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The Future is Here Looking ahead at the Science Center Project and Goals for St. Mark’s IV
Summer 2017 Volume 22, Issue 2 St. Mark’s School of Texas Alumni Magazine
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A blueprint for the new Winn Science Center and McDermott-Green Science Building appears over the old facility just prior to the start of demolition in June 2017
THE SCIENCE CENTER PROJECT The view of St. Mark’s from Preston Road has changed over the summer. The playing fields on the west side of campus are now the staging area for the future of science education at 10600 Preston Road.
Since the end of the 2017 school year, construction crews have been hard at work on the first phase of the building project, carefully removing the C-Wing of the McDermott-Green Math-Science Quadrangle. In December 2018, the Winn Science Center will emerge in its place. This state-of-the-art facility will announce to both Preston Road commuters and the world that St. Mark’s will lead the next generation of science education. While construction began this summer, the Science Center Project has been years in the making. The Winn Family Foundation announced a $10 million lead gift three years ago. Since then, the St. Mark’s community has rallied behind this endeavor. More than 55 families contributed an additional $32 million to surpass the $40 million goal necessary for construction to begin. Additional funds are being raised to support program opportunities and sustaining needs. On May 9, 2017, years of dreaming and planning became reality. More than 150 members of the project’s leadership team, the science faculty, and the School community stood in the shadow of the McDermott-Green observatory dome for a groundbreaking celebration. At the ceremony, Fletcher Carron, Stephen M. Seay ’68 Science Department Chair, gave the audience a virtual tour of the new facility, pointing out the locations of the science lecture hall, biotechnology lab, maker space, greenhouse, and more. “Two years from now, and in the years to come, boys will find their passion for the sciences, much like past generations of students did in the McDermott-Green Math-Science Quadrangle behind me. We’re here to celebrate the groundbreaking for a new physical structure, but I think we can agree that it’s the activities that will be held within that we will most hold dear.”
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Breaking Ground on the Future
“As we look to the future, we’re guided by the hope that our boys will go out with the lessons they learn in these facilities and make an incredible difference in the world.”
— DAVID W. DINI, EUGENE MCDERMOTT HEADMASTER The from facade of The Winn Science Center as viewed from the northwest
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(previous page) An artist’s rendering of the new Winn Science Center and the McDermott-Green Science Building
accomplishments and character of a man. We want to continue what Eugene McDermott and Cecil Green started nearly 60 years ago.”
(clockwise from top left) Construction crews dismantle the planetarium and observatory dome
Once completed, the Winn Science Center and renovated McDermott-Green Science Building will usher in a new era of learning. The combined 75,000-square-foot facility will
One of the ceremonial shovels used in the groundbreaking ceremony in May 2017 Crews install the observatory dome in 1961 (opposite page) An artist’s rendering of the new Winn Science Center and glass connector space to the McDermott-Green Science Building
contain dedicated spaces for numerous subjects, including engineering, robotics, DNA science, bioengineering, and computer science. Speaking for his family, Steve Winn ’64, St. Mark’s Trustee Emeritus and Chairman and CEO of
But the building will serve far more than the
RealPage, Inc., thanked the School, the community,
sciences at St. Mark’s. A 250-seat lecture hall will
and the numerous donors who have helped bring
be able to host special visitors, class meetings,
the Science Center Project to fruition: “I’d like to
Senior Exhibitions, and more. Students from
make sure that every donor knows how grateful we
across Dallas will be welcomed into a new theater-
are to have you join us in support of this project.
style planetarium, with an advanced projection
To see you give so generously inspires all of us,
system capable of teaching numerous subjects
because we all share a common love for this School.”
from astronomy to history. And a dedicated Lower School classroom will provide a revolutionary new
Motioning to the observatory dome installed in
way for the youngest Marksmen to learn about the
1961, Winn recalled his first impression of
world around them and dream of new possibilities.
St. Mark’s: “This School started off as an inspiration
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for me as a boy when I was driven down Preston
Over the coming years, anyone driving down
Road and first saw the new Quadrangle and this
Preston Road will begin to see a new landmark
amazing planetarium and telescope. St. Mark’s
emerge, and they will know that something
is an incubator that turns a boy’s dreams into the
extraordinary is taking place at St. Mark’s.
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“I’d like to make sure that every donor knows how grateful we are to have you join us in support of this project. To see you give so generously inspires all of us, because we all share a common love for this School.”
— STEVE WINN ’64
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“This new building will put even more of the science education into the hands of the students. There will be more and better outlets for their creativity and more opportunities to explore their curiosity. In rooms like the maker lab and shop, planetarium, biotechnology lab, greenhouse, technology labs, Lower School lab, and even the science courtyard, students will be able to do enriching activities and experiments that are not possible in today’s building.”
—FLETCHER CARRON Stephen M. Seay ’68 Science Department Chair
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“Since the days when Arthur Douglas cared for it, I have used the greenhouse to enhance the literature I teach. When we study Theodore Roethke’s ‘Greenhouse Poems,’ which rely heavily on the poet’s experiences as a child in his father’s nursery, students can observe an orchid, ‘adder-mouthed, swaying close to the face, soft and deceptive,’ as Roethke describes one. While reading Roethke’s description of plant smells, we can inhale what he calls ‘that fetor of weeds.’ I’m eager to continue such activities in what I’m confident will be a greenhouse even more conducive to student use. And these activities are a perfect way to demonstrate the connections between English and science.”
—DAVID BROWN Victor F. White Master Teaching Chair in English
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“There are just so many opportunities that I’m excited about. We’ll have the space to set up a full-sized robotics competition arena for use by Middle and Upper Schoolers. With so much more space, we’ll be able to add micro-quadcopters to the robotics programs to work on autonomous behaviors. In the biotechnology lab, we’ll have a tissue culture room to work with vertebrate cell lines. Students will be able to design objects in CAD, print them on 3D printers, and use negative casts to create those objects in metal. The fusion of mechanical, electrical, and biological engineering in one location creates limitless opportunities.”
—DOUG RUMMEL Trustee Master Teaching Chair 72
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“Our boys are naturally curious about their world, and the new dedicated Lower School science classroom will provide myriad possibilities in an environment that will welcome their explorations. Lower Schoolers will investigate the physical, life, and earth sciences in this state-of-the-art space. Technology will be available at their fingertips. The new lab has been carefully designed with our youngest Marksmen in mind. In addition to large lab tables that will welcome hands-on activities, a kitchen is included that will help the boys make the connections between cooking, baking, and science. The Lower School has always provided a strong foundation in science for the boys, and with this new space, the sky’s the limit, figuratively and literally, for our youngest Marksmen.”
—SHERRI DARVER Head of Lower School 74
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“I’m excited for the dedicated computer science spaces, where the boys can easily collaborate with one another, using their knowledge of programming to move robots across the classroom. A facility that caters to the boys’ excitement and expanding interest in robotics and technological advancement is something that will greatly benefit the computer science program. It will also be an invaluable experience for students of all grades to learn science together in the same building, thus allowing them not only to acquire understanding from their teachers, but also from students above and below them in grade levels. Ultimately, our hope is to use these facilities to invigorate and shape the innovators of tomorrow.”
—KENDALL MURPHY Lower & Middle School Computer Science
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