the ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS DALLAS, TEXAS
remarker
VOLUME 65, NUMBER 5 MARCH 8, 2019
RACIAL INSENSITIVITY
v The country watched as two of Virginia’s top elected officials had their lives and political futures torn apart after one was accused of and one admitted to wearing blackface during their college years. As the nation continues to wrestle with how racial bias should be addressed, we spoke to members of our community to understand why the right conversations need to be had.
‘
Change happens by starting these conversations.’ – Lorre Allen, Director of Human Resources
v Story, pages 6-7
STORY Sam Ahmed, Sid Vattamreddy, Colin Campbell, Aaron Thorne, Lyle Ochs PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Kamal Mamdani, Kyle Smith
University School of Milwaukee teachers visit school, study character and leadership program by Sai Thirunagari wo teachers from University School of Milwaukee (USM) visited campus Feb. 26-27 to learn about character and leadership education. A co-ed, secular private preparatory school in Wisconsin, USM is developing its own program and trying to accelerate the process by learning what works at other schools. “They are thinking through how they’re going to build out their own efforts in character and leadership education at their school,” Minda and Malcolm Brachman Master Teacher Chair Martin Stegemoeller said. “They are looking around at various schools around the country to help them to save them some time so they can pick and choose and decide what’s right for them.” Emily Ihrke and Samantha Adey, the USM visitors, first met Stegemoeller five years ago. “I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Stegemoeller present about [the] St. Mark’s Character and Leadership program at a conference in Washington D.C.,” Ihrke said. “At that time, I was impressed by the rich content of St. Mark’s program, as well as its scope; it’s rare for a school to have such a comprehensive program for all students in grades 1-12.” According to Stegemoeller, such campus visits often occur af-
T
ter a faculty member presents at conferences. Stegemoeller will speak in New York and Atlanta in April and at the Montreal International Boys’ School Coalition (IBSC) conference in June. “Having people see people speak at conferences and then word of mouth from that — those are the only real ways to get people interested,” Stegemoeller said. “Right now there aren’t any other visits planned, but it wouldn’t surprise me if these three conferences in April and June would generate some interest and get some people wanting to come to campus.” After the conference in Washington D.C., Adey and Ihrke invited Stegemoeller to Summer Spark, an annual two-day symposium at USM, where he spoke and met their English department. “During Dr. Stegemoeller’s visit, several of our colleagues were struck by the depth of his knowledge and commitment,” Ihrke wrote. “It’s due to Dr. Stegemoeller’s expertise and generosity of spirit, as well as [the] school’s commitment to character and leadership education, that we’ve chosen to visit St. Mark’s.” Stegemoeller coordinated their visit here and sees mutual benefits in hosting such trips even though Marksmen already
have a Leadership and Ethics Program. “They’re really smart people, good folks, and we’ll learn a lot from them, too, in our own way,” Stegemoeller said. “We talk about empathy and compassion and being able to enjoy more of life by sharing other people’s experience. Well, that’s what this is.” Stegemoeller knows starting a new program at USM will be a formidable endeavor, but he believes the faculty are up for the challenge. “That is just a logistical problem of the highest order, Stegemoeller said. “Learning what you want to do and why and how is a huge task in its own right. I’m hoping that they come away with a sense of how daunting the task is and the kind of resources it’s going to take at their school to make it work.” Furthermore, Stegemoeller hopes Ihrke and Adey learned that character and leadership education can be a culture rather than merely a program. “I hope they take away the power of having multiple people, multiple good educators, at a school doing this work earnestly as opposed to just one person or two whose job it is to try to do this for a whole school,” Stegemoeller said.