The ReMarker | May 2020

REMARKER S T. M A R K ' S S C H O O L O F T E X A S • DA L L A S , T E X A S • V O LU M E 6 6 , N U M B E R 7 • M AY 1 5 , 2 0 2 0

Forever changed T H E

N E W

N O R M A L

COVID-19 has completely changed the way we live our lives . . . our campus is closed, our classes are online and we are all at home. Even though this pandemic will eventually come to an end and we will return to school, the lasting effects of COVID-19 will leave a permanent mark on our world, our country and 10600 Preston Rd. See coverage, pages 12-15.

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OUR SUPPORT NETWORK While some students are able to find their support network on campus, not all students feel that sense of help.

PART OF THE UNIFORM Students returning to campus wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

STORY Robert Pou, Luke Piazza, Jamie Mahowald PHOTO Collin Katz

DON'T MISS

Contingency plans • Backup dates for Commencement,

Baccalaureate and Marksmen Ball have been scheduled for this summer. Page 4

New schedule • Headmaster David Dini addresses students’ questions and concerns about the new schedule coming in the fall. Page 5

Departing faculty and staff • Fourteen community members will leave,

including English instructor Curtis Smith who has spent 43 years at the school. Page 8

BULLETIN

@remarkernewspaper

• Podcast:

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

focalpoint on iTunes/Soundcloud

Inside 3

Young alumni spotlight

What are Marksmen up to after college?

ISSUES

Family medicine doctor, Christian Dean ’01, who is based at a Seattle hospital, has been on many wilderness expeditions serving as the team doctor. From the Rocky Mountains to Mount Denali in Alaska to Nepal, Dean has taken trips around the world, and although he originally planned to join an expedition on Everest this year, that expedition was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Remote standardized testing • Looking into how COVID-19 is affecting the SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement tests, and how they will factor into upcoming college applications.

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DISCOVERIES

“It’s anything from being a part of the core group that’s climbing or skiing, where if anything happens, you are the medical person, to pretrip planning and serving back in a leadership role.”

Scientific literacy • How to understand and break down the facts, staticstics and other information in the news and around social media.

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• Instagram:

CHRISTIAN DEAN ’01

10600 Departing faculty • Taking a trip 43 years down memory lane with English instructor Curtis Smith and other departing faculty and staff.

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Quarantining abroad • While most Marksmen are spending their quarantine in and around Dallas, some find themselves abroad for the duration of the stay-at-home orders.

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CULTURE Quarantine pastimes • With this extra time away from campus, students and faculty alike are spending the breaks in unique ways.

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ON THE MOUNTAIN While skiing the Haute Route, Christian Dean ’01 tends to another skier’s blisters during the trip (top). Being towed behind a snowmobile, Dean heads Elk Mountain to be the doctor for the Grand Traverse Ski Race between Crested Butte, Colorado, and Aspen, Colorado (left). At the 14,000-foot camp on Mount Denali, Dean collected data on the mountain as part of an acute mountain sickeness study (right).

OPINIONS A successful transition • Praising the actions of the administration, faculty and staff in the wake of COVID19’s effect on the school.

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SPORTS

Say what?

Spring SPC season canceled

Comments overheard from Zoom.

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This isn’t speed, this is physics.

• Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Lions athletes have both lost a season and for some, valuable recruiting opportunities.

— Sophomore Adam Lai

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I don’t go outside because, quite frankly, I just don’t like people.

— Genecov Master Teaching Chair Amy Pool

I’ve had all the types of milk.

— Junior David Yang

In brief • STUDENT GPA CALCULATOR. Junior Alexander Zuch has created a St. Mark’s GPA calculator, an app that calculates GPA in the unique way that it is done here, without pluses or minuses, and with AP and honors classes counting for 1.25x more points on a 5.0 scale. It can be downloaded for free on the App Store and is made for the iOS operating system.

farm, where they have joined his preexisting flock of chickens.

• COMMUNITY SERVICE CHANGES. All community service projects have been cancelled due to the pandemic. Director of Community Service Jorge Correa said Upper School students shouldn’t stress about their service hours. Students who have earned Presidential Service Awards • ROBOTICS COMPETITION. will still receive certificates.. Some Several Robotics team remote community service members continued their opportunities, such as work by participating in the virtual tutoring, are available EarthxHack competition, to Upper School students. which ended April 28.

Juniors Benny Wang, Rishi GENERAL Their work involved Mohan and Owen Goldberg NEWS creating a program for the were named Community maker community that Service Board co-chairs for facilitates the sharing of the 2020-2021 school year tools and recycled materials.

Additionally, junior Gabe In addition, some members of the Bines was selected as vice-chair, and Robotics team are currently working sophomore Matthew Shen was named on manufacturing face shields for first junior vice-chair. responders.

• STUDENT RECEIVES LARGE • GREENHOUSE AND CHICKENS. DONATION. Sophomore Zubin Throughout the quarantine period, Mehta will be hosting a non-profit event Director of Environmental Studies Dan called StepUp4Hunger May 23 through Northcut has been tending to plants in May 31 in which people are asked the greenhouse, traveling to campus to to total one hundred thousand steps check the plants several times per week. throughout the week. This non-profit The chickens in the greenhouse, used as was made to help raise donations for the part of an AP Biology project have been North Texas Food Bank. Mehta received placed in the care of maintenance staff a $100,000 donation May 4, pushing his member Enrique Salinas, residing at his total donations to $102,000.

• SPRING PLAY CANCELED. The Upper School spring play, Stardust by Walter Kerr, has been canceled because of COVID-19. The cast and crew were working on staging and sets when school closed indefinitely before spring break. They had planned to perform the play from April 30 to May 3, but now they hope to perform it in the summer with a show in June.

the large role internet speed and sound quality will play in the outcome of each tournament. While the tournament was college-level, the team competed against other high schools. They played 12 games and finished seventh, beating out local rivals TAG Magnet and Plano West.

• DEBATE AWARDS. Senior Sahitya Senapathy and junior David Yang both • STUDENT’S NEW SONG. Fifth earned the National Speech and Debate Phoenix released their new Association Academic All single, “Poison,” April 10.

American award, a title This is the second song the given to high school debaters band, featuring junior Collin who demonstrate significant Katz on guitar, has released. national competitive ARTS The song is available on all success, academic excellence NEWS major streaming platforms, and debate leadership. To such as Apple Music and earn this award, Yang and Spotify, where it has almost Senapathy had to earn over 5,000 streams. The band 750 debate points, which was formed in 2019 to compete in the are accumulated by excelling in debate Wildflower Music Festival Battle of rounds. the Bands, where it placed first. Their first single, “Anyways,” was released • END OF YEAR CHANGES. in February 2020.

The last day of classes for grades one through 11 is May 21, and the last • QUIZ BOWL MOVES ONLINE. day of classes for seniors was May 14.

With all quiz bowl tournaments Additionally, there will de diviosional cancelled for the rest of the school events for both the Lower School year, the Upper School team has been and Middle School on May 22, and attending online tournaments. The team divisonal events for the Upper School played in the Sun Highschool Mirror will be held on May 26. These changes tournament over Discord May 3 with to the end of year schedule follow many teams from all over the country. A major changes, such as remote learning, due to change in playing over Discord will be COVID-19.

Class Officers

Aayan Khasgiwala

Enoch Ellis

Vice President: Sam Morgan Secretary: Sai Thirunagari StuCo Rep: Rahul Banerjee

Vice President: Camden Reeves Secretary: Ian Lin StuCo Rep: Alex Geng

Aadi Khasgiwala

Nolan Marcus

Senior President

Sophomore President

Vice President: Sal Hussain Secretary: Aaron Greenberg StuCo Rep: Charlie Estes

Junior President

Freshman President

Vice President: Kevin Lu Secretary: Nate Wilson StuCo Rep: Jimmy Francis

ISSUES THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

Contingency

Schedule

Student Council

Update on the status of important events for the Class of 2020.

Page 4

Headmaster answers questions and concerns about the plan for next year. Page 5

Get to know Blake Hudspeth and the rest of the newly-elected Student Council. Page 6

3 IN THEIR OWN WORDS

What are your thoughts on many colleges choosing to make standardized testing scores optional next year?

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I think standardized testing going optional is a good thing because many test dates were cancelled and students were not given the opportunities to improve their score or sometimes even take the test at all.

junior James Carr

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I believe that given the circumstances, there is a good chance that more and more colleges will continue to switch to test-optional and maybe even online test-accepting. junior Rohan Khatti

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ACADEMIC DISHONESTY The rising frequency of online examinations come with a more pertinent possibility of students abusing outside sources.

STANDARDIZED TESTING

Our cybertesting future The ever-developing global pandemic situation is causing testing companies to rethink their approach.

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he SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement (AP) tests are crucial components of a college application.

Information gathered from these tests is valuable to admissions officers, educators, teachers and – most importantly – students.

So when rising seniors think of applying to college, unclear circumstances surrounding post-pandemic standardized testing are a glaring issue.

Do I have enough time to take standardized tests?

Do test administrators have methods to prevent cheating?

Do I even need to take a standardized test to get into college anymore?

Fortunately, tenured professionals are working every day to ensure the process happens both fairly and smoothly.

••• College Board Secretary James Montoya describes the College Board’s first priority as the health and safety of students and families. The second: accessible SAT testing.

“Our second priority is to make the SAT as widely available as possible regardless of the economic or public health circumstances,” Montoya said. “If it’s safe to do so, we will test in person – on weekends and during the school day through state- and district-sponsored testing – beginning in August.”

Additionally, Montoya is determined to provide support for low-income students who wish to take AP tests this May. The board is currently exploring partnerships to ensure students have access to both technology and quiet, safe testing spaces.

“To support students who need resources to take AP exams, we are connecting students with efforts underway in their schools and districts which address the digital divide,” Montoya said. “and ensure students understand how to use their existing technology to participate in the

course and exam.”

Given the possibility this global pandemic jeopardizes in-person testing, even as late as August, the College Board is prepared to deliver digital SAT testing for students to take at home.

“As with at-home AP Exams, the College Board would ensure at-home SAT testing is simple, secure and fair – accessible to all and valid for use in college admissions,” Montoya said. “Like the pencil-and-paper test, a digital, remote version of the SAT would measure what students are learning in school and what they need to know to be successful in college.”

While the potential of wide-ranging cheating seems extremely great given that test-takers will have easier access to outside information, Montoya insists the College Board is well-prepared with test security.

“We would use a secure digital delivery platform, remote proctoring – which uses the camera and microphone on a student’s computer to detect security concerns – and post-test analytics,” Montoya said. “These would meet education industry norms and our own rigorous standards.”

While remote administration of standardized tests on IF WE DETERMINE A such a scale is new, STUDENT GAINED AN UNFAIR the College Board has been delivering ADVANTAGE, WE WILL TAKE SATs digitally to APPROPRIATE ACTIONS, tens of thousands of INCLUDING CANCELING TEST students in selected districts for the last SCORES. five years. As such, —JAMES MONTOYA, the administration COLLEGE BOARD SECRETARY has advanced policies concerning fairness and cheating.

“In addition to our explicit security measures, when students register for the SAT, they agree to our test security and fairness policies,” Montoya said. “If we determine a student gained an unfair advantage, we will take appropriate actions, including canceling test scores.”

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Faculty Chairperson of the Discipline Council Nancy Marmion stresses the importance of honor while testing remotely.

“I think it’s really important for students, especially Marksmen, to realize that the most important thing is always to maintain their integrity,” Marmion said. “A

Test-optional

Uncertainty surrounding students’ abilities to take standardized tests is causing many colleges to reconsider their necessity in the application process. Here’s a list of some prominent testoptional or test-flexible schools as of May 7.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Princeton (NJ)

UT Austin (TX)

Test-optional isn’t the same thing as test-blind.

Good test scores are another way of looking at applicants, rather than a defining trait. Testing can be a good representation of a relative academic prowess, but there are so many other things that are essential and distinct.

few points more on the ACT is not worth sacrificing your integrity. If a student were to get caught cheating on one of those tests, the consequences would be pretty extreme.”

This month, AP exams will be delivered to 3 million students remotely, which will give the College Board some extra experience before their more widely-taken SATs are administered.

“Students still have the option to test for AP exams and potentially get some college credit,” Director of College Counseling Veronica Pulido said. “With that came a host of questions about the ability to study, format, students with accommodations and what it meant.

The College Board decided on a 45 minute testing period, and 75% of the material that was going to be on the test [originally].”

When asked about colleges choosing to make standardized testing grades optional in applications, Montoya was supportive of colleges emphasizing flexibility of the admissions process next year.

“Our responsibility is to ensure every student has the option and the opportunity to take the SAT.” Montoya said. “The SAT helps ensure students are recruited by colleges and is one way for students to distinguish themselves on their applications. In these unprecedented times, it’s important to consider the context in which students live and learn when looking at grades, test scores or any other component of college admissions.”

Pulido has similar thoughts regarding college admissions flexibility for the next year or two.

“I really want to make sure our students have the understanding that we can still accomplish the test, and submitting one will still be helpful as an additional metric in the application process.” Pulido said. “Yes, there are colleges going test-optional, but there are many more that are just going to be test-flexible. That means they will look at the context of where the student is coming from.”

Ultimately, Pulido stressed that students here generally do not lack the resources or capacity to take their tests, and colleges realize that.

“In our situation, many juniors have already tested once or twice,” Pulido said. “This will just be a continuation of testing. If, in fact, a student decides to avoid submitting scores while many of the peers at his school continue to, colleges will have another metric to consider in their process.”

UChicago (IL)

UC Berkeley (CA) STORY Austin Williams, Toby Barrett PHOTO Evan Lai

junior Varun Trivedi

NYU (NY)

Wake Forest (NC)

Gonzaga (WA)

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THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

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ISSUES

CLASS OF 2020

Contingency plans Seniors look forward to end-of-year festivities such as Commencement, Baccalaureate and Marksmen Ball. Luckily, the administration and the Class of 2020 have organized back-up plans.

REVELRY The Class of 2019, right, celebrating at last year’s graduation ceremony May 25.

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ommencement is the ultimate event so there was a lot of excitement when I told that, for some seniors, has been 12 the guys that I talked to Father Mike and he years in the making. It’s one of the was committed to come on both those dates most beloved traditions on campus and a in the summer.” key moment of class unity. Taking place Senior Class President Collin Campbell in front of the Path to Manhood statue, it recognizes the importance of these is the culmination of the very journey the celebrations as they only come once in a statue embodies.

Marksman’s time at the school.

Over the years, past Commencement “These events are super, super speakers have included former President important to us and something that Ronald Reagan, businessman Ross Perot every senior Marksman should be able and last year’s speaker, international to experience.” Campbell said. “The explorer Victor Vescovo ‘84. Now, administration believes that. Our class in the midst of a global pandemic, sponsors believe that. We all believe that, Commencement, along with Baccalaureate so we’re really lucky that we’ve come up and Markmen Ball, will not be happening with these contingency plans.” in May as they usually do.

Ensuring that Commencement occurs In April, school administration and is especially important because it could the Class of 2020 worked together to come potentially be the first community-wide up with contingency plans in the event event held on campus since the school’s that Marksmen Ball, Baccalaureate and closure.

Commencement were cancelled in May “It’s a great celebration for the due to COVID-19. Since the May dates whole school,” Dini said, “not just the for these celebrations have class, but for the whole school now been officially community.” cancelled, the “Plan B” Dini also realizes We’re not going to do anything that would compromise anydates are June 15-17, that the Class of 2020 has one’s safety. Without a doubt, the three celebrations experienced a tremendous that is obviously paramount. paramount. taking place over the loss — not being able to end David Dini course of three straight their St. Mark’s careers on days. If the “Plan B” their own terms. Their last dates must also be cancelled, the “Plan C” trimester as Marksman was taken away dates are July 29-31. The administration has from them. made it clear that they want to honor the “This time of year is a period of time Class of 2020 no matter the circumstances. when seniors really get to enjoy being “We’re obviously always inclined to together,” Dini said, “being on campus, celebrate a graduating class,” Headmaster in chapel, in assembly, in class, in the David Dini said. “Every year we look journalism suite, in the senior lounge, on forward to those culminating events. It’s the quad playing spikeball. It’s just that the culmination of a lot of experiences, not time that you see seniors really enjoy their just for the boys but all the adults, parents, final period of time on campus together.” teachers and staff that have poured into the class over time. So it’s an important But above all, the biggest loss the Class of milestone to focus on.”

2020 has endured is losing time with each The Belo Mansion and Pavilion, the other. While the tornado in October was location of Marksmen Ball this year, has difficult for them, Campbell believes the been lined up for both contingency dates. quarantine has been even more difficult so And the organ, which was damaged by far. the tornado in October, was originally “Obviously, we’d been through supposed to be shipped to Canada for something similar in the fall with the repairs early this summer, but will remain tornado which disrupted things, but at in the chapel for Baccalaureate if it were to least with that we could still see each happen June 16. other even though we didn’t have school.”

Rev. Michael D’angelo, former school Campbell said. “We had it all figured out — chaplain, was chosen as this year’s places where we could meet and hang out Commencement speaker and has agreed and still see each other — but now that’s to travel to Dallas for both of the possible against the law. So not only are we not at backup dates — a 1600 mile trip from his school, but we’re not seeing each other.” home in Boston.

