL AND EFFECTIVE.’

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

Dallas Police Officer Preston Gilstrap steps into action. 911… my daughter’s having a baby – on the side of the freeway. “It was on I-20 over by Bonnie View Road,” Gilstrap said. “It’s dark, construction everywhere, and this girl was having this baby. It was coming out.” Gilstrap frantically racks his memory, hoping to recall knowledge from a first-aid class that certainly did not teach him how to handle this. “I’m trying to remember all the stuff I learned,” Gilstrap said. “This baby was coming. I finally got the baby wrapped up in a newspaper, and the girl told me she was going to name him after me. I never saw the family again, but I know one thing for sure: it was a beautiful baby boy.” Gilstrap, grandfather of junior Zach Gilstrap and a member of the Dallas Police Department from 1971 until his honorable retirement in 2013, loves his city. And he loves his city’s people. “I was born and raised in Dallas,” Gilstrap said. “I grew up in the housing projects, just off Burn Street in South Dallas. I was a community advocate and activist, and it wasn’t difficult for people to respect me because I respected everybody.” Just the 27th African American to graduate from the Police Academy, and the 17th black officer on the street, Gilstrap knew when he put on the badge and uniform he was more than a policeman. He was a role model, an idol and what he calls without any hint of hubris an undeclared hero. “Once I became an officer, there was an expectation on me that I was going to be something more than a hireling,” Gilstrap said. “People expected me to be a public servant, a shepherd and a trailblazer.” Looking back on his 15,085-day career, Gilstrap calls the emotional response after his police certification his happiest day as an officer. “When I graduated from the academy, my mother made me go to church with her…” He rocks back with a trademark

whole-body laugh. “… And she kept introducing me to people I had grown up with, people I had known my whole life.” Then he clears his throat, leans forward, and speaks quietly, motioning with his hands as he tells the story. “After service, the pastor came and requested that I come down front,” Gilstrap said. “All the parishioners came around and took my hand or placed their hands on my badge and prayed that I would be a good police officer.” In 1975, seeing the extreme discrepancies between white and black police officers, Gilstrap helped found the Texas Peace Officers Association, now the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas. “I held every office, wrote the position papers and was involved in litigation,” Gilstrap said. “We tried to force Dallas to diversify the police department and help the demographics fit those of the communities.” ilstrap stresses personal connection and interest in the lives of Dallas individuals. “All of us are called to be good citizens and stakeholders in the community we live in,” Gilstrap said, “and to provide comfort and support to make our communities sustainable.” In his long tenure as an officer, Gilstrap saw the humanity he brought to the job every day come full circle. “There are people that I have arrested that I find myself praying with and praying for,” Gilstrap said. “Later, they would look me up and tell me that I saved their lives because I took the time to care about their condition. I didn’t fear the community. I wasn’t a stranger.” Gilstrap will never stop loving the city of Dallas. He will never stop caring for and serving each individual as though they are his family, even though he no longer wears the police uniform. So when his landline and cell-phone blew up with missed calls and messages on the morning of July 8, Gilstrap knew something was wrong. Horribly wrong. “It was mass hysteria,” Gilstrap said. “Nobody knew what had happened. All

I remember is looking on TV, seeing police seeking cover behind buildings and vehicles.” Gilstrap has told this story before, but his long, deep breaths and drawn out sentences make it sound as if the heartbreaking Dallas police shooting happened yesterday. “A person used a peaceful protest as an opportunity to present his rage,” he said. “It was unimaginable that this would happen, but it did. You honor those who made the supreme sacrifice—” He pauses. “—And you ask yourself, how can we change our institutions to prevent something like this from ever happening again. I have to assume that God will make it all right in the end.” Three months later, Gilstrap continues to reflect on the tragedy. A longtime advocate for reducing police use of force, Gilstrap believes police and citizens alike should embrace and engage the community, not resolve differences with violence. “This is America, and we have a love affair and fascination with weaponry,” Gilstrap said. “We used to hunt Bambi, now we hunt each other.” Gilstrap knows it will not be easy to move forward as a city following the shootings. ut he believes Dallas can be united once more if officers volunteer, work with the poor, and increase their involvement in the community, to strengthen their empathy and personal connections with people who may be different from them. “In the scripture, it talks about the difference between a hireling and a shepherd, and a police officer is most certainly a shepherd,” Gilstrap said. “When the wolf comes, the hireling flees and leaves the sheep to be utterly destroyed. The good shepherd lays down his life in service of the sheep because he knows each of them by their name and they know his voice, and he loves them.” And even though he no longer wears the blue or patrols the streets, Preston Gilstrap will never stop doing anything he can to serve the people of Dallas. Because he loves this city — and he will always be its good shepherd.

PAGE PAGE1111

Former Dallas Police Officer Preston Gilstrap says he’s an undeclared hero. And as just the 17th African-American to join the force, he’s also pioneer — a pioneer who couldn’t bear to see what happened that July night. LOOKING BACK Standing in front of his house, Preston Gilstrap reminisces on his years as a police officer as he holds a plaque of commemoration his years of service.

CIVIL SERVANT Preston Gilstrap travels around the black community, volunteering and serving the city as a leader in the Black Police Association.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS The Black Police Association has grown exponentially in the past couple of years with Gilstrap at the helm of it.

