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Cum Laude

Looking into the routines and memories of seniors inducted into the prestigious society. Page 13

In brief

ALUMNI AWARD Victor Vescovo ‘84 was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Award Committee in honor of his accomplishment of climbing to the highest altitude on every continent and his work mapping the bottom of all five ocean basins. While the recipient of the award was decided in 2019 and was due to be awarded in April 2020, the ceremony was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ANNUAL AUCTION Celebrate St. Mark’s, an annual auction, took place April 23. According to Jennifer Applbaum, co-chair of the auction, over $230,000 was raised, which will be divided between the Frank Jordan Wilderness Fund, the St. Mark’s Fund and Great Hall renovations. The theme for the silent auction was “The Great Outdoors” in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the wilderness program. Celebrate St. Mark’s was live streamed from inside the Great Hall due to COVID-19 restrictions. Additionally, “party-at-home” packages with a variety of food and snacks were delivered to ticket holders to enjoy while they watched the livestream.

QUIZ BOWL Two Marksmen placed at the Individual Player National Championship Tournament (IPNCAT) April 11. Senior Ned Tagtmeier earned third place and freshman Aditya Shivaswamy earned seventh place. Tagtmeier competed in eight rounds, and afterwards received recognition for the best performance in the following categories: literature, social science, popular culture and sports. Tagtmeier and the academic team are preparing for their upcoming team-based national tournaments. Tagtmeier plans to continue Quiz Bowl at the University of Chicago.

ALUMNI SERVICE MEDAL

David Sammons ‘76 was awarded the Alumni Service Medal for his contributions to the school, including chapel talks. The Alumni Service medal is given in recognition of alumni who go above and beyond when they serve the school and is voted on annually by the Alumni Awards Committee.

CHAPEL COUNCIL

Juniors Abhi Jain and Benjamin Gravel are the co-chairs of next year’s Chapel Council. Their roles, along with other students on the council, is to be involved with the spiritual health of the community and to assist and advise Rev. Stephen Arbogast in leading chapel services. The council is optimistic that there will be in-person chapel services next year.

For five decades

With its 50th anniversary on the horizon, the annual Pecos Wilderness trips continues its march of excellence.

Sweat drips down a student’s face. He has been hiking for hours with a 50 pound load on his back. As exhaustion starts to kick in, making it to the next campsite is his only goal. He puts his head down and continues, step by step. Then, as the group stops to take a break, he looks up, seeing miles of trees, a waterfall and his friend chugging iodized water.

Forgetting all about the struggles that he was going through, he marvels at the beauty of nature. He realizes that he is somewhere special. Somewhere historic. Somewhere Marksmen have gone for 50 years.

This summer will be the 50th anniversary of the trip. According to Eugene McDermott Headmaster David Dini, the experience sets boys on the path to manhood and teaches them to be outdoorsmen, to rely on their peers and to develop their leadership skills. He also sees it as an important transition to high school.

“The Pecos is a rite of passage for incoming freshmen and a graduation requirement,” Dini said. “It’s part of the experience that every boy goes through.” 50 years ago, when a group of Marksmen embarked on a hiking expedition through Big Bend National Park, they initiated the tradition of going on wilderness trips—a significant part of the school’s culture. The wilderness program was established under Headmaster John T. Whatley, who moved the location to the Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico and made it mandatory for all ninth graders. Now, Dini can hardly imagine an authentic school experience without the Pecos.

“The Pecos in so many ways is a part of the St. Mark’s journey,” Dini said. “It’s tied to the fundamental values and ideals that we set forth in the mission of this school. It develops a sense of connectedness with your classmates and the people around you. You also learn interdependence, teamwork and shared responsibility.”

From moving the location to the Pecos wilderness to a plethora of small additions to the camping experience, the trip has undergone many changes. Mark Sullivan, former wilderness program director and director of physical and experiential education, has led the program through many of these.

“Occasionally, [we] get technology upgrades,” Sullivan said. “Backpacks are lighter than they were in the 80’s. Our menu is different than it was in the 80’s. We’ve just streamlined a bunch of different things.”

Many alumni recall their own Pecos Wilderness trips, and, despite the slight differences between the years, it has remained something all alumni have in common.

“The core of the trip is almost identical,” Sullivan said. “I would say the experience that you had on your Pecos trip is fundamentally

AT THE TOP Members of the Class of 2021 summit the peak of the mountain in August 2017.

the same as a kid that would have gone in my first year in 1986.”

Wilderness Program Director Cameron Hillier ‘13 will take the reins from Sullivan this summer in planning and organizing trips. Sullivan feels confident in Hillier’s wilderness experience.

“I think it’s going to be a nice shot in the arm for the program to have younger leadership, and I’m looking forward to being able to help him and support him in any way that I can,” Sullivan said. “I’m also looking forward to the program taking on the life of a younger, more vibrant personality, and I think we’ve hired the right guy for that.