Despite their loss, the seniors worked “Father D’angelo’s a terrific guy, and closely with the administration to come I’ve stayed in close touch with him.” Dini up with the aforementioned contingency said. “That’s who the boys wanted to have, plans. In fact, Dini shared a presentation

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STORY Robert Pou, Keshav Krishna PHOTO Courtesy Development Office

regarding the contingency plans with the senior class via Zoom. He was joined by Associate Headmaster John Ashton, Upper School Head Colin Igoe and Assistant Upper School Head Chris Disimile.

“The whole administration was there, and that is a great example of the support our administration gives our students.”

Campbell said. “It was great to hear that these events are going to happen no matter what.”

After the presentation, Dini answered any of the seniors’ questions. While many of the questions related to the many details associated with these celebrations, Dini was encouraged by the seniors’ concern for others.

“One of the first questions they asked was: ‘What about Blue Shirt Day for the Junior Class?’” Dini said. “To me, that spoke volumes about what it means to be a Marksman. They were thinking about another class, not about the disruption to their own class activities.”

Even if the events cannot occur on the “Plan C” dates, the administration will ensure that Commencement takes place no matter what. With that said, the main priority is the students’ health and safety.

“We’re not going to do anything that would compromise anyone’s safety.” Dini said. “Without a doubt, that is obviously paramount.”

Above all, Campbell knows that while COVID-19 and the resulting quarantine might seem extremely difficult right now, it is important to retain a sense of perspective.

“I think one positive thing about this year, with the tornado and the pandemic, is there’s a heightened appreciation for not taking our time together for granted,” Campbell said, “and that’s why I think once all this clears, and we’re allowed to have all these events, there’s going to be so much class unity, and people are going to be very motivated to spend time with one another because we have been forced to be apart from each other for such a long time.”

Parents elected to economic revival task force

by Darren Xi s the country works to bring its economy out of the slump caused by COVID-19, two fathers of Marksmen, Mark Cuban and Dr. Tyler Cooper, have been elected to economic revival task forces.

Cuban is part of President Donald Trump’s national task force while Dr. Cooper is helping Collin County Judge Chris Hill.

“For 50 years, Cooper Aerobics has been working, through prevention, wellness and fitness, to improve the quality and quantity of people’s lives,” Dr. Cooper said. “So it was very apropos that I could help with this task force as my background is in business, and I am the CEO and operate my business here with almost five hundred employees. I’m also a medical doctor with a degree in public health as well, so this unique combination fits the three different challenges that are happening today.”

Dr. Cooper believes the continuing decline of the economy is inevitable and needs to be balanced with health risks and loss of life.

“If you back up too far away from ‘dragon A’, you end up getting eaten by ‘dragon B,’” Dr. Cooper said. “‘Dragon A’ is COVID-19, and ‘dragon B’ is the economy. And so, the difficult balance that we’re all trying to do right now is to live between those two dragons.”

As a member of the task force, Dr. Cooper has three goals that, when achieved, will ensure the economy’s revival comes as quickly as possible.

“Our first goal for the task force is to communicate with the judge and give him an understanding of what we’re seeing in the county from the industry perspective and to guide him safely in those capacities,” Dr. Cooper said. “Our second goal is to communicate with the public about what the task force is doing and encourage people to safely engage in the environment in their county. And number three is helping small businesses get back to a higher level of production.”

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THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

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NEW SCHEDULE

Frequently asked questions Where is lost classtime going? What’s happening to homework load? What are the P.E. changes? Headmaster David Dini answers some questions about next year’s schedule.

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ith big changes coming up in next years schedule, the first new schedule change for the school in more than 30 years, many students are still in need of clarification on how their time management expectations will change in the coming year.

Cristian Pereira and Henry McElhaney ask questions from our community to Headmaster David Dini: Cristian Pereira: The changes to class times, number of classes per day and increased focus on schedule flexibility will result in a net loss of in-classroom time next year.

What are some benefits of this extra out-of-classroom time?

David Dini: There’s a finite amount of time, and you have to make choices. We knew going into this that we were going to have to make some difficult choices about how we use time — you can’t create flexibility out of nothing.

We certainly don’t want to compromise the quality and strength of the experience — we want to enhance it.

But it means you approach the use of time in just a different way.

The new In athletics, it’s not schedule necessarily how many hours will change you put in — are you putting the way we in the right hours? Are you manage time. doing the right drills? Are you doing the right kind of training? It’s no different in the classroom. We had to be willing to give a little bit of time, and based on all the research and looking at our own experience, we felt that those were reasonable allowances that opened up the doors for all these other goals that we believe are really important.

Henry McElhaney: Are teachers allowed to assign extra homework if their classes won’t be meeting the next day?

DD: No, it’s not designed that way.

We’ve spent a great deal of time discussing homework during the whole schedule discussion. It’s designed so that you actually don’t have work twice in an eight-day rotation.

Once every four days, you’re going to have that one class that you don’t see. That’s going to be an adjustment too. The clear expectation is that the structure is not designed so that you ‘double up’ on homework the days you’re not meeting in that class—it’s designed to have rotating homework. That was a big part of what I heard

while visiting the boys from other schools as something they value.

CP: Is there anything about the current way the school is having to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic that will be carried forward for next year?

DD: Yes, there’s a lot of things we’re going to carry forward. The health and wellness team and the remote learning team are good examples of areas I can imagine we will be carrying forward next year.

We’ve gained so much traction, and we’re going to do so much work over the summer. As we sort of take HM: One of the four goals of this new schedule is to better lessons with us from what we’ve learned in the past seven prioritize the mental health of students. What aspects of weeks, I think it will undoubtedly affect the way we work this schedule are designed to do that? next year, teaching pedagogy, the way your DD: We talked a little bit about how our goal teachers interact with you and probably the was to have time dedicated [towards health You can’t create way assignments occur, not only live but also programs] in the Upper School schedule that flexibility out of remotely. we didn’t currently have. FCD (Freedom nothing.

David Dini It’s gotten to the point where I can’t keep from Chemical Dependency) is a good up with all the content on 10600, but it’s example. We have some cornerstone things great — it gives me a sense of connectedness. we do every year.

The energy on winter SPC weekend was high, but it can But we wanted to build programs like FCD into the only carry us so long. We have to recapture some of those schedule as opposed to having a big hole where we have elements and keep them going forward. to pull you out of class to go experience that.

There is now flexibility in the way the schedule is HM: How will the new required P.E. classes affect developed in Middle School so that life skills elements students who take after-school sports? like drug and alcohol awareness, sex ed, CPR training, DD: This is a goal of creating a structured experience and overall health and wellness education and education curriculum around health and wellness for freshmen and around sleep are all available to be implemented. sophomores. Every boy, regardless if you’re a three-sport There is now a curriculum experience that is athlete or not into athletics at all, will have a one-year scaffolded much like our character and leadership work, requirement, but it will be split up into two semesters. and we’ll be building that out over the next couple of You take one of those semesters your freshman year and years. then one your sophomore year, and there’d be curricular But you can’t build a curriculum for a place that elements to that. doesn’t have a home if there’s not room for it.

It’s not just you go to P.E. and show up, it’s going to STORY Cristian Pereira, Henry McElhaney be very structured. We created essentially a home for the ARTWORK Jonathan Yin advancement of curriculum around overall health and wellness in the freshman and sophomore year — it’s not designed to take away from or replace athletics.

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CP: How are semesters going to change things?

Are there plans now for mid-term exams?

DD: The challenge with trimesters is they’re limiting. A trimester course is too short to have a single course, plus you need to be able to fill

Senior Class first class to graduate with cum laude changes

by Cooper Ribman Last year, the school decided to transition from giving both juniors and seniors Cum Laude recognition to only seniors. The decision came as the result of much thought by the administration over a long period of time.

“It was a thoughtful process that occurred over a couple of years just to say ‘What is the true meaning of this particular award?’,” Director of College Counseling Veronica Pulido said. “There were lots of voices in the process.”

While Cum Laude distinctions are certainly a factor in college admissions, acceptance rates were not the only thing in mind when this change was made— Pulido describes other factors.

“T here were many pieces behind making this decision,” Pulido said. “The college counseling piece was just one sliver of it. I think it was an Upper School decision just to be more of a concluding

up the other trimesters, so we have very little variety of offerings in Upper School, just because it doesn’t work real well with the schedule.

A big part of the goal [with semesters] is that we would expand variety in the future.

Based on the feedback that we got and the goals we had set, we got consensus on that fairly quickly. I think it will be a real positive dividend.

Mid-term exams will continue to not be a part of the St. Mark’s curriculum.

statement of the whole Upper School career and not necessarily just ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade.”

In fact, Pulido believes that only granting seniors Cum Laude distinction has had little effect on college admissions so far.

“At this point, I can tell that there is slim to no difference in terms of admissions decisions or acceptance rates,” Pulido said. “It really has been more of a null situation for current seniors. I do not think it has negatively affected the admissions process and I’m supportive of the school’s decision to move to just senior Cum Laude.”

However, Pulido maintains that the award still has meaning for students.

“Moving forward, Cum Laude is just the continuation of a nice accolade for the culmination of our school experience.” Pulido said. “In the end, it was more of making sure timing was in the best interest of students.”

Making a difference Go Lions!

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THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

ISSUES

STUDENT COUNCIL

Sophomore speaks at leadership conference

A change in office Get to know the newly voted members of the Student Council, led by new President Blake Hudspeth, who is committed to making his senior year a great year for the Upper School.

STICKIE NOTES Hudspeth created a wall with the names and faces of every member of the Upper School.

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by Toby Barrett Sophomore Ekansh Tambe spoke at the National Youth Leadership Conference April 16 over a call. During the conference, he talked about his experience photographing world borders and answered questions from an audience of nearly 300 students, teachers and chaperones.

While presenting his work, Tambe stressed the actuality of life near national boundaries.

“What I try to do in the talks that I give is show the reality of these borders,” Tambe said. “Display my photographs and share inspiring and heartbreaking stories of the incredible people I’ve met and try to inspire the audience on the theme of the conference.”

Tambe divided his presentation into several parts. In the first portion, he discussed the significance of considering a variety of viewpoints before coming to a final judgement.

“I talked about the importance of perspective and the importance of understanding every point of view before coming to a solution or coming to a way of thinking,” Tambe said.

“I displayed about 16 photos that specifically depicted terrains and reality focusing along the US-Mexico border,” Tambe said. “At the end I related that to a larger and international scale, talking about two or three other world borders.”

Tambe has high hopes for youth leadership after attending the conference.

“They want to provide for their communities, serve those who are less fortunate and learn how to make a positive impact on the world.” an “We can really take the world in the right direction if we continue to make great impacts on the world through service learning, and through community service in general”

e had a lot on his mind as he lay in “One of my regrets is not pursuing model for how to run the Student Council his makeshift shelter in the middle a position on the Community Service next year. of the Pecos wilderness.

Board, but I enjoy my work as a counselor “He had the perfect balance of both After all, he was all alone and had at H.E.R.O.E.S,” Hudspeth said. “It’s seriousness and being fun and silly,” many hours left to think. definitely given me a lot of my values and Hudspeth said. “I don’t think there’s a School had always been a special I love all the kids at that camp so much.” single upper-schooler that didn’t respect place for him.

Hudspeth also has a love for the him. Also, he did a really good job of His first day on campus, he found outdoors, as evidenced by his unique delegating leadership. He didn’t restrict every student to be welcoming and election video. He participated in Boy or hinder the Super Fan Men at all; he let friendly.

Scouts through Middle School and them do their own thing, and I think that Older students had been his recently finished his Eagle Scout project. was really smart.” mentors, always there to give him advice.

He also had the chance to be a sherpa on Newly elected Vice President Sarbik Younger students helped him learn to the seventh and eighth-grade campouts, Saha believes that the Student Council lead and pass on important lessons. as well as the ninth-grade Pecos trip this exists to help with the stress of school and Eventually, his familiarity with his past summer. bring the community together in exciting classmates progressed into brotherhood.

“I really enjoy doing weekend new ways.

His junior year, he found himself projects,” Hudspeth said. “One time I “I just want this school to be isolated again—this time in a Student built a pond in my backyard. It took the connected,” Saha said. “We’re here to Council election video. whole weekend, but I put rocks around it support each other during the challenges, Newly elected Student Council and included both a waterfall and almost always, that president Blake Hudspeth’s thoughts feature and a fountain. Now support can make a big have become a reality this year, as he I have a ton of goldfish that difference in any person’s leads the student body into a year full of mated last spring and it’s desire to reach greater hard work and fun. really cool.” heights.”

••• Hudspeth’s interests Next year’s Student Hudspeth is a long-standing aren’t limited to the Council Secretary Elijah Ellis Marksman of seven years, coming from outdoors. He takes decided to run to help the Highland Park Elementary School in fifth photography at the school community bounce back from Sarbik Saha Student Council Vice grade. He’s an avid athlete who played an and has developed a new an unusual year.

President array of sports in Middle School including perspective on the world “I see myself impacting baseball, basketball and football, but he that allows him to find amazing photo the school by being a reliable Student found a love for rowing in opportunities. He’s also Council member and somebody who eighth grade. recently joined the Improv is easily approachable,” Ellis said. “I He rows in the varsity program, which is a strive to be a great example to younger quad for the crew team, and great way for him to find Marksmen and hope to leave a great his boat came in 14th at the enjoyment acting. legacy after I am done.”

Youth Nationals tournament.

When asked about plans for the new He also placed third in the Graduating senior Taylor year, Hudspeth wants to bring a lot of state in a boat by himself.

Hopkin, this year’s positivity to the table.

Elijah Ellis “I played basketball Student Council President “When people walk into a pep Student Council Secretary freshman year, but sees Hudspeth as a great rally or an assembly or the homecoming unfortunately I was cut, so candidate for the role. dance, I want them to feel the energy in I decided to pursue rowing further,” “The coolest part about Blake is the room,” Hudspeth Hudspeth said. “I was upset at the that he totally embraces who he is at all said. “I want every time, but now I’m really glad that that times,” Hopkin said. “He doesn’t care single senior, junior, happened because it’s allowed me to if people think he’s cool or being weird. sophomore and Focused On The Client focus a lot more on rowing.”

He’s just Blake Hudspeth all the time. freshman to be Driven By Results Entering high school, Hudspeth Next year you guys are gonna have energetic, and I hope found a passion for community service, a fantastic leader during assemblies that I can start that Insurance Done Differently volunteering at a summer camp for kids and someone who’ll do a great job trend, but it’s up to the Auto. Home. Business. with special needs in Richardson called coordinating school-wide events. He’s student body to really H.E.R.O.E.S (Helping Everyone Reach definitely the man for the job.” foster it and see it to Outstanding Educational Success).

Hudspeth sees Hopkin as a role fruition.”

Marksman Working For Marksmen

STORY Eric Yoo, Austin Williams PHOTO Courtesy Blake Hudspeth

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DISCOVERIES

7

THE REMARKER • May 15, 15 , 2020

?

CONFUSION Many students find difficulty interpreting data in the modern world.

Information

Connecting the dots

Why scientific literacy matters in the world and how to analyze important information

I

n the modern era, there is a huge amount of information thrown in front of students.

Whether sitting at home, watching your favorite news channel, or even scrolling online, the sea of information never seems to get smaller.

Yet with all this information to inform ourselves, how should we use it, or even, how do we begin to comprehend it?

Mark’s students frequently visit: school. interest. So that your decision making process

“And I would say, as a science teacher, I doesn’t rely just on one very narrow thing, but feel a very powerful weight on my shoulders, you have the ability to synthesize information to promote scientific literacy and certainly from multiple topics, and make sense of that.” for students who come through my classes,”

Scientific literacy is not only a one time Mead said. “Every day, I have people coming action, but a continuing process that changes to me seeking to improve their understanding depending on what new ideas and information of things and saying, ‘Hey, I don’t understand there is. this, but I know you’re a science teacher. You

“Things are going to advance in the help me with this.’ and this coming years that we have no idea about Scientific information is abundant in is part of being scientifically now,” Mead said. “So it becomes not just about our daily lives, whether it be science literate. Your science classes knowing things to begin with, but how do I class or the news. and ideally, science teachers, continue to educate myself, even though I’m However, this scientific who take the science factoids, no longer a student. Society needs to have information cannot help our which are part of it, then put scientifically literate people at all levels of understanding without scientific that into a larger worldview so society.” literature. you understand how science

Mead also explains that it is significantly John Mead Scientific literacy is described as fits in with all the other things easier to be scientifically literate in the modern Eugene McDermott M a s t e r Te a c h e r “the ability to engage with scienceyou’re studying.” age. related issues, and with the ideas

Teachers are not the only

“We certainly didn’t learn as much about of science, as a reflective citizen,” according way to learn how to be scientifically literate. [scientific literacy] in the 1980’s, but now we to OECD (Organization for Economic Parents also are responsible for showing and can Google facts easily,” Mead said. “But part Cooperation and Development). demonstrating scientific literacy. of it is how do we know that. How are those Scientific literacy is key to a thriving

“Parents play a role in scientific literacy,” facts being presented? Do we understand citizen, and even more important in today’s Mead said. “We all grow how they fit into a society. up in our homes with our larger framework

“I think scientific literacy matters across parents, and they play a of understanding? the board because issues of science impact our big role in all levels of our SCIENTIFIC LITERACY IS NOT SIMPLY So it’s not just about KNOWING IT ALL, BUT RATHER KNOWING lives in so many ways,” Eugene McDermott education. And in doing knowledge. It’s about Master Teacher John Mead said. “Scientific so, seeing your parents, understanding an THAT YOU DON’T KNOW THINGS, literacy becomes really important if people are especially if they’re not application of that AND HOW TO GO ABOUT GAINING THE going to make wise decisions for themselves, scientists, they can be knowledge and that’s their families, their communities, their nations, models of scientific literacy UNDERSTANDING OF THINGS THAT I DON’T where I think that whatever level, and that they’d be able to amongst the general is a very important KNOW. — JOHN MEAD Wunderstand the underlying science behind a population is important. part of literacy in lot of these things.