PAGE 12

‘THEY’RE ALL HUMANS TO US’ The surgeon who treated 7 of the 11 injured officers that evening on July 7 finds no irony in the fact that he was an African American treating injured white officers.

r. Brian Williams receives only one pager message as he rushes to the trauma center, just as the first police officer rolls in on a stretcher. Just like that, Williams goes to work, taking off his white coat and slapping on his latex gloves to operate immediately. His hands begin enacting years of training to this very moment. He does what he’s done hundreds of times before, showing no signs of stopping until the victim was cared for. “It’s nearly automatic,” Williams said. One. Two. Three. Williams works through seven operations, seven police officers and he’s the eye of the storm that is the trauma center. Calm, collected, and determined, he is an uninterrupted stream of consciousness undeterred by the world around him. The African-American trauma surgeon is no stranger to emergency, and he made all the difference that tragic night for not only Dallas, but also the country. “There was a patient who had multiple gunshot wounds and was in critical condition,” Williams said. “And I just went to work. Nothing else mattered.” One. Two. After the third or fourth officer arrived, Williams had just found out about the attack downtown. Even after Williams had been told more details of the situation, he said that his race and their race — their career and background — it never matters. “Any healthcare professional should say the same thing,” Williams said, “you do not have the luxury to treat someone differently based on their race, religion, or any other background they have. They’re all humans to us.” Williams thinks that conversations about race are important, but he had ignored conversations about race prior to the tragedy in Dallas. He was afraid of being marginalized at the hospital, where he thinks race should never be considered when caring for patients. “I felt fortunate,” Williams said, “that

my life is much better than my father’s life in regards to race relations in this country and it’s better than my grandfather’s. You convince yourself that what you have is better than the past. So what could you complain about?” Through the shooting however, Williams said he confirmed that race affects everyone, regardless of wealth and titles and occupation. “What I say isn’t original, many people have said that before,” Williams said. “My experience is not unique, there are scores of people who have said the same things. I just happened to say it when the eyes of the country were on Dallas and I was in front of the cameras. It goes to show the real, big problem that impacts all people from all walks of life.” But according to Williams, his silence on the subject for so long impaired his interactions with others as he grew up. “Being silent protected me,” Williams said, “but speaking up, I exposed myself, but I hope that it has had an impact for the greater good.” Now, Williams travels the country to attend panel discussions and conferences, where he speaks on his experience with the shootings and offers his commentary on racial relations in America. And he’s received both positive and nega-

No stranger to the aftereffects of violence, surgeon Dr. Brian Williams operated on seven of the 11 victims of the July 7 shootings. tive responses about his commentary. “Some have said that I should not be allowed to take care of the officers,” Williams said. “Some have said I shouldn’t be allowed to care for white people.” But Williams doesn’t snap back. “One of the messages that I try to emphasize is that those with opposing opinions should have the difficult discussions,” Williams said. “Those that challenge what I say are the people I should be talking to.” Looking back at his experience July 7 and the circumstances that led to it, Williams believes that there is a bigger picture when talking about race in America. “If you consider the police officers, all of them were white, if you consider that there was a Black Lives Matter rally, if you consider that there was a black sniper, if you consider all the black men dying under police custody, if you consider there was a black trauma surgeon on call, that it even happened in Dallas,” Williams said. “By themselves, these are all individual events, but put them together and they become altogether important in the grand scheme.”

‘SOME HAVE SAID I SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO CARE FOR WHITE PEOPLE’

PAGE 13

FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

From just blocks away from the shootings to halfway across the world, the impact of that July night extended far beyond the typical news coverage.

“

ditya Inganti is with his friends on a normal night. He is driving around Dallas, and then his phone goes off. An alert from the News app, gunman in downtown Dallas, seven officers wounded. The number kept growing. Nine. Ten. Eleven officers shot. His apartment is close to the incident, so he and his friends went downtown with his friends to check it out, not realizing the shooter was still at large. He got out of his car with a legion of police cars between him and the shooter. His apartment is closer to where the shooter was. He didn’t dare go any nearer.

I didn’t realize the magnitude of it. I kind of thought it was some small thing. Obviously later we realized that it was a much bigger deal. Once we saw the street with all of the cop cars, because I had never seen that many before in one place, that’s when we realized obviously something a lot bigger had happened. It was obviously surprising and very unexpected. I guess you realize that things like that can happen anywhere.

“

.O. Ranch Steakhouse hostess Claudia Cabrera looks out of the restaurant in utter confusion. She sees hoards of people sprinting right down the middle of North Market St. Inside the steakhouse, families and couples have normal conversations in the dimly-lit, soft-music atmosphere. But outside, it’s chaos. That’s when the manager turned on the T.V. in the front. That’s when the chaos from outside poked the bubble that the steakhouse had previously enjoyed. That’s when customers started asking what was going on. The shooter is just blocks away.

HEARING FROM ABROAD B

efore studying for a summer in Europe, he had always felt more secure in Dallas than anywhere overseas; nothing ever happened at home anyways. But when junior Jack Parolisi, in a courtyard thousands of miles from home, heard about the attack, students from all over Europe were surrounding him. Those students were gathering, asking questions in rapid fire sentences. Did you hear the news? Is your family okay? Does this happen every other day where you’re from? They had never even pictured an attack on such a scale. They had it safe, no weapons, no threats, no conflicts. And most of all, they were dumbstruck speechless, astonished — British, English, Irish, all of them in more disbelief than Jack was.

— Aditya Inganti ‘15

I was scared... In the moment you don’t know who it is, or what they have in their mind, or why they’re doing this, or or what. The next morning they had this whole block pretty much blocked. All the cops were blocking Ross, they were blocking that area, they were blocking pretty much everything. So the next day, there was almost no one here…They were just scared of anything happening. And It stayed like that for about a week. The police didn’t move.

— waitress Claudia Cabrera

“

Most kids who were in the UK seemed much more surprised than me that something like the shootings would happen. They think something like that is just crazy. The idea that somebody would have such an intricate plan just for the purpose of killing police officers seemed strange for them. In countries like the UK or Canada peopledon’t even know how to react to something like that because they aren’t as used to it. People from all over the world knew about what happened in Dallas, and as they were constantly asking me about it on the day after, I could tell that something was much different here compared to home.

— junior Jack Parolisi

THE TALK The majority of families across the United States won’t have “the talk” — the conversation many African American families feel they must have with their children, guiding them on how how to be a black teenager in America — and what to do when they to interact with police officers. Members of the community reflect on how they have “the talk” in their families.

Brian Pearson (far right) speaks with The ReMarker about “the talk” he had with his son, junior Avery Pearson. A similar talk was given to junior Will Ingram (this page) by his parents as a precaution.