Certainly, we all need to keep learning beyond general.”

Scientific literacy is not just understanding any formal schooling. And that becomes

Mead assures that school is an amazing all the facts and terms that are thrown around. absolutely critical that we inform ourselves environment for students to nurture their It also involves knowing when to go certainly, especially as science and technology understanding and scientific literacy. Students looking for reliable information. grow and change things in 2040 are going to should take advantage of the resources.

“To be a responsible citizen, you do need to be different and there are going to be things

“I think at St. Mark’s we are particularly have a level of scientific literacy,” Mead said. we need to know that we can’t possibly know lucky, in science from the lower school all the “What scientific literacy means to me is having about here in 2020.” way through our AP classes, that scientific the basic understanding of things, but since

Mead stresses that one of the most literacy comes in a number of ways,” said you’re not an expert in every field, you also important aspects of being scientifically literate Mead. “I think it’s impossible for you to go have the sense to know where your strengths revolves around being able to ask someone else through almost any St Mark’s science course, and weaknesses are, so that you can seek out for understanding when you do not have the and not have a sense of it being connected high quality information in the moment. A knowledge to understand a scientific issue. to history, and other other topics. And that big part of (scientific) literacy is not simply

“Scientific literacy in many ways in the becomes important when it comes to scientific knowing it all, but rather knowing that you modern world can be ‘can I rattle off factoids literacy, because you see science not as just a don’t know things and how do I go about about x, y, and z,’” Mead said. “But being collection of facts, but rather science is facts gaining the understanding of things that I literate across the board, I think means being that are woven together with the bricks and don’t know.” able to seek out factual information as you mortar of understanding that relies on other

The beginning of learning how to be need it. And then, from that point, taking it topics as well. That is a very important aspect scientifically literate begins at a place St. and being able to connect it to other points of of all our classes.”

‘‘

STORY Ethan Borge, Nikhil Dattatreya ARTWORK Jonathan Yin

8

Travel

Counseling

Spending time in other countries during the pandemic. Page 9

Getting to know the two new college counselors.

Page 10

10600 THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

DEPARTURE

Moving forward After over a combined 250 years of service, these faculty and staff members have decided to take on new adventures in their lives.

I

t’s the summer of 1977, and 27-year-old Curtis Smith was just given the opportunity to teach at an all-boys private school in Dallas.

Yeah, I’ll give it a try.

Smith had no idea of knowing the long journey awaiting ahead of him at 10600 Preston Road.

Forty-three years later, Smith ends his career as a teacher, leaving behind a lasting legacy of teaching history and English at the Middle and Upper School levels.

••• After his long teaching journey, English instructor Curtis Smith will retire at the end of the school year.

“My wife has been retired for two years, so she’s been beckoning me to come over the mountain,” Smith said. “I turned 70. I figured it’s time to start re-inventing myself and discovering what I can do and what I should be as a retired teacher rather than as an active teacher.”

Though the current COVID-19 response measures have thrown his plans for a loop, Smith hopes to take on new adventures outside the community in his retirement, such as traveling the world with his wife and helping refugees learn English.

“It’s going to be hard to re-adjust to a retirement life and to be without St. Mark’s as my structure,” Smith said.

“It’s been a wonderful structure. I always thought of St. Mark’s like a little community. A little town.”

Smith was first offered the opportunity to teach at the school when he was studying in Durham, NC, with Frank Jones, who would later become head of Upper School and English Department head. Since then, Smith has made many memories from his early career at school that he still remembers, one of which is from the early morning all-faculty meetings during his first years at the school.

“For some silly reason, I was supposed to be speaking,” Smith said. “I took a starter pistol into the faculty meeting, and everyone’s sleepy, drowsy. I said, ‘I want to start this meeting with a bang.’ So I shot the starter pistol and everybody jumped up.”

When Smith first began teaching, the school used

very little technology.

Teachers would type the tests, students would handwrite their papers and teacher comments would be handwritten multiple times.

Apart from the massive changes in technology since his first year in 1977, Smith’s teaching experience has grown and his methods have changed.

“I offer an apology to all the boys I first taught,” Smith said. “The first five years or so. I feel like I was just all thumbs instead of finding my way. With experience in everything, you evolve and you get more firm in what you think is right and best.”

Over his 43 years of teaching, Smith has maintained some of the same curriculum, while also losing other parts of it. One of Smith’s favorite books that he used to teach the ninth grade was Murder in the Cathedral, which he used to discuss the moral superiority of doing the right thing for the right reason as opposed to doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Smith continues to teach two favorites, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

“Teaching is always organic,” Smith said. “You can change and make it different. That’s how you get to stay in the classroom because you can innovate and do different things.”

One of Smith’s strategies to help prevent students from repeating the same mistakes was classifying certain errors as “Flag Errors,” a cornerstone of his English classes.

He also created the list of “Advice” — which are similar grammatical concepts that have not become Flag Errors — and the Guidelines for Proofreading, 13 metrics Smith uses to grade papers. These three form “the peninsula papers,” the three guides for editing papers in his class.

“If you want to write a good paper,” Smith said, “I’m opening my brain to you with these guidelines, so you can see exactly what I’m thinking.”

TEACHING PASSION English insturctor Curtis Smith teaches his junior class.

Smith believes in the importance of using your heart — not just your brain — in good writing, something he believes the school has helped foster in students.

“We need to develop our minds, we need to develop our bodies and we need to develop our hearts,” Smith said. “Good institutions do all three. St. Mark’s has done that. The school doesn’t just make you into a brainiac. It wants your heart to grow, your mind to grow and your body to stay fresh and lively.”

One of the main reasons Smith has spent 43 years teaching at the same school is the students. Smith finds Marksmen in particular stand out to him in their mindset towards learning.

“There are a lot of bright people out there in the world, but they don’t always have chances to learn,” Smith said. “They also aren’t always ready to learn. I think St. Mark’s boys want to learn. They’re disciplined, they’re polite, they’re gracious, they’re smart, so it’s been a great place to teach.”

Over the course of this long journey, Smith says the school has continued the way some things are done. One specific goal that has stood out to Smith is the pursuit of development in the mind, body and heart of students, as well as the students’ commitment to their daily work.

“St. Mark’s taught — 43 years ago — reading, writing, arithmetic as well as a daily work ethic,” Smith said. “We don’t wait for inspiration to work. We work with perspiration. We get started now. Daily devotion to the task. That’s always been our modus operandi.”

STORY Will Pechersky, Axel Icazbalceta PHOTO David Carden

PARTING WORDS A total of 14 faculty and staff members are entering a new stage in their lives after the 2020

school year. Some of the teachers reflected on their time at school, recalling memories and lessons that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

JIM BOB WOMACK ‘98 “I have had champions in my corner at every turn, and I constantly marvel at the care I see our boys give this community, on campus and well beyond.”

FIFTH-GRADE CHINESE INSTRUCTOR ETSUKO BARBER

ASSISTANT TO THE HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL

COMMUNICATIONS & SPECIAL EVENTS COORDINATOR AMEE MCGOUGH

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER PAUL DIVINCENZO

SUSAN ALTERMAN “I have learned that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. I have learned that it ‘takes a village’ to do so many things, and that’s a good thing.”

EIGHTH-GRADE HUMANITIES INSTRUCTOR LISA BRANDENBURG “The biggest things I’ve learned from my time here is to keep on learning, to try not to take anything for granted, and to appreciate ‘the wonder of boys.’”

THIRD-GRADE INSTRUCTOR DEBRA MATERRE “Right now, I’m looking forward to sleeping late, gardening, and spending more time with family and friends.”

MIDDLE AND UPPER SCHOOL MATH INSTRUCTOR CLARA ANN NORMAN “I think the biggest lesson for me is that communication is the key to solving problems and realizing joys.”

UPPER SCHOOL SPANISH INSTRUCTOR MARSHA MCFARLAND “I plan to do volunteer work, probably with animal rescue, take up the piano again, and catch up on the books I haven’t had time to read for the last 45 years.”

ADMISSION OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR BARBARA JOHNSON “I felt protected and insulated within the perimeter of the campus, the beautiful buildings, the smiling faces I saw. Pure peace.”

FRESHMEN BIOLOGY INSTRUCTOR FRED JACKSON “The perseverance, will, determination, and adaptability of the students, teachers, and administrators through the tornado that hit our school.”

MIDDLE AND UPPER SCHOOL DRAMA INSTRUCTOR “Topic for roll call followed by a warm up game.”

DIRECTOR OF COUNSELING BARBARA VAN DRIE “There isn’t much I haven’t seen over 20 years, so I feel as a therapist, I can respectfully deal with smaller issues and calmly handle a crisis with strength.”

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

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THE REST OF HIS TIME Mysoré, who studied abroad for six months in the Spanish city of Zaragoza, was sent back to Dallas two months before his program, School Year Abroad (SYA), was planned to end.

STUDENTS ABROAD

Stay-at-home, away from home While most Marksmen are following stay-at-home orders in the Metroplex, some –– including sophomore Isaac Song and junior Jack Palmer –– are quarantining abroad. We sat down with Song and Palmer, currently in Taiwan and Mexico respectively –– as well as Josh Mysoré, who in contrast, returned in March from a truncated school year abroad in Spain.

Will Spencer: What made your family decide to stay in Taiwan during this pandemic?

Isaac Song: We didn’t choose to say, but we rather chose to go. Around three weeks before the school officially ended, my dad was already eyeing tickets on Taiwan because he expected that the Coronavirus was going to get bad in the United States. Because the best case scenario was probably going to be a three-month quarantine, and Taiwan was and is doing much better than the United States for a variety of reasons, he decided to buy tickets at the end of the week. The instant that he heard that school was cancelled, we left for Taiwan.

WS: How is Taiwan’s government managing the outbreak of the virus?

IS: Taiwan border control has installed heat sensors to detect if you have a fever or not when you come in.

This has been there ever since [the 2002] SARS [epidemic]. When China

was hit, Taiwan suspected it was going to be bad. The government started preparing for it a long time beforehand. One of the first things they did was start production of protective equipment. Right now, in a lot of places, it’s enforced that you have to wear a mask, and a lot of places actually have people in the doors seeing whether you have a fever or not.

WS: What difficulties have living in another country presented for online schooling?

IS: I have to stay up until 3 a.m., maybe 4 on multiple days, so I’ve been waking up at 12 a.m. and sleeping at 3 or 4. Apart from that, I don’t actually have a class during the day.

One big way living in Taiwan has been screwing me over is the time zone.

It’s an 11 hour difference, so it’s pretty common for me to think something is due at the wrong time. In the case where something is due Thursday, it’s due Friday around 1 for me.

And, sometimes, if it says, “Due: 4 p.m.,” I would have to think about it and figure out what time it is.

••• Will Spencer: What made your family decide to stay in Mexico during this quarantine?

Jack Palmer: We looked at our two options: staying at home or staying in Mexico. When you look at them, in Mexico, it’s pleasant. When we’re there, we can go outside every day and that’s basically where we spend all our time. We get to see the beach, and there’s beautiful weather, and we thought if we were in Dallas, we’d just be stuck inside.

AT SEA Despite living in Dallas, Palmer values being able to stay by the ocean. “Being able to see the ocean is something that I really, really love. I’ve grown up in the ocean and around the ocean for a lot of my life.”

WS: What unexpected challenges has living in Mexico presented?

JP: It’s definitely isolated, but I think that’s true for everybody. In Dallas, everybody’s actually there, and you might live close to people.

So, maybe you want to walk with someone but still stay six feet apart.

Here, you might see someone every once in a while.There’s really nobody here. Maybe that’s worse in Dallas, because you’re so close, but still so far away. But here, it’s just completely isolated in a foreign country. I’ve been speaking in Spanish, but it’s not the same as knowing the actual language.

But I think it’s been a better experience overall.

Mysore’s program] China kids got sent home early January, and everyone was like, whoa. But I was in Spain, and they were in China. I thought there was no way, and we kept watching the news about where it was blowing up, like China and Iran, and then one day in mid-February, the Italian kids got sent home, and Italy is close to Spain. At that point we had our first case in Madrid, and I knew this was a very real thing. From the day the Italy kids got sent home in mid-February to the day we got sent home, Thursday, March 12, we were following the news every day. You could feel this big panic around the school.

In the week before being sent home, I went to school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I woke up Thursday. I saw Trump announced the EU travel ban, and I was like, yep, that’s it. We had 48 hours to be back in the United States. My friends, my teachers, my host family, all of that was just snatched away within 48 hours. The weeks leading up were just a lot of anxiety and chaos, and you could see that things were getting worse.

WS: How have the people where you live reacted to the outbreak of the virus?

JP: One thing that’s happening here that’s surprising is how the government reacts, because when people are admitted to the hospital with Coronavirus, they don’t acknowledge that it’s corona. So they just say it’s some sort of pneumonia, and they don’t put it down as Coronavirus. So the government isn’t reacting the same way that a lot of others are, and the people think that’s crazy and irresponsible.

••• Jamie Mahowald: How immersed in Spanish culture did you feel while you were there?

Josh Mysoré: So heavily. Everything I did in my life revolved around the idea of Spanish as a language or Spain as a culture. I didn’t realize it until I came home, but I know all the communities, the languages. I know the history, the art. I know how kids act. I know what’s popular with the kids. I know the jokes between different generations, and I didn’t realize at the time how much information I was absorbing. For those students who really pushed themselves and challenged themselves, it was a fantastic immersion experience.

Jamie Mahowald: How did the process of being sent home play out?

Josh Mysoré: It was about as horrible as it sounds. We have four campuses, and the SYA [School Year Abroad,

Jamie Mahowald: Spain and then the US are some of the countries hit the hardest by COVID-19.

Josh Mysoré: It was very frustrating being in both, and I mean this in the least political way possible. Everyone in Spain was like, it’ll never come to us and neglected it –– until it came. At that point, everyone decided to stay in their homes, and it’s way more strict in Spain than in the US. Then I came home, and I saw spring break trips. I get it, sometimes people aren’t informed, and you can’t make the best decisions. But seeing how a lot of people in the US were disregarding it, then seeing mass escalation of cases that occurred, schools shutting down, sports shutting down––it completely blind sided everyone. Seeing it happen once in Spain, it was hard to see it happen again here.

STORY Will Spencer, Jamie Mahowald PHOTOS Courtesy Jack Palmer, Josh Mysoré

Freshman engaged in international community service

by Will Pechersky and Shreyan Daulat fter his mom put out the idea of taking the family on her business trip to Costa Rica in 2015, eighth-grader Jimmy Francis and his family created a community service opportunity that they would come back to each year. Francis volunteered in their community by building houses for families suffering from poverty and a lack of resources.

“The first year we built two houses,” Francis said.

“The second year we did two houses. The third year we did seven, fourth year we did eight, fifth year we did six. This was

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the sixth year, and we just did six last November.”

After a couple of years of going on the trip, Francis began to influence some of his classmates who were also interested in helping families in need. The size of the service group expanded, growing from around 30 people at the start, all the way up to 185 people to date as Francis and his family continue to reach out the school community and beyond.

“We were enjoying it so much, and we wanted to do more in the community, so we needed more people,” Francis said. “We knew that other kids would have just as much fun as us, and they would learn a lot from

it and really become better people for it, so we wanted to reach out.”

After six years of volunteering in the same area of Costa Rica, Francis and his service group made a strong effort to improve the Costa Rican community, and the trip has become a recurring opportunity that Francis looks forward to each year.

“We’ve really made a huge impact on the community there, and they, in some ways, rely on us to come back every year, but it’s just an amazing experience,” Francis said.

“It’s my favorite trip that I take. It’s just so much fun, and I can’t wait to go back every year.”

Francis has built new relationships with people he has volunteered with in Costa Rica. During his service, Francis has gained a new perspective on the world after witnessing the living situations in some of Costa Rica’s communities.

“A lot of the people that go, I only see once a year, so it’s really great to see them,” Francis said.

“It’s really a rewarding experience to see how other people outside of America live and get an idea of how lucky I am. Just to meet some really cool people that, although they have a tough life, they just manage to keep working hard, staying faithful and just being good people.”

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

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Latin instructor attends Latinonly convention

by Axel Icazbalceta atin instructor David Cox attended a Latin instructor conference held mostly in spoken Latin at Covenant Classical School in Fort Worth Jan. 24 and 25.. The conference was called the Biduum Latinum, meaning “Latin Two Days.”

Latin instructors from around the area, as well as some from Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, came together for the all-Latin conference.

Convention-goers of all ages and experience levels were broken into groups that participated in Latin conversational exercises, organized by professors who spoke rapid, fluid Latin and taught college classes in spoken Latin.

“We’d meet for 45 minutes to an hour and then take a break,” Cox said, “but during [that time], it was almost exclusively Latin. At first, I was a little taken aback because the teacher was speaking rather rapidly, but very clearly at the same time. It took me a while to adjust because I was raised on Latin as a written language, and it took me a while to get used to just the sound of it.”

Cox initially learned of the convention while visiting other schools that offer Latin with fellow Latin instructor Claire Strange.

The two were seeing the methods by which other schools teach Latin to younger children, as Latin will be offered since the fifth grade starting next year.

“Whoever is teaching the beginners,” Cox said, “I want spoken Latin every single day, so they get used to hearing the language and not just seeing it. It’s another level of understanding.”

L COLLEGE COUNSELING

Meeting the new counselors Starting next year, Josh Shandera and Phoebe Kingsak will join the College Counseling Office to aid upperclass Marksmen on their college journeys

A

s the school year comes to a close school in quarantine, anticipations for a community healthier, safer year come to mind. was, what really seems to fit a student well. [I’m] Luckily, the new year will offer a few new especially with other independent schools hoping to do that by first knowing that faces to help students get back into the flow in the area, which greatly impressed her. student well.” of school life on campus.

When she did get to visit the campus, While Shandera wasn’t initially As soon as school begins again, new she had a series of small interviews with looking to apply for the position, he really college counselors Phoebe Kingsak and faculty and staff alike. enjoyed the community he was introduced Josh Shandera will join the faculty, and “I met with three junior boys who to. Shandera also found value in the upperclassmen will have more options to interviewed me,” Kingsak said. “They were meaningful conversations he had with the turn to for help in the college admission really interested in my background and it upperclassmen. process. was a lot of fun talking to them. It made “A lot of times when you’re In response to the upcoming me think, ‘Yeah, it’s a job, but I’m gonna interviewing for a position,” Shandera said, departure of Casey Gendason last year, get to really form relationships with these “it might be one or two hours with a small the pair’s arrival has filled that hole in the students and these faculty members.’ That’s handful of people, but this experience was College Counseling Suite. really exciting to me, to have an impact on more unique for me because I got to meet Especially after the drastic effects of people, and young people, for that matter. a good number of representatives from COVID-19 on the school, the counselors Though the extent campus both faculty and are ready to guide upperclassmen on their and effects of quarantines, staff as well as juniors and college journeys. lockdowns and school seniors. The more time I spent ••• shutdowns are still unknown, there, I really thought I could Originally from Garland, Kingsak Kingsak is confident that next see myself being part of this attended first New York University for her year’s seniors’ college journeys school, this community.” undergraduate degree in journalism and will not be too adversely While Shandera doesn’t cinema studies, then Columbia University affected. want to speculate too much Phoebe Kingsak for her master’s in higher education and “It’ll definitely affect on the outcome of this year, New College Counselor now NYU again for a second master’s in the Class of 2021’s ability to he has a few thoughts for next public administration. She worked as an do extracurricular activities,” year in college admissions. admissions counselor for NYU for five Kingsak said, “but I feel the rigor of “We’re definitely in some difficult years, then as a transfer counselor at Pace academics will still be maintained, and but also weird times,” Shandera said. “All University. colleges will be understanding of this of the colleges and universities are aware “I would do recruiting in Texas and semester being remote for all the rising of that. The way things have normally going to different high schools and talking seniors. We’ll really just have to see what happened may not necessarily be how they to the students and seeing what they’re happens in the fall, but I’m confident are going to be going forward. I think there interested in,” Kingsak said. “College the seniors and I will be able to navigate will need to be an amount of patience for admissions is not a one-size-fits-all. It’s this interesting time and successfully go everyone as we adjust to what this next very personalized. It is for the high school through the college process together.” year is going to look like.” students, but it is for the college side too, ••• trying to decide where the student is the Shandera also began in Texas, best fit. The college admissions process is specifically San Antonio. There, he attended more like a matchmaking process, not an Central Catholic High School, an all-boys admit-deny or trying to be as exclusive as high school, before attending UT Austin possible.” where he studied biology and pursued a From her experience at NYU, minor in sociology. After his graduation, he Kingsak knows the importance of students’ began working at the university, holding a keeping their minds open as they search number of different roles. for colleges and thinking about what they “I first worked as an academic want to study. She saw some of her friends advisor, and I worked with students on completely change their majors from what general education requirements and their they first wanted to study, and she wants degree plan,” Shandera said. “From there, I to assure Marksmen that’s okay and to found my home in the office of admissions. remind them to keep change I worked in admissions for two in mind during their college years, recruiting large swathes College counselors and search. over the state of Texas. West admissions counselors are “I want the St. Mark’s Texas and the panhandle were really trying to help the guys I counsel to think, ‘Where student find their best fit. my main territories.” fit.

Phoebe Kingsak can I challenge myself?’”

Since Shandera has a Kingsak said. “‘Where can I background with UT Austin learn new things? Where can I meet new and all-boys schools, he hopes to utilize people?’... This is the time to really try his experience with students here. He also something new in terms of academics, of plans to get to know students personally to meeting people, of a new city. Dallas is a guide them on the correct path. big city, so maybe you want to try a smaller “I definitely have a good amount of college town. Maybe you want to try a experience with that institution from top to huge metropolitan area. This is your chance bottom,” Shandera said. “But in addition to explore, so I really want students to to that, I’m hoping to draw on my own think outside their comfort zone.” experiences and be able to use that to work Kingsak initially applied for the with students to figure out where they position shortly before the Oct. 20 tornado, might want to go, what those pieces are which delayed her application process. going to look like, what that experience However, she saw how close-knit the might actually be like and figuring out

“

STORY Morgan Chow, Axel Icazbalceta PHOTOS Courtesy Phoebe Kingsak, Josh Shandera

FROM HOME Josh Shandera, one of the new counselors, works from home as he prepares to work with Marksmen during the upcoming year.

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

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BUZZ

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TAKEOUT REVIEWS

Who wants takeout?

Owing to the recent shelter-in-place guidelines, 'going out' for dinner is no longer an option. So instead, we tried different types of restaurants offering takeout around Dallas to satisfy our quarantine hunger.

The Biscuit Bar 6501 Hillcrest Ave

Grade: C+

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he Biscuit Bar, a restaurant with multiple locations in the DFW area, has a simple draw: everything is served on a biscuit. I was excited to get takeout from here because eating during quarantine can get boring, and a restaurant like The Biscuit Bar can be a breath of fresh air.

However, some parts of the menu just didn’t live up to the hype.

When I read on The Biscuit Bar’s website that they serve cheesesteaks on a biscuit, I was immediately intrigued. In fact, I even convinced my parents to change our dinner plans just so I could try it. Looking back, this is a decision that I regret quite a bit, but we’ll get to that later. While surveying their menu, I noticed a hidden gem near the bottom of the page: build your own tatertots. After a very difficult few minutes deciding between “Fully Loaded Style” tater-tots, which include bacon, cheese and sour cream, and “Taco Style” tots, with ground beef, queso and pico (I chose Fully Loaded Style), I was ready to call in my order.

When I opened the container that held my biscuit cheesesteak, it looked just like it had online, only adding to my excitement. However, as I began to eat it, I realized something was wrong.

The biscuits were incredibly dry. Eating one of their biscuits without a drink could probably be classified as some form of torture. As I finished my lackluster cheesesteak, I remembered that there was still hope: the tater tots. They did not disappoint. The sour cream and cheese had been drizzled perfectly so that all the tots were equally covered, and the bacon brought it all together with a salty crunch. The tater tots ended up being The Biscuit Bar’s saving grace –– without them, the restaurant would’ve gotten a significantly lower grade.

Carbone’s 4208 Oak Lawn Ave

Grade: A

José 4931 W Lovers Ln

ell known as a sit-down Italian restaurant, Carbone’s, like many other Dallas establishments, has embraced the takeout trend during quarantine. And while it may seem weird to order out from a gourmet eatery, Carbone’s is actually well prepared to handle the task.

Many people don’t know that Carbone’s is not only a restaurant but also a specialty grocer that sells Italian food cooked in-house. Most items off the menu can be found in the grocery section of the building. This aspect of their business must have prepared them significantly for the current state of our city. Because Carbone’s has been packaging and selling many of their menu items for years, the idea of only doing takeout really isn’t that daunting.

When choosing what you want, you can order actual dishes or buy sauces in bulk to use with your own pasta. My family purchased both types of items, and I liked having the choice. I was able to continue eating Carbone’s famous meatballs for days afterwards because my family ordered a tub of them. However, my favorite item that wasn’t in the form of a dish had to be their Sunday Gravy. The flavorful red sauce is full of delicious meats such as sausage, braciole, veal and meatballs. It’s mouthwatering and goes with almost any pasta too, making it my favorite food item from Carbone’s.

The prepared dish I ordered from Carbone’s was their lasagna Bolognese. The lasagna was visually very pleasing; the layers of meat, cheese and sauce appeared appetizing, and after taking my first bite I could tell that it tasted just as good as it looked. Their use of multiple meats added diversity to the dish, and the fresh ricotta gave the lasagna a delicious creamy taste.

My one issue was with its size. The dish was pretty huge, and I barely finished even though I had come to dinner with an empty stomach. But other than this minor criticism, I would definitely say it was one of the best lasagnas I’ve eaten in Dallas.

Grade: A-

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osé, which opened in 2017, specializes in Mexican cuisine such as tacos and enchiladas.

While it is a relatively new restaurant, José has quickly become very popular, and they’ve done a great job of maintaining the hype during quarantine.

One of the best parts about José is that even during these special circumstances, they have tons of options. In addition to their normal menu items, José is selling breakfast taco kits on Friday and Saturday mornings. These kits come with just about everything you could ask for in a breakfast taco: eggs, bacon, chorizo, avocado and many more items. I love the fact that José is going above and beyond for their customers especially

in difficult times.

My family ordered a few dishes from José for dinner. While they do have an à la carte option, we decided to stick to menu items rather than make our own tacos. The first thing I tried was their chips and queso, and I have to say I’m a big fan. Rather than the traditional Tex-Mex queso, José opts for queso blanco, which in my opinion was a refreshing shift.

We ordered three different types of entrées: chicken enchiladas, beef fajita tacos and carnitas tacos. Out of the three, I would definitely say I enjoyed the enchiladas the most. Covered in a sour cream sauce, they were moist but managed to keep their firmness. Also, like many other

items on the menu, the enchiladas were mild and a good option for anyone who doesn’t like spicy foods.

The next thing I did was eat one of each taco.

Out of the two, I preferred the carnitas tacos by quite a large margin. I was surprised by just how good the pork tasted –– it was juicy, tender, flavorful and easily their best taco.

The beef fajita taco on the other hand was a bit boring. The quality of the meat didn’t stand out to me at all, and the condiments didn’t blow me away either. I couldn’t see myself ordering it again. However, the rest of my meal certainly lived up to the expectations.

REVIEWS Trevor Crosnoe

Parallels between 'Contagion' and today's world are startling and undeniable movie review Contagion Grade: A-

Director Steven Soderbergh Running time 1 hour, 46 minutes Released in 2011 REVIEW Darren Xi

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hen Contagion first came out in 2011, this Steven Soderbergh movie was well-received. Starring Matt Damon as Mitch Emhoff, the harsh realism of a world-wide pandemic depicted in the movie forces the viewer to consider the possibility of a disease sweeping through the planet and the horrors that come along with it.

But as we navigate through COVID-19, many are rewatching this fiction movie as a nonfiction version of it rages on.

The movie begins with the first patient of the disease, Mitch Emhoff’s wife Beth Emhoff, coughing in an airport as she travels back to Minnesota after a business trip. But when she finally arrives home, she begins spreading the infectious disease, and in the first fifteen minutes of the movie, both she and her son have died.

To find out more about Beth’s sudden and mysterious death, the doctors take her from an autopsy, and after peeling open her scalp, the first medical examiner asks who should know about this sickness, and the second says, “Tell everybody.” This scene is my favorite: the viewer can practically see the terror seeping out of the examiners’ biohazard suits.

However, Mitch is found to be mysteriously immune to the disease, and he uses this ability to protect his daughter as the streets become empty.

But as the disease infects more and more people, health organizations around the world have to think on their feet and try to put an end to the constant death as soon as possible. At the same time, chaos ensues and society breaks down into anarchy.

The story is told primarily in

two cities: Hong Kong, where the disease originated, and Minnesota, where the Emhoff’s reside. So instead of confining the tale of a pandemic to a single location, Soderbergh creates the impression of true world-wideness.

Damon’s acting throughout the film is flawless; his emotions are expressed near-perfectly. As we watch his world torn apart, his protectiveness shines like a bright light, and his sadness, anger, shock, happiness, and, most of all, fear, are all conveyed clearly to the viewer.

And while the sickness in Contagion was far more infectious and deadly than COVID-19, the similarities are impossible to miss. Nobody notices the first few patients, but as the disease spreads, everyone resorts to social distancing and confinement.

Another large similarity is the

blogger, played by Jude Law, who, through conspiracy theories, expands paranoia.

But for all of the protesters who want the stay-at-home order released, Contagion shows why as a country, we are not overreacting.

In fact, with many states pushing toward ending the order, we could very well be asking for a pandemic to shock the country.

However, in its essence, Contagion as a movie is nothing new. It is far from the first movie about a pandemic, and I cannot say that it added anything unexpected.

The classic storyline, from patient zero to a family hit hard to a vaccine, the plot could not be more predictable.

So if you want to watch something that parallels the events around the globe, press play on Contagion. But don’t expect much from the plot.

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12,13 Then and now: pandemics and reccessions across time

by Jack Davis, Jamie Mahowald hile the COVID-19 pandemic is a first for every student at St. Mark’s, it’s only one of many in a long line of plagues that have occured throughout history. Among history’s most infamous plagues is the Black Death, which peaked in Europe from 1347-1352 and killed about a third of Europe’s total population. Economically, this plague may actually have helped contribute to the long-term growth of European nations.

“If you want to go back in history,” History and Social Sciences Dept. Chair David Fisher said, “the Black Death killed so many peasants in Europe that it created labor shortages and higher pay for laborers, so the remaining laborers actually benefited from the fact there was a Black Plague.”

The twentieth century saw three large-scale outbreaks of Influenza. The first, the Spanish Flu, killed upwards of 50 million people, including about 675,000 in the United States.

The other two, in 1957 in 1968, resulted in about 1 million fatalities each. For reference, as of May 5th, COVID-19 has resulted in about 277,000 deaths worldwide. These rates pale in comparison to the 1918 flu for a variety of reasons.

“One thing is certainly medical research,” Fisher said. “By the time of the flu hit in the 50s and 60s, we knew how to treat the infections. Also, we’re not dealing with populations that are demobilizing as a result of [World War I], so there is less transmission of disease from large groups of infected people to other large groups.”

••• Fisher sees COVID-19 as a test of the world’s economic robustness more than its biological resilience. To combat both the pandemic and its economic consequences, according to Richard Fisher, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and key member of Governor Greg Abbott’s strike force to open the state, politicians must carefully balance each of the two issues. “[Governors] have to balance a real need to be medically careful: follow their best science and medical advisors, who are invaluable here,” Richard Fischer said. “At the same time, they have to figure out what the tradeoff is between the other problems that are created by taking people’s jobs away because businesses aren’t open or trying to restore jobs by getting businesses to reopen in a careful, calculated, medically sensible way.”

When the 2008 recession occured, Richard Fisher was serving as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and he learned some few key takeaways which could be applied to the economy today.

“We did everything we could to back every kind of financial instrument,” Richard Fisher said. “Now, what we learned from that process is that what we had to do to bail out the financial system didn’t trickle down to the hardworking men and women of the country — at least certainly not quickly enough.”

Between the 2008 recession and today, Richard Fisher noted one major difference: the ability to see the impact before it ultimately happened.

“Then, we could see the events evolving because the housing market, and particularly the derivatives that were written off of mortgages, were a signal that we were building up to a problem,” Richard Fisher said. “Now, it’s different because this is a total black swan, as they say. It came out of nowhere.”

In Richard Fisher’s mind, the current situation has demonstrated many lessons in the importance of different pieces of our economy, namely small businesses, as they employ the majority of the American workforce.

“It emphasizes the incredible roles of small and medium-sized enterprises, the women and men that run those enterprises, that build them from scratch, what their contributions are and how they are really the propeller and the engine for our economy,” Richard Fisher said.

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‘That's the great takeaway from the year, which is not that we've ex it's the response to the challenge that is inspiring and encouraging

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“normal” set of 365 days in the life of a Marksman brings its own bouts and bursts of excitement and ecstasy, of trials and tribulations and of ups and downs and lefts and rights and twists and turns and everything in between.

Of tests and exams and touchdowns and goals and As and Fs and Ws and Ls and of grand openings and sudden closings and gold strikings and silver linings and blood, sweat and tears.

Of the ebbing and flowing of the very things that divide us and then unite us closer than ever before.

A “normal” year is something we take for granted all too often, even if there is no such thing as a “normal” year.

But this one feels different.

••• From a distant perspective, one can divide this last year into the headline events of each season: fall saw the destruction –– and subsequent reconstruction –– of the Oct. 20 tornado. Winter saw the school’s historic takeover of SPC. And now in spring, we see a nationwide quarantine and an abrupt halt to classes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“It's been a hard year,” Headmaster David Dini said. “We can't even seem to catch a break in some ways. On the other hand, you constantly have to remind yourself of how fortunate we are and how much opportunity we have and how many blessings we enjoy.”

The tests brought on by this year’s events gave us an even greater opportunity to display our character as a school, according to Dini.

“If you study history and you look at the great figures in history,” Dini said, “almost always, those great people are people that thrive in very, very difficult times. They lead people often against great odds through terrible strife and great difficulty.”

While quarantine might represent loss for many Marksmen — loss of the third trimester, loss of end-of-year traditions or loss of time with friends — it is important to remember that many people in our country have lost much more — job security, good health or even their loved ones.

“I know kids are having hardships because of jobs and family,” Freshman Class President Aadi Khasgiwala said, “but, all in all, we’re going to look back at this pandemic and recognize if we were able to get through that, we can face anything.”