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BY JIMMY RODRIGUEZ, SAM SHANE, GOPAL RAMAN, ZOHEB KHAN, ALEC DEWAR PHOTOGRAPHY FRANK THOMAS

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and his classmates. For many of his classmates, the talk never comes around. But as black parents, Bryant and Tosha felt a need to sit Avery down one day and give what black parents across the country have been giving for years. The talk. Avery, you gotta listen to the cops. Even if you don’t like them. Even if you don’t like what they’re saying, you have to listen to them, they said. Cause they are the ones in power. They are the ones entrusted with authority. Sometimes they make the wrong decision, Avery, but you have to follow what they say. Avery, who had heard about Brown’s death, had been expecting to hear this from his parents. He had been hearing it his whole life. Especially from one faculty member. “It’s a lesson I’ve been taught all my life,” Avery said. “[Former computer science teacher] Mr. Jackson would always say, ‘You do not have to like the person in authority but you must respect them.’” After receiving the talk, Avery started to notice the police officers of Dallas more. Today, everywhere he goes, he takes note of where the cops in the area are. Even if it’s in his subconscious.

It all happened in 2014. August 9, 2014. The day that Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. August 9, 2014. The day that Bryant and Tosha Pearson realized that they needed to give their son, junior Avery Pearson, the talk. In almost all ways, Avery is a normal St. Mark’s student. He spends his time playing video games and doing hours of homework, acting in school productions and doing Improv after school. In general, he has a positive outlook on his life and the privileges he’s been afforded. But there’s one key difference between him

ryant knew he needed to give his children the talk when he realized how dire the situation was for the black population in America. “I think our race relations are worse than they’ve been in my lifetime,” he said. “I’m 52. And yet, that’s after having a black president.” But this is only natural for a race that has heightened senses around those there to protect them. Natural for a race of people who have an entire movement to assure people know that they matter just as much as anyone else. “There’s a lot of anger right now in black people as a whole, and I believe black lives matter, but I also believe all lives matter,” Tosha said. Bryant shares her belief of anger in black people, and another belief they share is the Black Lives Matter movement belief of who really matters. “From a black lives matter perspective,” Bryant said, “They say that all lives matter, but more specifically, black lives matter.” Avery knows there is a problem of racial discrimination and injustice in America, but he believes there are other ways of creating change in our country than just protesting, marches and rallies. “I think we need a leader,” Avery said. “Everybody has a leader for their cause. Organizations do great, but people associate the

civil rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King because he was the leader. People inside the civil rights movement were great as well, and you move and function and are better understood as a group of people, but everybody needs one leader to count on. One leader that they can voice their opinions through. One speaker phone.” Tosha agrees with Avery when it comes to getting one’s voice out into the world. She doesn’t believe in the violent rioting that has been taking over cities and towns throughout the country recently, and especially condemns the Dallas police shootings as a whole. “I still believe that two wrongs don’t make a right,” Tosha said. “I cannot go and take someone else’s life if I think someone’s life was taken unjustly. That doesn’t make it correct, we still have to find a common ground to talk, and to reason, and to be heard.”

hen Avery, who spent the summer in Mississippi for a Chinese language camp, was about to hang up the phone at the end of his daily conversation with his dad and heard the news of what was happening that night in Dallas, at first he didn’t believe it. It couldn’t have been the same Dallas that he grew up in. It couldn’t have been the same Dallas that he was so excited to return to. It couldn’t have been the same Dallas that he had so many friends in. “I was thinking in my mind,” Avery said. “I just came to the realization that when you hear these names, five dead in New York, a couple dead in Seattle, one shot in Charlotte, Atlanta, whatever. It’s not your town. When you hear Dallas. Five officers shot in Dallas, you’re just thinking, ‘Man that’s my town.’” But overall, Avery has a relatively positive outlook on the situation. Yes, there have been some “hot spots of racism,” as he calls it, and he thinks we should be working to fix that situation, but in general, he believes America is still progressing. When he thinks about how we can help end our recent rise in racism, Avery believes the best way to fight the racial injustice facing our country today is to go out and get an education. “Maybe go get an education,” Avery said. “Show them that you aren’t the race they think you are. Show them that you aren’t the guy back there making rap music, killing and doing vulgar things. Why not go out and get an education, and show them we aren’t all like this. We are good people.” CONTINUED See Sophomore Shane Ndeda’s perspective on the issue of ‘the talk’ on pages 18 and 19

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As the mom of an African American teenager, Tosha Pearson has seen injustice in America, and has taken steps to educate her son on how to conduct himself.

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‘I think everyone is kind of on their own individual journey. Everyone needs to look into themselves and see if they are biased in any way.’ — sophomore Shane Ndeda

viewed in fear, and the gun that hung from his belt was terrifying. And Shane has had “The Talk”. “The first talk I ever had was in sixth grade following the Traevon Martin incident,” Ndeda said. “I’m just told, if you get pulled over, you open your palms, put both your hands on the top of the driving wheel, you comply with instructions, you’re respectful, use sir or ma’am, and you don’t give them a reason to do anything.” After getting the talk at such a young age, Ndeda’s view on the world completely changed. “I remember that was the first negative thing I had experienced that year,” Ndeda said. ““I would get a sense of worry that something might happen even though it’s a perfectly good cop, a nice family man, doing his job the right way, you still just get a sense of worry because of what happened and it rattles your conscience at that age.” Four years pass. Shane is lying on a couch in Hawaii talking with his family when he sees the news. “Five Officers Killed in Dallas Shooting.”

ACTING A FOOL Sophomore Shane Ndeda hams it up for the camera as he relaxes on a couch.

ophomore Shane Ndeda, a sixth grader at the time, stumbled along the sidewalk with his dad. His dad began one of the usual anecdotes about his life that he loves to tell so much. Shane listened intently, memorizing every word of how great his dad was back in the day. Until something caught his eye. A gleaming silver badge with the DPD crest engraved on it fired a beam of light into Shane’s peripheral vision. Slowly, Dad’s voice faded, and an 11-year-old Shane’s focus shifted from his beloved father to the mysterious man in blue.

Shane was afraid of that badge, and the glare it shot towards him was all he could see until the officer turned the corner. The officer wasn’t a bad guy, he dedicated his life to protect people like Shane. No child should fear someone who has dedicated their life to protecting people. For most children Shane’s age, they would pay attention to an officer because they are intrigued by his uniform, look at his badge in admiration, and think the gun on his belt is cool. Not for Shane. For sixth grade Shane, the blue uniform put him on edge, the police badge he

onversations cease as the Ndedas focus on the news, no one yells, says a word, they are all overcome by shock. Shane walks back into his room without saying a word to him family. “Hawaii is known by many as paradise, so you’re suppose to go there, be lazy, lie on the sand, have fun,” Ndeda said. “And we were coming back to this, from paradise to reality in Dallas, something I wanted no part of.” After another talk from his parents, Ndeda returned home, where Ndeda believes he saw a rise in racial tension ever since the shooting. “I think the vast majority of this school is very accepting and respectful of all people no matter where you come from, what you do; I think everyone treats you how marksmen treat each other, it is the minority of St. Mark’s that has ever discriminated against a fellow Marksman,” Ndeda said. “The Dallas shootings will bring the issue to the front of everyone’s minds, it’ll have people taking sides and showing their true colors.” Something that Shane points out is the fact that because he is black, he will have to act differently out of fear of discrimination from cops. “Rolling, for instance, is something every teenager does. Seniors at St. Mark’s do it every week, it is a tradition,” Ndeda said. “My parents have told me that I am not to participate in anything like that solely because of the fear of the reaction a cop might have.”

He points out that proportionally; African-American males commit a vast majority of crimes. “We as the African-American community ourselves need to also take a step back and really think about how we portray ourselves,” Ndeda said. “We ourselves need to make sure that we do not give society reason to think that we as a race are a group negatively affecting the world.” He, however, strongly disagrees with cops reasoning for being more aggressive to African-American males. “Everyone should not be punished for the actions of few,” Ndeda said. “Even if it’s the majority of a group, not everyone in that group should be punished.”

Shane believes this focus on the individual can also help alleviate some of the tension as a community. “I think everyone is kind of on their own individual journey. Everyone needs to look into themselves and see if they are biased in any way,” Ndeda said “People need to just acknowledge that there is a racial bias against black people in this country and that you as a black individual have to conduct yourself in a manner that doesn’t draw attention to yourself from law enforcement. “

e also points out that it has to go both ways and that African-Americans can’t group all officers into the same group as the few who wrongly shoot people based off of race. “You can count the number of cops who have done something like this on your hands,” Ndeda said. “Those five policemen were fathers, they were sons, and they were brothers, and now a lot of family members have to wake up and realize that they are no longer families, and that was a terrible thing to do.” Shane thinks that the only way to stop from being afraid of cops is to reason with yourself. “It’s not really something you can do as a community,” Ndeda said. “It’s something you need to do yourself – breathe, calm yourself down, and realize that it is a very, very, very small minority that poisons the image of cops.” For now, Shane believes that the way for you to combat this wide spread tension is to focus on how you act. “I can only control myself. And to do that, I have to educate myself, I have to realize that there are things I cannot do that my white friends can do.” Ndeda said. “There are probably going to be things that they can do that are more extreme that they will do, and they will probably receive less punishment than me doing something that wasn’t as extreme.”

hane Ndeda believes that the Black Lives Matter movement is necessary and that they are carrying out their message in the correct way. “The movement is, for the exception of very, very, very few instances, a peaceful protesting movement.” Ndeda said. “The goal of Black Lives Matter is to raise awareness that black male and females are oppressed in this country, and they receive discrimination like no other.”

NDEDA’S THOUGHTS Sophomore Shane Ndeda suggests everyone is on his or her own individual journey.

Shane believes that while focusing on himself will do the most good he is capable of doing at his age, it is also necessary to identify the goal of the Black Lives Matter movement. “The day that we can wake up and watch the news and not be afraid that we are going to hear that a young black male was shot by a police officer for no good reason,” Ndeda said. “The day we can turn to the news and there’s not a thought in our head that that’s going to come across the headline is the day that Black Lives Matter has reached its goal.” CONTINUED The Ingram family, with senior William and eighth grader Harrison Ingram, tell their side of the story on pages 20 and 21

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‘It’s not a good thing, but it’s a conversation that has been part of the African American community for years.’ — Vera Ingram

Vera said. “You’re never quite sure, but it’s always in the back of your mind because you hear stories. I think you have more phones around now, so everything is being recorded, so [police brutality videos] may have heightened the awareness of other people, but that awareness has always been there for us.” The Ingram parents gave their version of “the talk” to their sons senior Will and eighth grader Harrison Ingram. When talking to his sons, Tyrous emphasized the importance of respecting police officers. “One of the things, just growing up as an African American male, I know is to be able to be obedient to elders and adults,” Tyrous said. “We’ve made sure that Will and Harrison know that if they are stopped, they are respectful, saying ‘Yes sir, no sir.’ Do whatever it is they ask you to do and don’t give any reason to [police officers] that you are a threat to them because their lives are on the line as well. They’re humans, and they make mistakes.”

The reporter’s voice echoed off the walls in the empty room. Sitting alone on the couch, she watched the news unfold. Another shooting. But when she looked back up at the television, her heart stopped. The gunshots were in Dallas. She rushed to the phone, telling her son to come home immediately. Then, she dialed her husband, who was with their other son at basketball practice in DeSoto. She wanted everybody back in the house — immediately. As she made sure everybody would come home safely, one thought continued to haunt Vera Ingram.