To stave off boredom and bolster class unity during quarantine, each Upper School grade has been organizing virtual class activities in some shape or form. From class Kahoot games to grade-

IN HISTORY Here are some of the most notable plagues and pandemics throughout all of world history.

STAYING IN TOUCH The Junior Class competes to figure out who knows their grade the best during their Friday Kahoot games

wide Zoom calls, Upper Schoolers have done their best to keep in touch.

“I hope we can keep doing these zoom calls,” Junior Class President Aayan Khasgiwala said. “It’s nice to see everyone’s faces. School’s coming to a close, so it’ll be harder to see everyone, but we’ll find creative ways to stay in touch.”

While the freshman class has stayed in touch with each other, they miss the interactions they would have had with older classes.

“As a freshman grade, we’re obviously still figuring things out,” Aadi said, “and I think with school cancelled, we missed out on the opportunity of looking up to the seniors, juniors and sophomores for leadership, whether in classes or sports or clubs. We were really looking forward to that, and, looking back, that might be something we wish we had.”

Distance learning, a novel form of remote schooling brought on by the sudden need for social distancing, has spawned unforeseen challenges.

Among the many drawbacks of this kind of remote learning — the lack of face-to-face interaction with both instructors and classmates. But for Sophomore Class President Enoch Ellis, this time away gives us a chance to reflect on our own lives outside of the school.

“We live such busy lives,” Ellis said, “and we don't give ourselves time to just stand still and contemplate how we're doing, what we're feeling and who we talk to. Quarantine has been an outlet for us to further explore who we are, and hopefully after this we will come back with a renewed sense of self.”

The loss of that human interaction certainly does serve as a painful reminder of those special moments we used to share together throughout each day whether during a free period, class or extracurricular. For Aayan, the concept of grade unity strengthens those connections we wouldn’t otherwise have maintained in isolation.

“We’re so restricted that we talk mostly to our close friends,” Aayan said, “so it’s important to stay Aayan Khasgiwala connected as a grade. It’s Junior Class president important to stay in touch with the people we care about, especially because it’s high school, and it’s our junior year, one of our hardest years.”

The formation of sub-communities and friend groups is, of course, natural at any school. But the nature of being in a physical location usually

THE REMARKER • MAy 15, 2020

PERSPECTIVES

What’s next?

xperienced difficulty or challenge, g.’ ­– Headmaster David Dini mitigates this fractionalization and reminds us can't put too much value on any one thing, of our greater community. Some of this is lost in because the next day, it might be gone, and then isolation. you're nothing without it.”

“In times like this, people are naturally going to And while these valleys may be some of the deepest go to their close friend groups,” Ellis said. “But I think it's the school has ever experienced, students have continued even more important to try to talk to new people during to climb their way back out time and time again. this time since we have so much more time now.”

“I think everyone would have been okay if certain While grade-wide events help mitigate that sense of things like McDonald’s Week weren’t as good as they isolation, it’s still important for students to intentionally would’ve been without the disasters,” Aayan said, break out of these smaller groups and stick together “but we wanted it to be even better. We face all these during these difficult times. challenges head-on rather than see them as an excuse. I “It’s important to share with each other,” Aayan don’t hear anything about how we’re going to slack off said, “because it makes us stronger as a class –– it makes and take it easy. This is a chance to get our grades up, us more unified rather than more to make ourselves better students with individualized, which could easily better grades at the end of the year.” happen when everyone goes into their While we may worry now about QUARANTINE HAS BEEN AN own hole and doesn’t talk to anyone. whether or not 10600 Preston Rd. will OUTLET FOR US TO FURTHER The more we can stay in touch as a return to normal, when we look back EXPLORE WHO WE ARE, AND years from now, we’ll see that everything grade, the more unified we will be HOPEFULLY AFTER THIS WE when we come out of this.” turned out alright.

So no matter what each student or “When we have the opportunity to WILL COME BACK WITH A teacher does during this time, whether go back and carve the record, if you will, RENEWED SENSE OF SELF. it’s picking up a new hobby, finding from 2019-2020, I think we'll say, ‘Wow! — SOPHOMORE CLASS PRESIDENT innovative ways to take online classes That's a year where the school really ENOCH ELLIS or simply staying strong as America shone brightly,’" Dini said, “and ‘We braves each new challenge COVID-19 didn't get weaker. We got stronger.’ And brings, it’s a chance for everyone to grow. to me that's a tremendous message and again adversity “Through adversity we've had an opportunity delivers that to you. You see it in our lives. I've had it in to learn, grow and show a lot of strength and a lot my life. You have had it and will have it in your life too. of resilience” Dini said. “And to me, that's the great Sometimes it takes a little bit of distance to appreciate takeaway from the year, which is not that we've the value of that adversity because when you're going experienced difficulty or challenge, it's the response to the through it, it can be painful.” challenge that is inspiring and encouraging.”

At the end of the COVID-19 crisis, when six feet As the 2019-2020 school year comes to a close, become zero and 10 a.m. becomes 8:30 a.m., all that will everyone will have a different story to tell, a different remain are the memories of what we did and the lessons favorite moment, a different challenge conquered. But it that we’ve learned along the way. will be remembered.

“Even when we're back full-time on campus and “I'll remember it as a time where we've gotten to see routine is completely re-established, all those pieces are how variable life can be,” Ellis said. “How you can be still going to come with us,” Dini said. “All that growth, at the top of the hill one moment and at the bottom of both from the student's side and from the teacher's side. the valley the next moment, and how you have to have It’s not just academic preparation. It's like we always say something innate within you that grounds you, and you — it's content and character in equal parts.”

‘‘

The 2019-2020 school year has left its mark on campus, literally. From tornados to pandemics, students have had more to deal with than essays and recitations. They’ve even managed to reach greater heights and find new successes in these troubling times. But once it’s all over...what then?

STORY Jamie Mahowald, Luke Piazza, Robert Pou PHOTOS Sam Ahmed, Courtesy Development Office PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Luke Piazza

KIND WORDS In the midst of debates of how classes would be structured or whether seniors would get their promised walk across the state, the Class of 2030 sent words of encouragement to the Class of 2020, reading, “Dear Class of 2020, you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have. You are resilient and brave! Life is tough, but so are you! Love, Class of 2030.”

Coming out of this with a new perspective

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or the first time in three years, I was flossing.

Flossing!

And as I looked at my bleeding gums in the mirror, watching the plaque disappear like puddles on a sunny day, I had what some may call an epiphany: I was, for the first time in many months, taking care of myself.

Self-care: It’s kind of a stigmatized concept.

Those who take time for it are the weakest in the group.

They’re the ones who drop their grades, get rejected from colleges, get bad jobs.

The last time I took a mental health day, I felt extremely guilty.

Am I just soft?

••• Junior year, I came to terms with the fact that I was overwhelmed — a lot.

Many days, I needed an extra hour of sleep. But if I was late to school again, I’d be forced to lose more of my precious time serving detention, emptying Gatorade containers in the training room. I wanted to enjoy my lunch, but I’d have a homework assignment to do because I didn’t have enough time the night before.

I had sports from 4 to 6 p.m. By the time I drove home and showered, it was 7 p.m., and I still had to eat dinner before starting my homework. St. Mark’s allowed me to have 45 minutes of homework per class — let’s say two out of my six classes didn’t assign homework that night —

that’s three hours of homework. With maximum efficiency, white shirt again or even step inside my home away from starting my homework at 8 p.m. and working for three home until August. It was a hard transition. hours straight, I’m done at 11.

But once it was made, I found something magnificent: But, of course, no human has ever operated on TIME! maximum efficiency.

I started reading. Meditating. Caring about hygiene and Maybe I’m tired from sports. Maybe I’m brushing my hair in the mornings. Spending tired because I didn’t sleep last night studying more time with family and talking to friends. for a Physics test or writing an essay for I started to take care of myself.

English. Maybe I have to practice piano for Every day, I made sure to reserve at least an hour, help my family cook dinner or call an hour of the day to do something for myself a friend. Maybe, God forbid, I need a study — maybe it’s cleaning my desk, listening to a break and go on my phone, turn on Netflix or record or reading a book. play a video game. Now I’m going to bed at Today, my anxiety, stress, malnourishment Cristian Pereira Senior Editor 1 a.m., and I’m blaming myself for not being — all have dropped to manageable levels. My able to manage the virtually incomprehensible 8-hours-per-night sleep schedule is consistent amount of expectation thrown onto my shoulders. and respectable, I’m more motivated to do work and I feel At St. Mark’s, the kids who do the most — maybe less guilty taking time to focus on my well-being. I’m less they’re taking four AP classes, working for a school critical of myself when I slip up or procrastinate, making publication, and/or are captains of their varsity sports sure to focus on everything I did right that day instead of team — are the kids who end up winning Headmaster’s dwelling on the negative.

Cups. They’re cum laude, high honors and valedictorians.

It’s my hope that next year, self-care gets prioritized Everyone feels like they need to do as much as possible or more — by students, parents and teachers alike. It’s really they’ll fall behind. easy to disregard things like mental health when getting It adds up. that A requires sacrifices.

Or, should I say, it added up.

But for now, stay safe everyone. And make sure you take COVID-19 turned everyone’s world upside down. In the advantage of the time you’ve being given. It might soon be blink of an eye, I realized that I would never get to don a taken away again.

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Coping with a different family dynamic

14,15 HOSPITALS

Keeping our future healthy

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While the nation gradually returns to normal life, medical workers persist against the spread of COVID-19, putting themselves at the risk of the illness.

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ombating the pandemic on the front line, Dr. Lisa Luke — mother of junior Luke Piazza —works as an internal medicine doctor at Baylor they can’t breathe on their own.

University Medical Center, which has been “Typically, when we get to the “We don’t really have any blood admitting normal hospital patients and hospital, we have our morning huddles tests or imaging tests that can tell us who’s COVID-19 positive patients. and radiology rounds,” Sisman said. “We going to get sicker and who’s not,” Luke According to Dr. Luke, Baylor get together to talk about what happened said. “These people can get sick very, very began preparing early once the doctors the night before and our daily planning. quickly without any obvious red flags, so became aware of the pandemic, putting Those are all gone. They’re all virtual now. that’s humbling as a physician to see that contingency plans in place to brace for a We go to our offices, get online and get to happen.”

New-York-style high hospital surge. She the virtual conferences.”

With testing for COVID-19 says the Baylor doctors had been keeping Most hospitals are limiting visitors, coronavirus on their radar since January, allowing visits only in situations with end- continuing to be a nationwide issue, the medical community is still seeking when it progressed away from China. of-life issues or patients in labor. potential cures and conducting drug trials “We’ve been using telemedicine, Certain floors of the hospital have to find a solution to the pandemic. even within the been designated for “We just don’t know how [the hospital,” Luke COVID patients If [Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins] had coronavirus is] going to behave over the said. “That means or patients under waited two weeks, and we didn’t have the next year,” Luke said. “I imagine we’re we would call into investigation. stay-at-home order, we could’ve had that going to continue to wear masks all over a patient’s room COVIDNew York surge that would’ve overwhelmed the hospital with eye protection and via an iPad they’ve positive patients all the hospitals.

Dr. Lisa Luke bring gloves into every patient’s room been given and are kept on a regardless of whether they’re COVID or communicate an containment not. We’re doing that right now to try to interview with them unit floor, which prevent any potential transmission from through the iPad, asking them questions, contains even more secluded procedures an asymptomatic person.” taking our daily history like we would do and better control for airborne isolation.

She stresses the if we were rounding on a patient.”

“What strikes me the importance of the The hospital patients are divided most about caring for people community’s role in among the doctors, and only certain in the hospital during this addressing the pandemic doctors each day are assigned to COVIDtime is the isolation of these — especially the local positive patients or patients under patients,” Luke said. “They government and health investigation, meaning they’ve been tested don’t have any family with department — and slowing but are still waiting on the results. them. That’s the hardest thing. down the curve that’s rising “We have to treat that patient Giving the patient a familiar D r. L i s a Lu k e Internal medicine hospitalist again with city reopenings. like they’re infected until we get that face can sometimes help them “I feel we have been result back,” Luke said. “We have to feel more comfortable in that successful in flattening the curve in that wear appropriate personal protective environment.” equipment (PPE) if we’re in the room with Without a proven effective treatment, our daily case numbers are flat or even decreasing in Dallas County [as of Apr. that patient.” a complete understanding of the illness’s Routine staff meetings have also pathophysiology or any tools to accurately 26],” Luke said. “That’s why I say the stayat-home order was effective and done at changed for neonatologist Dr. Julide predict how the disease develops, Sisman, who cares for early born and sick hospitals can provide only supportive care an appropriate time. Flattening the curve doesn’t mean it’s flattened forever, so we’ll babies at UT Southwestern Medical Center for COVID patients, such as providing see what happens as things reopen.” and is junior Metehan Punar’s mother. oxygen or putting them on ventilators if

“

STORY Sai Thirunagari, Jack Davis PHOTO Luis Garcia

Readjusting elective surgeries, treating COVID-19 patients in New York City hospital in particular is a lack of funding,

by Jack Davis owing to cancelled surgeries. In turn, r. Bryan Monier ’02 — an orthopedic this financial uncertainty raises questions surgeon who specializes in foot and about the hospital’s future. ankle surgery at a small hospital in Stowe, “We’re a smaller hospital that probably VT — cancelled the majority, if not all, of runs on about a $17 million budget each his elective (non-emergency) surgeries to year,” Monier said, “and cancelling cases minimize patient and staff exposure risk for essentially one month can cost the to COVID-19. hospital several millions of dollars. That Overall, the hospital he works at can have a huge implication canceled a couple hundred on whether the hospital can elective surgeries originally even continue to function and planned to occur between continue to do well.” the end of March and first Dr. Zev Shulkin ’98, an two weeks of May. ophthalmologist who runs a “We were only doing private practice in Dallas, has emergency surgeries,” undergone a similar procedure Monier said. “I still did a Bryan Monier ’02 of having only non-elective few surgeries: broken ankles, Orthopedic surgeon surgeries at his practice. infections, those kinds of “There’s been a few urgent urgent things.” cases that we’ve done,” Shulkin said. “But Monier believes patients who don’t from my normal high-volume surgical seek treatment for possible medical practice, I’ve dwindled down to only complications out of fear of COVID-19 emergency or urgent cases.” could see detrimental effects on their In his practice, Shulkin has greatly health in the near future. changed normal operating procedure to “A lot of people have been nervous to ensure safety for both patients and his come to hospitals,” Monier said. staff.

Monier believes one of the biggest “My clinic only sees one patient at a impacts COVID-19 will have on his

D

by Sai Thirunagari ithout the usual, structured schedule of school or work outside the house, many families’ household dynamics have changed.

For senior Kyle Fisher, staying at home meant assuming the role of more than just a son. Toward the beginning of quarantine, Fisher’s father started a new job that required him to move to Miami for some time. He returned home the week of April 13 once he completed his obligations.

“My mom works during the weekday, so during those weeks, I would have to do all the roles that my parents had to do,” Fisher said. “Simple stuff like chores add up throughout the day —having to wake my brothers up and make breakfast and lunch. It’s just extra stuff that I had to incorporate into my day. I had to schedule my days around what I had to do.”

Fisher has two younger brothers, second-grader Finn and freshman Chase, so he had to take care of them and the household.

“It was really difficult transitioning for my youngest brother, because usually I’m just his brother — someone he plays around with — but I had to transition to trying to be his parent,” Fisher said. “He wasn’t listening to me very much, so that was a big challenge.”

In between online classes, Fisher would go to the grocery store to buy food and supplies to take care of his brothers and cook meals for them. His routine usually consisted of waking up at 9 a.m. and then waking up his siblings.

“Some days were harder than others,” Fisher said.

“The hardest part was trying to help Finn with his homework if I had work to do. I found a way to fit it all into the day.”

Fisher’s teachers have helped him balance school with his family priorities.

“They’ve been really accepting about deadlines,” Fisher said. “My schoolwork was not that strenuous at the start, so that definitely helped. I’ve been focusing more on helping and doing stuff around the house.”

Fisher says his family has gradually been adjusting to manage life in quarantine.

“For the most part, all of us have been doing more and more on our own, so that’s a plus,” Fisher said.

Now that his father is back home, Fisher says things are normalizing, although online learning still brings its challenges.

“It’s like the way it was before,” Fisher said. “I always had to do stuff to help out. It’s the nature of having a younger brother. It was really different those weeks when my dad was out of town and I was the only one at home during the day.

I imagine [quarantine is] insane for all families with groups of siblings.”

time,” Shulkin said. “Social distancing is strictly adhered to. We’ve built special add-ons to our equipment, including plexiglass in between the patient and the physician.”

At a multi-institutional academic hospital, family medicine doctor Christian Dean ’01 is attending to COVID-19 patients in New York City, using his time off from his job in Seattle.

“I already had that block of time off,” Dean said. “Then [COVID-19] happened, and I wanted to help. As part of going into medicine, there’s some duty to this whole lifestyle and career path.”

According to Dean, there’s a mix of emotions throughout the hospital, ranging from sadness, to nervousness, to hope.

However, he’s also noticed camaraderie among the hospital staff.

“It’s the entire spectrum of those adjectives,” Dean said. “It’s whoever your little bubble is. You can definitely tell some of these thoughts have taken a much more physical and emotional toll than others.

One of the amazing things I see here is the collegiality of all the different disciplines that people are getting out of what they do day-to-day to help the overall cause.”

SAFETY Because of the coronavirus’s potential spread in hospitals, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) has become standard for medical workers.