Was the shooter black? With the alarming frequency of police brutality incidents or shootings on the rise, many black parents around the country have changed their approach to parenting. Specifically, some parents are educating their kids on how to respond and comply with police officers. For parents like Vera and Tyrous Ingram, “the talk” has always been a necessary part of their parenting because of the freedom and various influences that their kids have. “For many African Americans, we have thought that maybe we’re getting pulled over or targeted a little bit more than other people,”

yrous also stresses to his kids the importance of having dignity and being perceived well by others. Additionally, he makes sure they know the harsh realities of the world rather than just the sheltered St. Mark’s environment. “As [Will is] driving, whether he’s out at the fair, at the mall, or what have you, how he carries himself and how he speaks, with correct grammar and all of that stuff, makes a difference in how people perceive him,” Tyrous said. “That’s for everybody, but for [Harrison and Will], we really stress and hone in on that because there’s some bad things that go on in here, and they need to be aware that there are consequences. If you leave your bag at St. Mark’s, nothing will happen. But if you leave your bag at a basketball game or the gym, it’s probably not going to be there. So it’s those kind of realities that we make sure to hit on.” While police and civilian shootings have been put under the national spotlight as of late, Vera believes that the conversation that she’s had with her sons has remained the same throughout the years. “I could remember my dad saying the very same thing to my brother and me,” Vera said. “It’s not a good thing, but it has been a conversation that has been part of the African American community for years, if not forever.” With the media playing an important role in the coverage and perception of the shootings, Tyrous believes that the shootings do not reflect the collective consciousness of policemen. In fact, Tyrous believes steps have been taken to better the relationship between police officers and people in communities around the nation. “We’re McDonald’s owners and one of the things that we’re doing is ‘Coffee with a Cop,’” Tyrous said. “And that’s really gained a

lot of steam nationwide. A policeman would come into the restaurant, and they would have a cup of coffee with the customers. Initially, [a customer] sees a police car in the parking lot, and the first thing a customer would say is ‘What happened?’ No, everything is fine. We’ve got coffee, and an officer wants to have a cup with you. It really has brought the folks together in the communities to know, ‘Hey, these guys care, and they are your friends and are of service.’” Similarly, Vera believes that small actions, like an officer having a coffee with a customer, are necessary to bring the greater Dallas community together. “It does make a difference when the police officers actually come in and speak with our customers,” Vera said. “We would welcome them and give them free lunch. We’d love to have them in the restaurants having conversations with our customers. I think that’s the best thing you can do. When we lived in Colleyville, there were some apartments and a police station with a playground right next to it. I thought that was a great idea because they would bring lunch over to the children and really got to know those kids in those apartments well.” Although she recognizes that there are policemen who have hurt their communities, Vera believes that people should not judge police officers based on the actions of a few. “You just do what the [police officer] says, don’t make him any more angry,” Vera said. “Ninety-nine percent of the policemen you are going to meet are going to be great guys, but there are a few out there who aren’t. If you’re unlucky enough to find one that isn’t, you do what he says, be very mannerable, and let us handle it later, let us fight that battle for you.” Tyrous believes it is important to better the relationship between police officers and the Dallas community to combat rising levels of violence and tension. “Coach Guiler had put the basketball team in a league down in Bob Knight’s Center in Duncanville,” Tyrous said. “It’s a league that they’ve had for probably three to five years, but it’s put on by the police department. What this league is about, even before all these shootings, is that the police are going to be there. This is a way to bring the community together, so the kids can see the policemen there and have some interactions, and they can know they’re part of the community.” While police and civilian shootings have been put under the national spotlight as of late, Vera firmly believes that the conversation that she’s had with her sons has remained the same throughout the years. “I could remember my dad saying the very same thing to my brother and me,” Vera said. “It’s not a good thing, but it has been a conversation that has been part of the African American community for years, if not forever.”

PAGE 21 The Ingram family is all smiles as they squish to fit on a couch (far left). Tyrous Ingram (this page) gestures as he explains his advice for his sons on the topic of racial tensions in America.

OUR GENERATION

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Now, in the aftermath of the Dallas Police shootings, this generation has a decision to make. Are we going to be known as the generation of violence or are we going ot work on creating a different legacy?

BY RISH BASU, RETT DAUGBJERG, KOBE ROSEMAN, ZACH GILSTRAP, CRAWFORD MCCRARY, WASEEM NABULSI, NICK MALVEZZI PHOTOGRAPHY FRANK THOMAS, CHRIS MCELHANEY, KYLE SMITH

‘WE’RE GETTING USED TO VIOLENCE’ Today, it seems like every time you log onto your computer or unlock your phone, the media of the world is surrounded by violent videos, news and thoughts. But is this any different from past generations? Or are we the first ones to become desensitized to violence?

’

.T. Sutcliffe sits and watches as some of her best friends disappeared from the country. Since her childhood, Sutcliffe never had to worry about the government’s wartime draft. But in 1973, during the height of the Vietnam War, Sutcliffe’s friends are being shipped to fight one by one, and she can’t do anything about it. Except protest. For Sutcliffe, it’s not fair that her longtime friends have to risk their lives. It’s not fair that almost two million Americans were drafted. It’s not fair that her friends had no say in whether or not they are going to war. So Sutcliffe and her friends make a statement and join the thousands of people lining the streets of Washington D.C, protesting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. But these protests were nothing like the ones of today. In the 1970’s, protests consisted of peaceful sit-ins, organized marches and harmless rallies. Meanwhile, today’s protests conclude with events such as the murder of multiple police officers and civilians, a burned down building or whole city blocks torn asunder. The core of the protests have not changed, but our generation’s sensitivity to violence has. Sutcliffe believes protests from the past and present have certain differences that alter how we perceive the definition of effective and public demonstration. “I believe that people who have peaceful protests are useful, but when people start shooting at each other or making verbal accusations that rip people apart, nobody can communicate or convince anybody of everything,” Sutcliffe said. “If we are to resolve something, we have to communicate. We aren’t going to solve problems by shooting and shouting at each other. When I look at people who think that the most effective way to do things is by shouting louder than the next guy or blogging faster than the next guy, I think about how your generation is going to have to reign that in.” Freshman David Vallejo sees a difference between the generational reactions to social unrest. “If you look back to the Vietnam war, reporters would broadcast images of the news at a certain hour on TV and not every day,” Vallejo said. “So it’d be much harder for people to actually look and see what was going on and think about the horrors. Nowadays with social media and 24 hour news cycles and the whole digital age, it’s become that every time we turn on our phone, every time we turn on the TV, everytime we go on the internet, there’s always a new headline, there’s always a new article, and it’s just becoming something that’s commonplace.” Vallejo says the presence of violence in today’s protests can be attributed to a mindset that society acquires. “I didn’t live through the Vietnam protests, but I think the difference now is that a lot of the people in our generation really feel that the issues are so important that any action used to protest it is justified, including those of violent outbursts or any sort of violence.” Vallejo, Sutcliffe and Hamilton all recognize the prevalence of violence in today’s society. As a result, an underlying question still remains. According to The Washington Post, there have been over 40,000 occurrences of gun violence and police brutality combined so far this year. So, with acts