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

PERSPECTIVES

ELECTIONS

Polling during a pandemic The threat of COVID-19 will still be looming large come November, so what will political elections look like?

A

mericans may have to stand on duct tape Xs, six feet apart. They may face temperature scans, or have to wait for voting booths to be disenfected. They may even have to carry a certificate testifying that they have quarantined.

Americans on Nov. 3 will be facing challenges in the election which will determine the next president of the United States, and a whole list of other federal and state officeholders.

Or they may not go to the polls at all, instead logging into a website or dropping their ballot in the mail. Either way, the coronavirus will radically alter the way elections will be held in the near future.

•••

According to history instructor Brian Boucher, the upcoming elections are approaching the unprecedented challenge of operating without large gatherings.

“We don’t have a whole lot of historical comparisons when it comes to running an election in a pandemic,” Boucher said. “The closest we’ve had is engaging in presidential campaigns during wars.

We’ve had elections in times of crisis, and that alters campaigning. It alters the issues. It alters how people are voting.”

Political candidates will find it difficult to get their message across as efficiently as normal and get publicity in this new reality. A big component of campaigning in the 21st century is campaign rallies.

Particularly in the presidential race, candidates might not be able to have those 50,000-person gatherings to garner attention and rally their supporters.

“We don’t really know what a campaign rally is going to look like over the summer,” Boucher said, “but I would envision what we’ve become accustomed to in terms of what a campaign rally looks like is not going to happen. If I’m a political

candidate running for office, I have to rely on the news media. I have to rely on social media. I have to rely on mailers. These are things that I would be doing anyway if I was a candidate, but now I have to really rely on those.”

COVID-19 has shifted the way voters will view these upcoming elections. From the presidential stage to local elections, Boucher says people are going to be voting based on how they feel the government has responded to the pandemic.

“There are people who are really happy that Dallas has a shelter-in-place order and feel that that’s appropriate, and there are other people who feel that that’s going too far,” Boucher said. “I would imagine when a lot of those elected officials come up for office, people are going to remember whether they agreed with the decisions that they’re making.”

Elected officials are under the spotlight as they try to find a balance between safety and efficiency in the coming months. During these career-defining times, officials will have to continue to work through the obstacles COVID-19 presents.

Dallas city councilman Lee Kleinman ‘77 has found the move to online meetings due to COVID-19

disruptive to the usual political process.

“Holding city council meetings online has definitely slown our process down quite a bit — it seems like the meetings are taking longer despite the fact that the agendas are actually quite a bit shorter,” Kleiman said.

Those meetings, however, are his chance to review important data about the virus’s impact in Dallas and to formulate plans to deal with the fallout.

“We spend a lot of time reviewing the numbers, seeing which direction [the virus] is going, and looking at the amount of code violations and other violations regarding people not doing what’s asked of them,” Kleinman said. “We’ve also set up a number of economic development programs.”

Programs such as Community Development Block Grants, Emergency Service Grants and Housing for People with AIDS represent the city’s main way of directing money from federal agencies to its residents. For Klienman, that’s a key part of the City Council’s job.

“We received federal money, a lot of which came down through [the Department of Housing and Urban Development], and then it’s up to [the City Council] to put that money on the street,” Kleinman said.

Kleinman also wants to ensure that his constituents can vote safely come national elections in November.

“In November it’s going to be pretty interesting to see if we can get to more mail-in balloting or if we really seek to do in-person balloting,” Kleinman said. “It’s important to figure out whether they can do more mail and/or other types of balloting so that people don’t have to stand in those lines.”

Kleinman’s worried that those conditions will lead to much lower voter turnout. He’s in favor of online voter registration to mitigate the problem.

“I think a lot of people would like to see a move to online voter registration,” Kleinman said. “I know that the state has resisted that for a couple of years.

But I think there’s growing pressure for them to do that. We certainly need to be able to do as much as possible, online or by mail, without having face-toface interactions.”

However, Kleinman does see an upside to the virus’s effects on campaigning.

“We’ve gotten quite a reprieve from the typical election year rhetoric and nonsense that we have to pay attention to,” Klienman said. “So it’s been nice not to have to hear the campaign stuff for a couple months because it was getting out of hand.”

STORY Henry McElhaney, Alam Alidina ARTWORK Cooper Cole

Alumni face uncertain futures both during and after college amid fallout from the coronavirus

by Sid Sinha, Cooper Ribman OVID-19 has completely altered the college experience. From study abroad to searching for a job, nearly all college students have experienced a modified version of what they thought college would be.

One of these students, James Rogers ’18, was studying abroad at American University Paris (AUP) as part of USC’s Trojan Transfer Plan. Having planned to spend a year at AUP before transferring to USC, Rogers found his time abroad abruptly cut short.

“Thinking I was gonna spend the whole year in France and just have this abruptly cut short has been very challenging for everybody,” Rogers said.

Two days after a mid-February trip to Venice during his spring break, the first reports of outbreaks in Northern Italy surfaced, and AUP sent Rogers home immediately. For the few weeks before AUP transitioned completely to remote learning, Rogers was waking up at 3 a.m. to attend classes.

Reflecting on this chaos, Rogers predicts future apprehension towards study abroad opportunities.

“For the kids that have been in college and dealt with this pandemic,” Rogers said, “I don’t think many people are going to be wanting to travel abroad. I’m not predicting there’s going to be another pandemic, but if I was in the Class of 2020 at St. Mark’s and I was offered the same opportunity, I would definitely not be studying abroad.”

That being said, Rogers clarified that he “loved the independence” associated with studying abroad.

Now on his way to USC for the next three years of college, Rogers has another set of issues as a result of the unorthodox circumstances: housing and finances.

While he wants to finish college as soon as

C

possible, he doesn’t want to pay a semester’s college tuition for an online university experience. For this reason, he’s thinking about delaying his attendance of USC by taking a leave of absence.

“It’s a very expensive school,” Rogers said, “and taking online courses, you’re not getting the full value of education there. Part of that is being there in person although I realized that might not be realistic.

I still don’t know whether I’ll take a leave of absence.

It’s just a consideration.”

•••

and elderly people whose immune systems are less active. Right now, the group is working on compounds to add to any COVID-19 vaccines that get made to make them work better for the elderly.”

Due to the nature of his career, the date his work will begin is uncertain.

“I’m scheduled to start on July 6,” O’Meara said.

“But they’ve been working probaby 16 or 17 hour days dealing with COVID-19 research so it’s been up in the air as far as do they need me to be an extra body for the near future.”

While O’Meara has successfully found work, Tim O’Meara ‘16 is a chemistry major at some of his classmates in different fields have been Harvard University scheduled to graduate this adversely affected in their search for jobs owing to month. However, COVID-19 has drastically altered the lack of essential jobs in their fields. his graduation plans.

“A lot of my friends have been affected by “The school hasn’t told us a ton about hiring freezes,” O’Meara said. “I have graduation yet,” O’Meara said. “So far a friend who was supposed to work all they’ve told us that we’re having with a big media group. He went to some sort of virtual ceremony.” accept an offer and called who would Fortunately, O’Meara’s plans for have been his boss, but they had to post-graduation careers had begun rescind his offer because they were in a before the virus struck. hiring freeze. I was lucky to get in the “I was doing my job search door before any sort of hiring freezes primarily between January and March.”

Tim O’Meara ‘16 started.”

Chemistry major at O’Meara said. “I had actually set up a Through the unusual Harvard University few interviews right before we found out circumstances, O’Meara has adapted to we had to leave campus, so all of those the changing environment and encourages others to ended up being over Zoom.” do the same.

After these interviews and the current “I’ve realized that you have to embrace some of circumstances were taken into account, O’Meara the abnormalities,” O’Meara said. “Going through decided to pursue a timely field. the virtual job interview process showed me that “I ended up deciding to join a lab at Boston everyone is willing to be flexible to the extent Children’s Hospital as part of the Precision Vaccines they need to be. As somebody on the student side, program.” O’Meara said. “They develop additives embracing the minor day-to-day chaos and just for vaccines that help them work better for infants taking it in stride has helped me get through it all.”

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CULTURE

Community Service Meet the Marksmen behind the scenes of recent community service events and fundraisers.

Page 17

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

DIVERSIONS

Entertainment of all shapes and sizes

BAKER Rohan Khatti

Couped up in their houses, sophomore Sam Reitich and juniors Alexander Emery and Rohan Khatti have found unique ways to pass the time.

BLACKSMITH Alexander Emery

BLUEPRINT Before beginning work on his armor, junior Alexander Emery sketched his floorplan, including a propane tank, forge and anvil.

C

hoosing one of the more unique ways to spend his time at home, junior Alexander Emery has been blacksmithing. With experience from a brief apprenticeship, Emery decided to begin his own project with his stepfather.

“I moved and I wasn’t able to keep going to the blacksmith, but I really enjoyed it,” Emery said. “Now I’m finally going to be able to start doing it on my own. I always had a plan with my stepfather that we were going to build the forge once we were able to sell our house that we moved out of. The quarantine will just give us the time to build it ourselves and jump into it headfirst.”

The project itself draws inspiration from one of Emery’s long-term goals. To compete at an event in the Armored Combat League.

“There’s a sports league where, basically, people dress up in armor, make real • the most extreme, full force, swords and attack full speed, full contact sport on the planet each other,” Emery • athletes wear 60-80 lbs of said. “The only armor difference is there’s • goal is to incapacitate their no edges, so I am opponent with punches, making it for that. kicks, throws, axes and swords until someone is on I’d like to create the ground my own armor and SOURCE: COMBATCON.COM participate in that.”

three things about the Armored Combat League

FRIED After each week of remote classes, junior Rohan Khatti has found solace in making a variety of baked goods.

But before he enters a league competition, Emery has to complete a series of basic blacksmithing steps that will allow him to construct his equipment.

“First we have to build the forge, and then we’re going to have to build the shed it’s going to go in, the space around it,” Emery said. “After that, getting an anvil, building your own tools, something that most blacksmiths do, hammers and saws and stuff. Then I can really get started with making the fun things.”

As for supplies, Emery says he has to be creative, using unorthodox items as sources for his metalwork.

“You might take a propane tank,” Emery said, “cut it in half, and then fill it with a firebrick or fireproofing insulation, and then use that to build it up. Basically recycling different objects.”

Sitting down and blacksmithing for extended periods of time has proven to be calming for Emery, who sees the art as another way to decompress. While many think blacksmithing is antiquated, Emery enjoys both the physical and the mental aspects of the craft.

“It’s a very meditative process,” Emery said, “and it’s a form of art that a lot of people see as outdated and not fit for modern times, but there’s just something really fun Alexander Emery and relaxing about junior blacksmithing. It’s also a good workout.”

Speaking to all Marksmen, Emery — seeing the quarantine as an opportunity for productivity — says he hopes the community can revisit old passions, even discover new interests, during this time.

“The quarantine is giving us all opportunities to try new things or re-invest ourselves in old things that we were once passionate about,” Emery said. “As long as everyone makes use of that and doesn’t just sleep or watch Netflix all day long, I think this can be a very productive time for the St. Mark’s community.”

VIDEO GAME CREATOR Sam Reitich

CREATOR With a complete setup at home, sophomore Sam Reitich has spent hours at a time perfecting his own video game.

U

nsatisfied and bored with the video games he had at home, sophomore Sam Reitich decided the best way to solve his problem was to take matters into his own hands.

“I was getting bored of the stuff I was doing,” Reitich said. “The games I was playing kind of ran out. I was looking around for any new ones and I couldn’t find any good ones I liked, so I wanted to just make my own.”

Sam decided to put his programming experience to use by designing his own video game during the quarantine.

“You’re playing as a classic medieval hero in a town, exploring and helping out citizens,” Reitich said. “It’s super light hearted with comedy mixed in. It’s really just trying to mess around and take a weird spin on the normal hero RPG [Role Playing Game].”

After putting about 15 to 20 hours of time into creating the game so far, Reitich doesn’t know exactly

I

n a hands-on field, junior Rohan Khatti has taken advantage of his time at home by learning a new culinary skill every weekend.

“I decided that every weekend I’m gonna dedicate [myself] to baking or cooking at least one new thing or a thing that I’ve just been interested in getting better at making,” Khatti said.

From time-consuming bakes to sugary treats, Khatti said he spent nearly 72 hours in the kitchen in the first month of quarantine.

“I’ve made sourdough baskets and other sourdough related bread, blueberry muffins, pancakes, French toast and gummy bears completely from scratch,” Khatti said.

“Every Saturday and Sunday, I’ve been in there for a certain amount of time, and a lot of projects take a long time, so I’d say at least three full days worth.”

An experienced baker, Khatti knows many recipes like the back of his hand, so he’s also trying his hand at the precise exercise of candy making.

“This weekend, I might be trying to make hard candy like Jolly Ranchers or something like that from scratch again,” Khatti said. “That’d be pretty cool. I like candymaking because it’s really interesting to me how sugar cooks, like at one temperature it’s this texture and at another, it’s completely different.”

Khatti says baking is therapeutic for him regardless of the end result, and experimenting with new recipes is an easy way to decompress.

“It’s not always about making something,” Khatti said, “because of course it’s great that it tastes amazing, but making new things is relaxing to me. It’s really a stress-reliever for the weekend.”

SWEET TREATS Junior Rohan Khatti has been working from scratch every weekend, making breads, cookies, donuts and cakes among other baked goods.

when he’ll be finished.

“I’m learning how to make it as I’m going, so I don’t really know the entire scope of what actually needs to be done yet,” Reitich said.

Reitich is taking the process step-by-step as he works on the long journey towards completing the game.

“Basically, you really need to think ahead, visualize what you want your game to look like and find the most basic function,” Reitich said.

“The visual things aren’t done until very late. Menus, settings, things like that aren’t going to be done until every other piece is done.”

Reitich has found challenges along the way that he is attempting to work through as he continues the development.

“I’m not an artist at all, and I don’t know how to 3D model anything,” Reitich said. “I spent a very long time trying to find free assets to use. The hardest part is trying to keep everything I’m doing

STORY Will Pechersky, Siddhartha Sinha PHOTOS Courtesy Alexander Emery, Rohan Khatti, Sam Reitich

and all the resources I’m getting free.

It’s hard to find free high quality ones.”

Reitich reached out to others through social media to get some ideas on how he could add to the game while programming it.

“I’m not a very experienced game developer,” Reitich said.

“I’ve been told I have a really weird taste in games, so I wanted to make something that other people could probably enjoy. Plus, it was a cool opportunity for anyone to try and implement an idea into a game.”

Reitich finds the biggest reward of programming his own video game in the final product — being able to see his ideas turn into reality.

“I really wanted to find a way to be able to experience and enjoy the actual product,” Reitich said, “so I think that games, being able to see your code, the text that you’ve made, turn into a fully fleshed concept, something that you can interact with and move around in, is really cool.”

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

PAGE

CULTURE

17

ReMarker

MUSICAL SERVICE Juniors Max Wu (far left) and Collin Katz (left) perform on a community service livestream.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Serving from home

A look at sophomore Drake Elliot’s photography from his Instagram, @drakeelliotphoto. From conceptual pieces to aesthetics, he’s done it all:

While quarantine keeps us home, some students find a way to help their community.

W

hen the world faces a new crisis, the others don’t fade away.

The hungry still have no food.

The homeless still have no place to sleep.

Children still need teachers to educate them.

The elderly still need help and support when they’re all alone.

When COVID-19 hit America in late February, many found themselves simply trying to take care of themselves. However, in the midst of shutdowns and quarantines, Marksmen have found their own unique ways to support the community in its time of need.

••• Some students have opted to maintain their normal routines in whatever way they can, such as continuing to tutor students in a new community service opportunity through United to Learn, a local non-profit dedicated to improving education for those in need.

“Looking at schooling and tutoring, it’s really important to figure out ways to be able to reach out and work to provide some consistency to students whose minds aren’t necessarily being kept on academics,” senior Jack Trahan said. “Because of the nature of the pandemic, it’s kind of tough, but now especially, it’s our responsibility to find ways to do our part to help.”

Similarly to Trahan, Community Service Board Junior Vice-Chair Matthew Shen has started to move Rays of Light, where students spend time with underprivileged kids, using group Zoom calls to read to and interact with the children in the program.

“We’re keeping in touch with the kids,” Shen said. “What we’re doing

follows the lines of the general Rays time we’d ever done anything like of Life purpose by helping the kids this, let alone of this magnitude, and socialize. We’re taking a load off the now we have an experience in case we parents by playing with the kids.” ever want to do this again.”

Other students have tackled the

Combatting COVID-19 from effects of COVID-19 directly, such as a completely different angle, Teaching juniors Shiv Yajnik and Charlie Zhang, Technology Across Generations who as President and Vice President (TTAG), a club dedicated to educating of the MusiCare club in collaboration the elderly on using their technology, with Allen Highschool’s Epoch has moved online to continue helping Performing Arts 4 Hope group hosted during this time. They are uploading an online concert to several videos a week to raise money for the YouTube demonstrating Now especially, it’s homeless. how to use many basic our responsibility to “I wanted to apps, with plans to do a find ways to help.

Jack Trahan do something with computer curriculum in MusiCare,” Zhang the works. said. “Then I heard “The entire point of that Allen had one [a music group], TTAG was to teach them skills so they so I contacted them. We decided we could communicate, which means wanted to collaborate on something that a lot of them still aren’t there and realized that the coronavirus had yet,” Vice President and co-founder of hit China, so at first we’re gonna do TTAG Sam Morgan said. “They’re still a live concert at some venue to raise learning, so they still may not be able funds for the Chinese people. When to FaceTime their grandkids or open we realized that the coronavirus a zoom call. So, by doing stuff like had come all the way to the US, we that, I think we’re enabling them in a realized that we probably could do time when they especially need to use something here.” technology, because that’s the only Their online concert included means we have for communication performances from freshman Rishab right now.”