of terror becoming commonplace in today’s news headlines, are we becoming entirely insensitive to violence? When today’s children turn on the television or scroll through social media and experience the increased news coverage, the presence of violence becomes more and more customary. So is the desensitizing of today’s society something we should worry about? Assistant Upper School Head Scott Gonzalez has seen a generational desensitization to violence throughout his time as an educator. “I think that when you start seeing violence, bloodshed and people being hurt as a normal aspect of life and a regular aspect of life, it just becomes more and more acceptable,” Gonzalez said. “If you look at real current events, I think there is a real lust to see the videos right now of especially black men or any kind of violence. It is being promulgated and wanting to be shared. I don’t know if that’s right or wrong, but I think that when that gets out there, it becomes more sensationalized.” Sutcliffe agrees this generation is becoming more and more desensitized as a result of increased coverage of violent events in the media. “The way we get our information has definitely changed,” Sutcliffe said. “Back when I was reading about the Vietnam War, I was getting my information from TV and newspapers. If you read different newspapers, you got different perspectives. The same thing is happening today in blogs. We had to be careful then and we have to be careful now to make sure we’re getting two legitimate sides.”

arry Houck, Cable News Network (CNN) consultant and former New York Police Department detective takes a different stance. Having multiple years of experience dealing with law enforcement and racial tensions in the United States, Houck believes our generation is becoming more sensitive to violence because of the increase in technology. “In today’s society, we have never seen public demonstrations like this before,” Houck said. “We have the internet, YouTube, and everybody has a camera on their phone and police officers are under more stress now as a result of that.” Instead of designating the desensitization of our society as a major problem, Houck goes back to the roots. “People aren’t telling the truth about the events that happen,” Houck said. “Let’s take the incident in Charlotte, North Carolina, where two police officers shot an armed man. We had three days of riots in Charlotte because of a false

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narrative. People will say he didn’t have a gun and that he was reading a book. You will have a peaceful demonstration for an hour and then the people who look for any excuse to commit violence come out. If we want to put an end to what’s going on in these inner cities, we need to stop the false narrative that goes out.” Hamilton, however, sees no particular trend in the change in sensitivity between generations. She believes the people in our generation are interpreting violence in different ways as a result of changes in priorities. “I think it’s kind of both. For some of the young people, they’ve become non-reactive to it,” Hamilton said. “But in other cases, what we’ve seen is that young people have taken that knowledge and themselves become violent. So there’s not one reaction for young people to all this violence. They’re all going in different directions.

IN ACTION Citizens and protestors downtown discuss and debate the violence going on in the country at a Black Lives Matter rally Sept. 22.

This is because the younger group has other things that are their priority. One thing that has changed increasingly since I was a police officer is that police are not targeting as many younger people as they were. The reason is that for example in the 1970s and 80s, the crime rate for juveniles was higher than normal and so there was a reason that police were targeting juveniles for stop and frisk and things like that.” Nevertheless, Vallejo believes society has become somewhat accustomed to acts of violence across the nation. “I definitely think that a lot of our generation has become so use to seeing the images of like police shootings, mass shootings, just violence in general that we don’t really take the time to think about it and to think of the implications that it may have for the people involved,” Vallejo said.

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THE FUTURE OF RACE After July’s shootings, It’s clear that issues surrounding race and diversity won’t be going away any time soon. But what role does the school have in educating students on these issues?

istory Department Chair David Fisher is optimistic about race issues today. In a time when some people need a reminder that black lives do matter, he’s optimistic. In a time when shots ring through downtown because a shooter wants to kill white people, he’s optimistic. In a time when Dallas — the first place Fisher and his kids have ever hoped to call “home” — still bears the shame of hosting a tragedy on July 7, a tragedy born from long-brewing racial tensions, he’s optimistic. Fisher doesn’t live under a rock. In fact, he’s pretty much on top of the news. He’s one of those guys that still reads a print newspaper every morning. But somehow… he is still optimistic. He’s optimistic because he’s seen what the future looks like. And ironically, the future of these race issues lie in his past — international schools. “International schools and the kids who are there kind of represent the future,” he said. “It’s what we are going to be like.

From the moment he was born, Fisher has lived what he calls “a rootless life.” Philippines. Bangladesh. Malaysia. Argentina. Rhode Island. California. Massachusetts. His wife is French. His friends live in Turkey and Pakistan. “Oh yeah — and somewhere along the line I did political science in France,” he laughs. His life is “a very long story.” But what’s consistent throughout this nomadic lifestyle is a genuine love — a love for international schools. You can see it when he talks about them. He’ll tell you that they are “better than the world,” and a fat, nostalgic smile stretches across his face when he talks about his childhood school growing up in Manila. But why exactly does Fisher love international schools? And why does he say they are “better than the world”? “I like the fact that you had to negotiate these different cultures,” Fisher said. From this — the forced collaboration with the races and cultures of the world — Fisher found his optimism towards race issues. “Not to say that there’s no tension

Temporary varsity basketball coach and army member watches as Marksmen play a game in the off-season league. internationally, but it’s just that race isn’t that big a deal,” Fisher said. “Even religion is not that big a deal. International schools are strange institutions in that respect. We are better than the world in some ways.” But when he came to Dallas to sink some roots into a city and abandon his life on the move, he quickly noticed something. “We are a very racially segregated city,” Fisher said. “That’s painfully obvious as a visitor to this town. Northern Dallas is lily white, whereas southern Dallas — I haven’t even visited. Because it’s just not what you do. And there, the racial composition is completely different… African Americans have not been dealt a good deck of cards in this city. And you can see it in the way it’s organized.” In a time when race and diversity issues plague the city, what will it take for Fisher’s vision of the future to become a reality? And what role does the school have in making a community where race simply isn’t that big a deal? Fisher would like to think we don’t shy away from these discussions.