Siddamshetty, juniors Vatsal Vemuri, Morgan believes that Marksmen Matthew Ho, Max Wu, Collin Katz, should seek to use their newfound Vikram Ekambaram, Harrison Siegel free time to help those in need. and Jamie Mahowald and seniors “In terms of broader community Sean Zhao and Nicholas Cerny, service, it’s absolutely true that our ultimately raising $3300 for Austin world problems don’t stop because Street and Samaritan Inn combined. of the virus,” Morgan said. “Hunger “It was very rewarding that is still happening. So I think it’s we, in this time of crisis, were able important to do whatever we can, to help, able to do something in especially as youth who aren’t our community and see our concert necessarily as much at risk. Obviously benefit those in the community,” we can’t go out and hand out meals.

Yajnik said. “It was also rewarding We can’t go deliver shots. We’re not because I got a lot of responses trained. We don’t have PPE. So we’re from the St. Mark’s community, trying to do what we can during this including students who were eager crisis, and if it’s just making YouTube to participate, and the viewers really videos, then I think that’s the best we enjoyed the concert. This is the first can do.”

STORY Luke Piazza ADDITIONAL REPORTING Grant Jackson

“

This is just purely an aesthetic piece. There isn’t much behind it conceptually, I just wanted to try something new. I took some inspiration from Somewhere Magazine and Apricot Magazine. I had to use a really small aperture on this one so that the foreground would be out of focus while the rest of the picture is in focus.

Most of the charm of this photo really came in post processing when it came to the color grading and adding noise, which made it appear more vintage.

This one is a bit more conceptual.

It’s about the evolution of writing and communication, with the pencil evolving into the keyboard.

People don’t really hand write a whole lot nowadays as compared to before. For this one, I was definitely going for a more minimalist aesthetic. I used some colored paper for the backgrounds because they come in a bunch of colors and provide a good backdrop, and then I tried to use minimal lighting to go along with this simplistic nature, so I used a single shop light.

18

Around the Quad

The Dino in my Bathroom

Students and faculty under quarantine recall their favorite end-of-year events.

Page 19

Editor-In-C hief Robert Pou recalls one of his first experiences of fear.

Page 19

REMARKER

STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS. 10600 PRESTON ROAD DALLAS, TEXAS 75230 214.346.8000

EDITORIAL BOARD editor in chief ROBERT POU

assignments editor SAI THIRUNAGARI

brand manager COOPER RIBMAN

endzone editor WILLIAM ANIOL

executive page editor JACK DAVIS

head photographer COLLIN KATZ

managing editors

JAMIE MAHOWALD HENRY MCELHANEY SID SINHA

opinions editor ALAM ALIDINA

perspectives editor LUKE PIAZZA

senior editor

CRISTIAN PEREIRA

SECTION EDITORS 10600, culture

AXEL ICAZBALCETA WILL PECHERSKY

discoveries

ETHAN BORGE

deputy endzone SEMAJ MUSCO

deputy focus ERIC YOO HAN ZHANG

issues

TOBY BARRETT AUSTIN WILLIAMS

reviews specialist TREVOR CROSNOE

sports

OPINIONS THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 15 , 2020

EDITORIALS

Praising the school’s COVID-19 response

O

n Wednesday, March 11, the school held an Upper School Assembly educating students about COVID-19 and demonstrating preventative methods. The next day, school was cancelled and students went home to an early Spring Break. Within a few short weeks, we would learn that campus would be closed for the rest of the year.

Given how quickly those events escalated, the administration’s response to this crisis has been outstanding. We were impressed by how smooth the transition to online classes was — students were soon able to resume their academics right where they left off.

Particularly notable were the efforts of Kurt Tholking and the other members of the Remote Learning Team. The tremendous work they put in to make sure teachers and students were able to access and use Zoom flawlessly was vital to ensuring instruction and discussion could continue virtually.

We would also like to thank the teachers who adapted to these new circumstances, changing their teaching styles and curriculums to make sure online classes were just as effective as those in the classroom. This shift was aided by the work of the Health and Wellness Team, who designed a forgiving schedule that put students’ wellness first, with the two advisories a week giving us time to interact with classmates outside of formal learning.

And we’d like to commend the work of the

Communications Office: Katy Booras Rubarth, Dave Carden and Alex Hughes. The 10600 website has brought the community together and reminds us of some of the best parts about St. Mark’s — especially the interaction and excitement that bring life to campus. We hope 10600 will remain on the website long after the end of this pandemic.

That said, while we understand the necessity of a cautious response, many students felt disoriented in their first week of virtual learning.

An email to students describing the specific discussions and processes taking place, and even laying out a range of possibilities for the weeks ahead, would have provided much-needed reassurance. We hope administrators prioritize communication to students and their families as we prepare for the upcoming school year.

There’s quite a bit at 10600 Preston Rd. that can’t be replicated. And in these times of crisis, we’re especially reminded of those moments, of everything from a spontaneous class discussion to a crazy Upper School assembly. Virtual classrooms and interactions have limits, and sometimes they’re painfully evident.

But we’d also like to point out just how much normalcy has returned to campus life. Each week, we still see our teachers and classmates, still workout with Coach Dilworth and still receive a reflective message from Father Arbogast.

Without the tireless work of faculty, staff and administrators across campus, that wouldn’t be possible.

LUKE NAYFA PETER ORSAK

C R E AT I V E

A REMARKABLY SMOOTH TRANSITION • COMMUNICATION SHOULD BE A PRIORITY

graphics director JONATHAN YIN

artist

COOPER COLE

ADVERTISING

Textbook distribution should put reliablity first

business manager IAN MIZE

WRITERS

MORGAN CHOW, IAN DALRYMPLE, NIKHIL DATTATREYA, SHREYAN DAULAT, MICHAEL GAO, GEORGE GENENDER, JACK GORDY, SPIROS HALLAX, GRANT JACKSON, RAJAN JOSHI, ARJUN KHATTI, KESHAV KRISHNA, MYLES LOWENBERG, MATTHEW REED, WILL SPENCER, ALEX THOMAS, DILLON WYATT, DARREN XI

PHOTOGRAPHERS

BLAKE BROOM, ABE ECHT, PATRICK FLANAGAN, LUIS GARCIA, EVAN LAI, EVAN MCGOWAN, HAYWARD METCALF, LARS OCHS, SKY PARK, HENRY PICCAGILI, DANIEL SANCHEZ, OWEN SIMON, EKANSH TAMBE, LUKE VOORHEIS, JERRY ZHAO

ADVISER

RAY WESTBROOK

HEADMASTER DAVID W. DINI

audience

The ReMarker is intended for the students, faculty, staff and alumni community of St. Mark’s School of Texas. Press run is 4,000 copies, with more than 2,600 of those mailed out to alumni around the world, courtesy of the school’s offices of External Affairs, Development and Alumni divisions.

opinions and editorials

Editorials represent the viewpoints of the newspaper’s Editorial Board and are not necessarily those of the Board of Trustees, administration, faculty or staff. All personal opinion columns, bylined with the writer’s name and photo, represent the views of that writer only and not necessarily those of The ReMarker, Board of Trustees, administration, faculty or staff.

online viewing

www.smtexas. org/remarker.

reader involvement

The ReMarker encourages reader input through guest columns and story ideas. Contact the appropriate editor for suggestions.

letters to the editor

Letters to the editor are welcome and encouraged. They must be typed, signed and not exceed 300 words. E-mail submissions are not accepted.

advertising

Contact the business staff at 214.346.8145. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement.

Inclusion of an ad does not represent an endorsement by the school’s administration, faculty, or staff or ReMarker staff members.

membership

The ReMarker maintains membership in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, New York City, NY; National Scholastic Press Association, Minneapolis, MN; and the Interscholastic League Press Conference, Austin.

Last year, many students faced delays in receiving essential materials.

T

he new system of textbook distribution by mail this school year left most students with several back-ordered textbooks they would not receive until well into the school year, making class participation problematic and at times impossible for a portion of the first trimester.

While we recognize that this novel method was implemented to streamline book distribution and save students a trip to school before the start of the school year, we urge the administration to reconsider on-site distribution as a more reliable method to ensure all students get their appropriate books on time.

This year, we were disappointed that students had to wait for their books to arrive before all teachers could fully begin their courses.

Some activities and lessons teachers had planned for early in the year had to be postponed because students didn’t have the necessary textbooks. Although teachers were able to readjust their lesson plans, some with the use of online textbooks, the inconvenience prevented the first trimester from starting off smoothly.

We appreciate and understand the complexity of the logistical planning and expertise that goes into processing thousands of variable orders for hundreds of students, and we commend the Business Office and Student Store staff for their dedication to ensuring these orders. Furthermore,

we understand Follett, the distribution company, is implementing an overhaul of their previous system, promising that regularly ordered books will arrive to students by the first day of school.

However, we also contend that a mailing system does not guarantee the timely delivery of back-ordered books. Back-orders proved the most difficult process of book distribution last year, as students and teachers found that essential books were simply not in stock, even if the books were ordered well before the beginning of the school year.

In previous years, books were distributed on-site on the same day as yearbook photos so students would not have to burden themselves with multiple trips to campus before the first day of school. With this method, students received all their textbooks on time, and any issues with misordered or unavailable books could be resolved between the distribution day and the first day of school. Although we recognize this method is less streamlined than an ideal mailing system, the on-site system guarantees greater reliability because all books can be picked up at one place.

For these reasons, we urge the business office and Student Store to consider shifting back to an on-site distribution system as soon as possible if there is any indication that back-ordering may become an issue with Follett as it did last year.

AN ON-SITE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM MAY BE A BETTER ALTERNATIVE

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

PAGE

OPINIONS

19

Staff Editorial

Students should pursue new projects

I

n light of the remote learning schedule — two hours of classes a day Monday through Thursday, Friday office hours and 30 minutes of homework per class every day — many students have been left with an unfamiliar amount of free time.

With this time, many students have normalized sleep schedules, spent time with family and engaged in more recreational activities. While each of these activities are important in their own right, we’d like to propose another way to pass the time. A long-term project.

As for what kind of project to take on, we believe students should pursue

their interests. Something they enjoy.

Something that offers a monotony breaker from their daily routines. This project should also work to keep students’ minds sharp. Whether it be creative, academic or another sort of project, keeping the mind stimulated away from school should be the key role of any project. For some students that might mean mastering new cooking skills; for others, it might entail coding for hours on end.

For those affected by the alteration of many summer programs such as Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP), Science Teachers Access to Resources

at Southwestern (STARS) and Stanford Summer Session, look to approximate the activities — such as labs and on-campus classes — at these programs. For more sports-oriented Marksmen, commit the summer to learning and mastering new skills for the upcoming season.

For anybody — regardless of interests — pick up a book. There’s nothing better than reading for pleasure: John Grisham, known for his attorney-themed books, released a new book, “Camino Winds.”

And the recent Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead, is a brilliant and poignant

account of life for young AfricanAmericans in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s.

Although students may think starting a project would be unnecessarily tedious — especially after recent weeks of relative relaxation — we think a passion project would provide not only an educational supplement but also a productive passtime.

This newfound time can easily lull community members into boredom. We urge students to take the initiative and embark on a long-term project they’ve been putting off for a while.

O U R R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S Master a Skill

Read a New Book • • • •

“Camino Winds,” John Grisham “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Delia Owens “The Corrections,” Johnathan Franzen “The Nickel Boys,” Colson Whitehead

Find a Summer Program

Online courses provided by sites such as edX can offer a great introduction into a new field.

And now more than ever, sites like YouTube have tutorials on all sorts of subjects.

• • • •

Columbia Online Summer Institution Wonder Works Houston Summer@Brown Online UChicago Pathways

‘A baby pterodactyl has just hatched inside my bathroom’

I

’m only four years old the Saturday morning it happens — the morning the baby dino decides to hatch out of its shell.

In my room at the end of the hall, I’m playing quietly with my Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi action figures, waiting for what seems like forever for my mom and dad to finally wake up.

Every few seconds, I peek outside to see if their bedroom door’s open.

Nothing. They’re still asleep. Of course.

Eventually, tired of “using the force,” I decide to make a train track. But before I can get out any of the wooden rails, I hear something.

What’s that? Are my parents finally awake?

No. This sound is different. It keeps repeating over and over. It’s high-pitched too.

Chirp chirp . . . chirp chirp . . . chirp chirp.

What is that?

STUDENTS AND FACULTY

And then I remember the dinosaur egg my dad gave me the day before. We had put it in my bathroom by the sink soaking in water before he tucked me in.

After listening a bit longer, I’m sure.

My worst nightmare’s confirmed.

A baby pterodactyl has just hatched inside my bathroom, and it’s only a matter of time before it’s able to fly into my room.

Immediately, I press myself against the door and lock it. No pterodactyl’s getting in here.

Of course, right after I lock the door, I have to go . . . go to the bathroom.

Uh oh.

If I go into the bathroom now, I’ll be eaten. If I try to run to my parents, I’ll be ripped to shreds.

I have no idea what to do. My bladder’s aching horribly, and a dinosaur has invaded my bathroom.

••• I peed my pants. I’ll admit it.

I’m proud to say, at least, that I was

Around the Quad

potty-trained at four years old — but for sure there was a dino in my bathroom, when there’s a pterodactyl in your but I assumed the worst. bathroom all that training goes out the Even now during this pandemic, I window, believe me. have caught myself assuming I know most of you the worst. I, just like everyone probably thought a real else, have almost no idea pterodactyl had somehow what the future holds for this infiltrated my bathroom but country, or the entire world actually it was only one of for that matter. And I, just those rubber dinosaurs that like everyone else, have a lot hatches out of a plastic shell of questions. and then expands when you Will we go back to school in Robert Pou Editor-in-chief place it under water. My dad the fall? had taken me to Learning Will I get to play my final Express and gotten it for me the day football season? before. Not really the gift either of us had When will I get to visit college expected. campuses?

And the chirping sound, well, I don’t know, but I’ve learned that if I that was just a smoke detector that assume the worst, bad things actually do coincidentally needed new batteries. happen.

It’s amazing what fear can do to us.

So, next time you assume the worst, Because, really, it wasn’t a dinosaur don’t end up like me, peeing my pants. that made me pee my pants. It wasn’t Ask yourself if you really should be even a fake dinosaur that caused it. worried or if you are just conjuring up a It was the unknown. I didn’t know dino in your bathroom.

ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS

Q: What part of the end of the year will you miss most?

‘

I’ll miss getting to listen to my classmates and Father D’Angelo address us.

James Shiao Senior

‘

Seeing the seniors that I have made friends with not be able to partake in their end of the year traditions.

‘

Amy Pool Math Instructor

‘

Cooper Cole Sophomore

‘

Probably Final Assembly—it’s cool to see the whole class together one last time

Hayward Metcalf Sophomore

The opportunity to personally say thank you to each of my classes for allowing me to teach them this year.

It just won’t be the same on Zoom.

The ‘tunnel’ that students make for faculty and vice versa at Baccalaureate.

Jorge Correa Spanish Instructor

‘

I’m going to really miss Blue Shirt Day. It was going to be the first real transition into senior year.

Antonio Quiñones Junior

AROUND THE QUAD Compiled by Keshav Krishna

CARTOON Cooper Cole

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

PAGE

CULTURE

20

QUARANTINE

Making the best of it Students and teachers make use of their time during the quarantine by doing something they enjoy. Their lives are often too busy to take on new activites that they have an interest in at home.

NATURE Latin instructor Claire Strange spends her time gardening at home with her plants and animals.

BUILDING Constructing a monument is possible from home, as shown by second-grader Taj Clayton Jr.’s Lego Taj Mahal.

CODING “Bob,” thirdgrader Dax Kane’s robot, can be controlled with a remote after Kane built it himself at home.

EDITING Freshman Rishab Siddamshetty edits one of his basketball videos for his YouTube channel.

GAMING Even at home, junior Varun Trivedi stays in touch with 10600 Preston Rd. by building a virtual model of campus in Minecraft along wtih juniors Rikhil Manduva and Jack Davis.

GARDEN TENDING Cross country and track & field head coach John Turek cares for his garden during his time at home.

PHOTOS Courtesy Claire Strange, Varun Trivedi, John Turek, Rishab Siddamshetty, Dax Kane, Taj Clayton Jr.

SPORTS THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

Quarentine Workouts

Dartmouth Athletics

Looking at the different ways students are keeping in shape at home.

Page 22

Conversation with the three committed athletes attending Dartmouth.

Page 23

21

SPRING SPORTS

Skipping spring

With SPC, UIL and TAPPS canceling the remainder of spring sports, athletes are forced to adjust their recruitement processes.

A

fter gathering around head coach Hayward Lee, locked arm in arm with his teammates around him, senior lacrosse captain Titus McGowan left the field for his final time as a Lion — but he didn’t know it yet.

The team proudly filed into the Wynne charter bus after beating the Episcopal High School Knights by just one goal on their home turf.

Not a worry in the world could have possibly disrupted the enthusiasm these twenty-some teenage boys were experiencing together. This is what being a college campuses and experiences.” teammate is really all about.

Although this time is difficult for many recruited Seniors gathered in the back of the bus, radiating athletes, junior basketball captain Harrison Ingram has joy after the hard-fought win. found the motivation to work harder than ever before.

These were the memories that the players would “I always want to get better, and I won’t let anyone take on with them for the rest of their lives. outwork me,” Ingram said. “There are kids out there This night was soon to be the final late-night bus who are trying to pass me or catch up to me, and I have ride these seniors would ever have together. to stay on top of chasing my dreams.”

The final laughs. The final tears. The final time being all together.

Because of Ingram’s recognition as a nationally This was where it all ended. ranked player in his class, Ingram’s recruiting process ••• has remained relatively consistent.

With SPC, UIL and TAPPS, the three biggest high “I received offers from Wake Forest, Louisville school athletic conferences in Texas, canceling the and Florida State during quarantine,” Ingram said. “It remainder of the spring season, student-athletes are not hasn’t impacted my recruitment process at all to be only losing almost an entire season of play but are also honest, which is something I am very grateful for.” losing out on various recruitment opportunities.

Whether that be playing for the Lions or for his For seniors, the final season of most of their AAU team, Ingram is eager to get back to competing. athletic careers is over. Athletes across Texas are forced “A lot of people take for granted just being on to display their talents online and visit with colleges an actual court,” Ingram said. “For me, it is the best electronically. feeling in the world, and I just miss competing with my McGowan recognizes that although the current teammates and winning a ton of games. I can’t wait to circumstances make for a less get back out there.” than ideal recruiting process as a While Ingram’s recruiting has been graduating senior, his journey as relatively unaffected by the situation at I MISS THE BONDS I HAD an athlete is far from over. hand, junior Christian Shadle has lost out THE MOST. I HAVE PLAYED “My journey on the field and on many of his opportunities to stand LACROSSE WITH SOME OF the track has only just started,” out in front of college coaches.

McGowan said. “I want to excel at THESE GUYS FOR OVER “Quarantine has changed our the college level and reach my full TEN YEARS, AND WE WERE ability to actually play in front of college potential.” coaches for the foreseeable future,” DESTINED TO DO GREAT While McGowan’s original Shadle said. “I had a huge spring goals for the season have been put THINGS THIS SEASON. showcase coming up, and I was ready — SENIOR TITUS MCGOWAN to play in front of hundreds of coaches, on hold, he hopes to better himself and others around him given the but COVID-19 ruined my chances of situation at hand. doing so. All of my camps over the summer are also “My original goals were to win the state questionable because nobody knows what is going to championship, become an All-American, and earn happen with the virus.”

Team MVP,” McGowan said. “Because our lacrosse Despite losing out on many of his recruitment season is canceled, I have put my goals aside to think opportunities, Shadle has remained motivated and about the future of the team. I want to give back to the continues to train.

St. Mark’s lacrosse community and help underclassmen “My teammates and my coach are consistent about improve their skills this summer to prepare them for putting in work during this strange time,” Shadle said. next season.”

“We have team workouts for both fitness and core McGowan has stayed proactive throughout his exercises every week and are expected to do them by recruiting process in order to build the most genuine ourselves daily. The motivation for me is getting to the relationships with both coaches and players of his next level, so I am just trying to stay as fit as possible to desired schools. come back strong and impress college coaches.”

“Although this is a hindrance to my recruiting With the U.S. Soccer Development Academy process,” McGowan said, “I am trying to make the shutting down due to a lack of funding, Shadle, who best of this situation by going on virtual tours, talking was a member of the league, has been both positively to coaches, and asking former Marksmen about their and negatively affected.

‘‘

ON THE TURF Senior Titus McGowan shoots from deep after juking his defender.

“On the positive side, I am now free from my contract and am excited to play for the Lions next year and bring home another SPC title,” Shadle said. “On the negative side, my team and I have no idea what is next for us in the big picture. I just want to get back out on the field, even if it is just for training.”

For junior Kit Colson, his recruiting process has been detrimentally affected. As a track and field athlete here, he not only lost out on his junior season, but has also been unable to visit colleges.

“Not having the ability to do unofficial visits is definitely a negative when it comes to deciding what college works best for me,” Colson said. “There aren’t many benefits I would say for the circumstances we are in right now, but coaches are still doing their best to supplement these hard times with virtual tours of campuses and through Zoom calls.”

With athletes only being allowed five official visits, Colson’s final college decision could be impaired.

“Hopefully this pandemic doesn’t affect my college choice, but there is a chance it does in the long run,” Colson said. “If it stays impossible to conduct unofficial visits over the summer, then the importance of official visits will skyrocket. If more than five college teams offer me official visits, then I would have to decide which to attend without having visited the college prior due to the lack of unofficial visits.”

Above all recruitment issues, McGowan, Ingram, Shadle and Colson most of all miss the time spent with their teammates.

“I miss almost everything about the track team,” Colson said. “It pains me to say that I’ll never have a chance to run with the seniors again or win an SPC title my junior year. But more than that, our team this year was a family, and not having the ability to hang out together right now hurts a lot. I just miss being with the team.”

CHASING GOLD Junior Kit Colson pursues first place during his 200 meter race with a time of 21.76 seconds.

“

Not playing soccer for this long is really unusual.. unusual I hope we can get back on the field as soon as possible.”

Christian Shadle, Junior

BEHIND THE ARC Junior Harrison Ingram sinks a three with the crowd cheering him on.

ON THE PITCH Junior Christian Shadle squares up for a free kick during the SPC tournament.

STORY Peter Orsak, Luke Nayfa PHOTOS Courtesy of pictured students

THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

PAGE

SPORTS

22

QUARANTINE WORKOUTS

Staying fit at home

Students and teachers have maintained relatively normal workout schedules at home without having any access to gyms in the Dallas area.

J

ust six weeks ago at 10600 Preston Rd., teams had recently commenced the 2020 SPC spring season.

Coming off one of the most historically successful winter seasons the school has ever experienced, Lion’s fans were eager to see what was in store for the last season of the year.

But with the pandemic that spread across the world, the campus was forced to shut down.

Ending every spring team’s season.

The seniors’ sports year was cut short, the run for the SPC title halted and the student-athletes were forced to stay home and try to prepare for the new season.

No athlete could have possibly prepared for the lifestyle most people must endure today.

With the cancellation of the tennis season, players have begun to workout at home. Freshman Shreyan Daulat has turned to strength and conditioning coach Kevin Dilworth’s TeamBuildr program to get new workouts every weekday.

“The entire tennis team is on TeamBuildr, and coach Dilworth is in charge of that, and he gives us workouts each day,” Daulat said. “Each workout is about thirty minutes to an hour-long, and it’s a great way to stay in shape.”

According to Daulat, seniors captains Alex Piccagli and Austin Zang have made it their personal responsibility to incorporate as much fun and positivity into their at-home workouts by creating challenges for the whole team to try.

“One was by our captain, Alex Piccagli, and his challenge was to hold a plank for however long your favorite song is,” Daulat said. “The second

one was by Austin Zang, another captain, to see how many pull-ups we could do, which was also fun.”

For many spring sport athletes, a shortened year allowed for more training. Similar to Daulat, the abrupt stop to the crew team’s season has given freshman Spiros Hallax time to practice for his sophomore season.

“I’ve mainly been erging, which is the machine for rowing, to keep my cardio in shape,” Hallax said.

Staying at home has given some students the ability to workout using their own equipment.

Other students do not have workout equipment available, so Dilworth has taken the initiative to help those Marksmen stay fit. At some level, Dilworth has coached and trained almost every boy from Middle School on up to Upper School when students were on campus, so he was able to adjust to the circumstances and help train his athletes.

“I’m doing a fun fit 20-minute class on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,” Dilworth said. “It’s from 12:30 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. and the grades are sixth to eighth on Tuesday, ninth and 10th on Wednesday, and 11th and 12th on Thursdays.”

Dilworth mentioned the importance of diversifying each day’s workouts in order to get the most results.

“Every single day they’re trying to find different opportunities and different routines to do because that’s the most important thing right

STORY Luke Nayfa, Semaj Musco, Dillon Wyatt PHOTO Courtesy Mark Adame

now,” Dilworth said. “I have to make sure that you’re challenging yourself daily on a routine and not just doing the same thing over and over again.”

Junior fencer Fritz Hesse would typically use the spring season as a time to develop skills for the upcoming season in the fall; however, as with many other athletes, Hesse has found ways to improve regardless.

“I’ve been playing Beat Saber to stay fit,” Hesse said. “I practice fencing at home while my gym is closed and I can honestly say I have improved a lot more than I expected.”

Freshman Christian Youst takes a different approach than most other students when working out at home because of his ongoing journey of becoming an American Ninja Warrior.

“I have a pull-up bar at my house and some grip holds that I use to work on my grip strength,” Youst said.

Not only has Youst been able to stay in shape at home, but his success in competing to be on American Ninja Warrior has gained the attention of many of his social media followers.

“A lot of people are sending me challenges on Instagram and they’re pretty fun so I just do those whenever I feel motivated,” Youst said.

Students are not the only ones making the most of the situation. Biology teacher Mark Adame traveled to Florida where he and his son kept in shape by longboarding everyday for a week.

“The best way to get around there is by longboard, so we rode our longboards at least two to three times a day,” Adame said. “We did about five or six miles on a longboard each day.”

BIKING AWAY Biology teacher Mark Adame and his son traveled to Florida where they biked and longboarded as their main form of transportation.

Biking has always been one of Adame’s favorite ways to exercise.

28% percent of inactive Americans as of 2019

7.5

hours children spend in front of a screen

51.6% Average for regular exercise

Dr. AJ Ortega ‘93, DMD, MS (214) 613 2122 Source: hhs.gov

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THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 2020

PAGE

SPORTS

DARTMOUTH ATHLETICS

Sticking together

Seniors Paxton Scott, Carr Urschel and Billy Lockhart will continue their bond as athletes on the college level at Dartmouth.

William Aniol: Why did you choose Dartmouth?

Senior football captain Paxton Scott: I chose Dartmouth because, on my visit, the coaches were really interactive. It really seemed like they wanted me to be there. They projected a brotherhood and a family. Since you’re out in the middle of nowhere, you really get to bond with your teammates because you’re spending so much time with them.

Senior football captain Carr Urschel: Essentially, I either got rejected or waitlisted at the four big schools that I applied to, but I finally got into Dartmouth along with some smaller schools that I had already been offered from for football. But, I think that once I got rejected from Princeton, I realized that wasn’t where I wanted to go to college in the first place.

Senior crew captain Billy Lockhart: Right before school started my junior year, I went to a recruiting camp at Dartmouth. It was the first time I’d ever spent an extended amount of time rowing anywhere outside of Dallas. Once I met the coaches and got familiar with some of the guys on the team who were running the camp, I knew that was the place I wanted to go.

Peter Orsak: What about Dartmouth athletics excites you?

PS: What really excites me about their football program is their emphasis on player safety. Dartmouth head coach [Buddy] Teevens is one of the leaders for changing concussion protocol in the NFL and how practices are run. So, in practice, we don’t ever tackle.

Because I was hurt my sophomore and junior year, and Dartmouth had 21 out of 22 starters stay healthy the

23

entire year, that was a big thing for me.

CU: I visited a bunch of different teams during the season, and they didn’t have a lot of team energy.

They weren’t really hyped up to play. I think the thing that really sold me on Dartmouth is that [head] coach Teevens is just such an outstanding guy that I really don’t want to play for anybody else.

BL: I’m really excited to join the team because it’s a really competitive atmosphere, but at the same time it’s really tight-knit.

One of the things we’re doing right now is we have a team Google spreadsheet, and we all log what we do every day. Essentially, there’s a leaderboard and whoever does the most will end up winning. So, it’s all competitive and motivating, but it’s also a good way to keep everyone accountable.

WA: Urschel and Scott, what will it be like continuing to be teammates in college?

PS: Carr’s work ethic is great. He motivates me a lot to get better. Most of the time I don’t think I could get through all of coach Dilworth’s workouts if he’s not there with me motivating me and trying to push me to get better, so it’s going to be nice to have him in college.

CU: Paxton was committed going into the season, so we always kind of bantered about if we went to college together. One night, coach Lee said Dartmouth had been talking about me, and the first person I called was Paxton. We absolutely lost our minds for like four days just thinking about the possibility of playing together.

So, it’ll be pretty cool.

PO: With several graduating seniors attending Dartmouth in the fall, will you all maintain your close friendships?

PS: As soon as I committed, I got two texts from past Marksmen [now at Dartmouth] Blake Daugherty ‘18 and Seth Weprin ‘19 telling me, ‘Congratulations. We’re so excited to have you. You’re going to love it here.’

They told me that I will have a community within that community at Dartmouth.

CU: I just don’t imagine there being a world where on a small campus like Dartmouth all the St. Mark’s guys don’t see each other a lot. Obviously, it’ll be harder for Paxton and I in-season to see Billy a lot, but I think out of season we will probably all hang out a lot; same with [seniors] Henry [Exall] and Jack [Trahan].

IN UNIFORM Dartmouth football signee and wide receiver Paxton Scott (left) puts on his new uniform with his parents, ChoyLeng and Robert Scott, on his recruiting visit. Senior Carr Urschel (right), who will be joining Scott at Dartmouth, gets ready to rush the passer in a Lions game this past fall.

WA: How did St. Mark’s prepare you to play at the next level?

PS: My first year on varsity, coach Dilworth told me that he knew that I could be great, but if I wanted to be great I would have to put in the time and effort in the weight room, and that he was going to, ‘build a monster,’ in his words. He basically told me that Carr and I were going to be his lab rats, and he was going to try to develop us into the best athletes we could be.

CU: I don’t think anyone’s doing a better job than [football head] coach [Hayward] Lee in SPC right now.

He’s putting the right kids where they need to be on the field. I think [strength and conditioning] coach Dilworth is going to be the singular way that St. Mark’s gets good at sports again because I don’t think there’s any way I could have played in college without the ridiculous amount of weight training that we did over the summer.

INTERVIEW William Aniol, Peter Orsak PHOTOS Courtesy Paxton Scott, Billy Lockhart, Carr Urschel

IN ACTION Dartmouth crew signee Billy Lockhart, a senior here, competes in a rowing outing for the Lions.

Lions basketball earns #23 national ranking

by Drew Woodward, Arjun Khatti n his article “Way-Too-Early Top 25 high school basketball rankings for 2020-21,” MaxPreps ranked the Lions Basketball squad as the #23 team in the country and #1 team in Texas.

The ranking follows a season in which the Lions finished 29-4 and won their first SPC championship since 2007, going undefeated in conference play.

“I was flattered,” said head coach Greg Guiler. “It’s a goal that we have talked about as a program for a couple of years; we felt like we had the talent to be considered among some of the best in the country.”

The article reads, “Two leading scorers Colin Smith and Harrison Ingram will look to guide this group to back-to-back state titles. Expect the Lions to be the team to beat in the Lone Star State in 2020-21.” Smith, a sophomore guard, said the ranking was unexpected but he anticipates it having a positive impact on the team.

“I think it’s going to be good for us to get a target on our back, and I think we’re going to be able to handle that,” Smith said. “Because we have that number 23 in the nation ranking, I think they’re going to want to prove that they

I

can beat us, but I think that we’re going to stand our ground.”

A major challenge for next year will be replacing five seniors, including forward Andrew Laczowski, a UPenn commit who scored his 2,000th point this year, becoming the first Lions player ever to reach that mark.

Guiler states the rebuilding process won’t be easy, but he has confidence.

“For sure I’m going to miss them severely, and I know the team will as well,” Guiler said. “As far as who steps into those holes that they leave, it’ll be a group effort, but I’m confident that we’ve got some guys that will find a way to fill those big shoes.”

Last year, the team’s schedule was significantly stronger than in previous years, which allowed them to play better teams and have better competition.

Smith anticipates another competitive schedule for next year, but he says this will only add motivation to the team.

“My goal for the team would be going undefeated because that was our goal last year,” Smith said. “We just want to go undefeated to prove to everyone that we are the best team in Texas and possibly one of the best in the country.”

REMARKER ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS 10600 PRESTON RD. DALLAS, TX 75230

ON THE GRIND Sophomores Conor Duffy and Elijah Ellis prepare to run a new play. Though sports seasons have been cancelled, athletes are still finding ways to stay in shape.

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THE REMARKER • MAY 15, 15 , 2020

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A thousand words

With much more time for self-reflection, Holtberg Master Teacher Scott Hunt’s honors photography students have found many ways to express themselves through their self portrait projects. Here, we showcase some of their works.

In this selfportrait, I wanted to convey a confrontation between my private persona and my public persona using a mirror. My reflection in the mirror sort of symbolizes the public persona that I uphold for my music career and on social media, while my actual figure is placed off to the side and isn’t fully exposed to symbolize the private persona that nobody gets to see.

– junior Collin Katz

Throughout my life, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. Although I’m thankful to be so privileged and fortunate, I have still had my hard moments. This photograph, titled “fragmented” is an artistic expression of my feelings of fragmentation throughout my life. Each chapter is a change, and sometimes I feel like a completely different person. – senior Lee Schlosser

The first one with the horseshoe was just me taking inspiration from Vogue and making my first attempt at a highfashion-type shot that’s a little bit more out there.

My main focus here was that I wanted to use the shape of the horseshoe to accentuate the shadows from the face and dra w the focus of the reader to that area. – junior Jerry Zhao (far left) This second one is a more abstract self-portrait. It’s about the corruption of purity. The black paint I physically painted onto the print is supposed to represent the corruption, while the flower and I represent purity–like sin and negative things that are eating away at me.

– junior Jerry Zhao

INTERVIEWS Jonathan Yin PHOTOS Courtesy Lee Schlosser, Collin Katz, Jerry Zhao