And especially in his department, students need to investigate race issues as a social reality. “Certainly an institution like this cannot ignore race and race history and race issues,” Fisher said. “And where it comes up naturally in a curriculum or in a sequence of studies, it should be addressed. I can’t imagine anybody would be opposed to that statement.” But according to Fisher, people can start being opposed when you talk about how active the school should address these issues. “I think some people might argue that as an educational institution we have a commitment to actively promote racial understanding — there’s an agenda that we need to follow here,” he said. “And others might say that that’s forcing the issue, and that you are also bringing race into areas where it just doesn’t need to be.”

SPREADING THE WORD Through their various organizations and experiences, History Department Chair David Fisher (far left), DADYO sponsor Marjorie Curry (center) and head basketball coach Greg Guiler (left) are just few of the many people around campus who teach about diversity.

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Joining hands with L. G. Pinkston High School and military personnel, the varsity team prays before a game Oct. 4. Fisher says that because we are an independent school, it’s up to teachers to decide when, where, and how much diversity is taught in the classroom. “But the result of that is — yeah — we don’t really know what the St. Mark’s attitude is towards race,” he said. “But at the same time it would seem to be inconsistent with what the school stands for that we would all be told: ‘this is the St. Mark’s view on race.’” But other measures are being taken to educate students on these issues and to achieve Fisher’s vision.

Curry hopes DADYO helps educate others The Dallas Area Diversity Youth Organization (DADYO) focuses the education of race and diversity right onto the school community. According to DADYO sponsor Marjorie Curry, there are facets of diversity that society

overlooks. And her job is to expose people to new perspectives. “I think DADYO’s role is to make people realize that diversity also has to do with equity and inclusion, and making people feel like they have a seat at the table,” Curry said. “I don’t want them to think that if they’re not a minority, it’s not for them. Everybody means everybody.” DADYO senior officer Andrew Whigham believes the organization’s goal is to give students a cultural refinement by providing safe and informative dialogue at meetings. But Whigham thinks that sometimes the school community is a bubble, a bubble where social issues like race aren’t discussed enough. “[The school] caters to pretty much everything we could possibly need, but there are problems in the outside world that haven’t been discussed properly,” he said. “I think we can do a better job on discussing these ideas and bringing awareness to them.” However, education on diversity isn’t limited to the classroom or after school meetings, the instructor says.

STUDENTS REACT

IT’S THE LAW? “

In the off chance that one doesn’t follow their directions and training, it would be a good skill to have. Emmett Berger sophomore

“

Basketball head coach Greg Guiler invited the varsity team to participate in an off-season tournament where players are coached in exhibition games by police officers, elected officials and military personnel.

Guiler’s basketball league brings inclusion Through this, the basketball team has been a part of a movement that fosters stronger bonds between civic leaders and Dallas-area teens in the wake of July’s shootings. “The overall initiative has been, ‘Hey, we want for there to be racial reconciliation in this city, and we want for there to be good relationships between our law officers and students,’” Guiler said. “I have really been grateful for the privilege to participate.” After hearing about this new hands-on diversity education, former varsity player Luke Williams ’14 wrote a letter to the team expressing his hope that they will take these games seriously. He knew this could be an opportunity for the team to understand its privilege in comparison to other schools at the

tournament and hoped the team would recognize the opportunity. “St. Mark’s is a great place, and I learned many useful and complex lessons there, but I have struggled with far more difficult lessons following graduation,” Williams said in his letter to the team. “Following St. Mark’s, privilege is never as easy to wield as it is in a white and gray uniform, but it is arguably all the more necessary to do so.” Williams thinks that at the school, there can be a lot of racism — implicit or explicit. To start looking like Fisher’s description of an international school — a community where race isn’t a big deal — Williams believes students need to embrace diversity. And embrace the challenges it brings. “Our differences are all important,” Williams said. “That means you have to figure out how to make everything work no matter what. Your differences need to be embraced, you need to be celebrated. And the problems that arise from those differences need to be reconciled in healthy ways. That’s just part of interacting with the outside world.”

exas Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire is currently proposing legislation that would require the Texas Education Agency to develop a curriculum in schools on how to properly interact with police officers when stopped or detained. In light of July’s shootings and unrest over police brutality issues, we asked students around campus: Do we need this education in our classrooms, or does Whitmire’s bill take it too far?

I think [the proposed bill] is going too far. We’re all a community, we don’t need to be taught how to interact. Maybe we need to learn our rights in school, but no, we definitely don’t need a class. Isaiah Kazunga senior

“

I think the occasional assembly would be appropriate. I certainly didn’t know how to interact [when I got pulled over for the first time].” Patrick Magee senior

“

I would say that [a police instruction course] is okay. It’s not hurting anyone. Wallace White freshman

“

I guess it depends on how rigorous this would be. If it’s something you would be going to every day, that’s unnecessary, but if it’s a seminar you do once a year, that’s more appropriate. Thaxton Mather freshman

Entitled Unashamed Daring Privileged Lucky Careless Innovative

Dangerous

Accepting

Divided

Opinionated

Angry

PAGE 26

HOWVulgarWILL WE BE REMEMBERED? Racist

Violent

Caring

Hateful

he year is 1967. Dallas finds itself thrust into the spotlight when the nation’s beloved president is killed downtown. John F. Kennedy’s assassination on the streets of downtown Dallas left a tainted legacy behind for the city, a legacy of violence that was felt for years to come. In the early sixties Dallas was a growing metropolitan city with strong conservative ties. The assassination of a president who was known for his left leaning tendencies left a bad taste in most american’s mouths. The events had left the city with a black eye, but it didn’t knock us out. It allowed the city an opportunity to change for the better. The strong conservative atmosphere that encompassed Dallas in the sixties disintegrated in the wake of Kennedy’s assassination. Citizens were embarrassed as they found the global spotlight focused on them, and their response allowed the city to grow. Nearly a decade later, Dallas

Progressive

Forward-thinking

Enterprising

was better known for being the city where the Dallas Cowboys played than the city where the President was assassinated — a testament to the citizens’ response to global criticism over an act they weren’t responsible for. For Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Master Teacher and Michigan native Bruce Westrate, Dallas was a much better city after the Kennedy assassination. “Going back to the sixties again — what was Dallas’s reputation in the sixties? Pretty bad because of the Kennedy assassination” Westrate said. “Now, I see Dallas as a colossus in this country and has a lot of things going for it as a city. It’s a city that’s vibrant — it’s attracting migrants like me every year by the tens of thousands and its growing hugely.” ... On a sweltering July night, Dallas once again found itself in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons. July’s shootings of four Dallas Police department officers and one

Words taken via poll of Upper School students when asked, “Using one word, one positive and one negative, how would you describe our generation?”

Creative

Soft Interconnected

Sensitive Needy

Wasteful

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officer begs a question. Will our generation be remembered for the violent acts committed by one person in the same way Dallas was given a bad reputation in the sixties? Are we still “The City of Hate?” Is this what our generation will be known for? Are we going to be remembered for the violent acts committed by a few disgruntled members of society, or are we going to be remembered for our positive contributions? For junior Sammy Sanchez, there are many misconceptions that are commonly associated with our generation. “People say we are lazy, but I don’t think that’s true,” Sanchez said. “People always say that we want a medal for everything, but I don’t really think that’s true. If you look at stats, more millennials are going to college than in any other generation.” Sanchez believes that our generation should strive to be the most

inclusive generation yet, ignoring political, racial, and religious views. But at the same time Sanchez is critical of how we go about achieving our inclusivity. Sanchez believes that an unhealthy amount of respect can prevent important discussions from taking place. “ If I respect your political opinion too much then I’m never going to challenge it and we’re never going to get anywhere” Sanchez said, “Rather than saying ‘I don’t bring up my politics because I don’t want to offend anyone,’ I think it should be ‘these are my views, what are yours?’and then we can try to solve something.” Simply claiming to have respect for various groups and figures isn’t enough according to Sammy. “I think we have an unspoken ‘we respect ev-

PAGE 27 The national tragedy July 7 in our city’s downtown streets threatens our generation’s legacy. Will our generation be remembered as a group of violent, ununified people? What can we do to change negative stigma surrounding our generation?

erybody’ policy, but people never go out of their way to do more for groups that are marginalized,” Sanchez said. “I think there are problems out there that aren’t really addressed and people kind of pretend that they don’t exist” Sanchez also believes that people of this generation are too focused on social media and not on creating actual change in our community. “It is a start to share an article that you think will get people talking,” Sanchez said. “But that’s obviously not enough. People should be having these conversations about what they think we should actually do. Sometimes I feel like it is cheap acting to cash in on a tragedy just to get likes. I think it would be one thing if you were sharing it to get other people talking about it, but that doesn’t happen.”

When Westrate heard of the shooting this summer, he like most, was horrified. However, unlike most, he believes that the shooting will have a positive impact on the Dallas community. “I think in terms of civic appreciation for police, I think it has gone way way up as we realize just what these do, how they put their lives on the line–we take them for granted,” Westrate said. “So I think in that respect, as I see it, it’s kind of the silver lining in this cloud.” Westrate believes that the media makes Dallas–and the United States as a whole–seem more violent than it actually is. “You have to keep something in mind, the 24/7 news cycle that we have now creates this constant insatiable monster that needs to feed on sensationalism all the time and the more controversial, the better,” Westrate said. “I’m being totally cynical here, but I grew up in the 1960’s in which the United States was a much—statistically—a much, much more violent country than it is now.” Additionally, Westrate believes

it’s important to realize that one man’s actions don’t speak for our generation as a whole. “Remember something, this was one guy that did this, who killed these police officers” Westrate said. “So, I think we need to be awfully careful in reaching broad conclusions when it comes to one maniac because it skews our perception of what reality actually is.” Junior Omar Rana believes that the current generation deserves more recognition than they are given credit for. “I think our generation is more open-minded than the previous generation,” Rana said. “We also are strong-headed and determined.” Additionally, Rana believes that the unique environment of St. Mark’s is a perfect reflection of the current generation, and furthermore, he believes that the sense of community will be beneficial to the future of Dallas and the United States. “At St. Mark’s we have a sense of collaboration, which will help mend certain relationships in the current race tension,” Rana said.

“Whether getting help from a classmate for homework, I always know there is someone out there who can help me and collaborate with me.” For the United States as a whole, however, Rana believes that the recent shooting in Dallas reflects that the country as a whole still has a long way to go before it can reach ideal race relations. “I think the race situation in our country shows how far we still have to go--I also think it is important to acknowledge that we have made progress,” Rana said. “In general, it is a two-sided faultiness, and policing and civilian actions needs to be reevaluated.” Furthermore, Rana hopes that his generation will be prepared for the challenges facing them in the future. “We need to rid our community of hate--we must see each other as people rather than skin color,” Rana said. “I know many at SM are prepared, but I’m not sure about other--hopefully we can lead this cause to eliminate discrimination and other biases.”

July 10, 2016, three days after the shootings, balloons, flowers, posters and people flood the cement foyer outside Jack Evans Dallas Police Department Headquarters