Sullivan is confident in Hillier’s capability in leading the program because he trip is as safe as possible for the students. actually went on the Pecos as a student here. He plans on partnering with the medical

“Typically, we’ve given up the Wilderness advisory board to ensure the safety of all Program to a new hire that has some Marksmen that go on the trip. At the same experience, but they’re new to the school,” time, he wants to keep the core of the trip Sullivan said. “Whereas Mr. Hillier is an alum intact. and actually went on the Pecos.” “It’s important that we

The trip had a big impact on Hillier, keep so much of the trip sparking his love for nature and hiking. He the same,” Hillier said. enjoyed it so much that he went on the trip “For 50 years, Marksmen many more times after his freshman year. have done this trip. It’s

“For me it was a phenomenal something that we all experience,” Cameron have in common, which is Hillier said. “As a student, Hillier really special. We continue it really cemented in my Wilderness Program to make the trip safer and mind the importance Director safer by partnering with of taking care of the paramedics.” outdoors and the environment Hillier has noticed as well as just really striking many students’ a passion for being outside. enthusiasm about the I went back on the Pecos seven more times Pecos, and the school after that.” is considering offering

Because of the uncertainty surrounding more optional wilderness COVID-19, Dini and Hillier needed to finalize opportunities in the future plans for the summer. for upperclassmen.

Only the current freshman will go on the “We are hoping to trip this summer. They will be on campus expand the wilderness Aug. 2 for orientation, and their trip is program to offer guys opportunities past scheduled to span from Aug. 3 to Aug. 11. the Pecos,” Hillier said. “If that really After careful consideration, Dini and Hillier sparks interest, maybe we will offer trips for decided to organize two trips during the upperclassmen.” summer of 2022. For Hillier, the experience is much

“We started thinking early in the school more than a graduation requirement. To year about how we resume the Pecos him, the brotherhood and camaraderie built experience this summer,” Dini said. “We throughout the trip represents a transition didn’t know how the COVID situation into manhood. would unfold. Because the class of 2024 “It’s a challenging trip,” Hillier said. “It’s missed the trip last summer, we were not just a shared experience, it’s a shared thinking about how we would get back on hardship that we overcome together. And schedule. We knew that we would have the way we overcome it is by leaning on one to have a double trip at some point, and another for help. We build on each other’s it became apparent to us for a variety of strengths to get through the trip, which is reasons that we only wanted to do one trip exactly what high school is all about.” this summer, and two next summer.”

With all of these trips on the horizon, Hillier’s first priority is making sure that the

IN THE WILD Former Marksmen check their map on the trail during the school’s yearly trip to Pecos, NM.

By the

numbers more than... 4500

students gone on Pecos

500

sherpas served on Pecos

65

freshman wilderness trips taken

STORY Shreyan Daulat, Nikhil Dattatreya PHOTOS Courtesy Dave Carden

The timeline

1971 1972

School’s first wilderness trip at Big Bend National Park. The Lutkin family oversaw the early wilderness trips. Headmaster John T. Whatley moved the trip’s location to Pecos, NM. A few years later, the trip’s location changed again to Colorado.

2022

Class of 2025 and 2026 will go on a double Pecos trip next summer.

2021

Class of 2024 will go on their Pecos trip in August. Cameron Hillier is the new program director.

1985

Athletic trainer Doc Browning was hired to lead the program. He oversaw the move of the trip back to New Mexic from Colorado.

2009

Nick Sberna became the new director of the program.

1988

Former band director David Pittman was named director of the program.

2000

Associate Headmaster John Ashton, Arnold E. Holtberg Master Teaching Chair Scott Hunt, science instructor John Mead and former science instructor Michael Heald were apponted as the co-directors of the Wilderness Program.

1993

Mark Sullivan, director of physical and experiential education, took over the program.

1998

The school began bringing medics and radios on the trip.

CUM LAUDE Going out with a bang

At the annual Cum Laude Society Induction, 20 seniors were recognized as being at the top of their class in academic excellence in the Upper School. We decided to take a look into the habits, rituals and memories of the seniors who underwent the rigorous journey to this achievement.

Students interviewed include seniors Varun Trivedi, Sai Thirunagari, Vatsal Vemuri, Luke Piazza, Rishi Mohan, Robert Pou, Tim Weigman, Sid Sinha and Matthew Ho.

FINAL REMARKS This year’s Cum Laude Society inductees sit in the Great Hall as Robert Kaplan, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, offers guidance.

Shreyan Daulat: What was your most challenging Upper School class? Varun Trivedi: I’d say that the most challenging Upper School class that I’ve taken is AP English Language & Composition. That being said, it’s also one of the classes that I’ve learned the most from—I definitely learned a lot stylistically and mechanically from that class. Sai Thirunagari: AP Calculus BC has been my most challenging Upper School class, but I’ve also enjoyed it a lot. Wrapping my head around the unfamiliar calculus concepts definitely takes a lot of studying, but it has also helped me understand many concepts from my other classes in high school, like physics and economics. Vatsal Vemuri: The most challenging upper school class I’ve taken is AP Physics C in my senior year. Many of the concepts just did not click immediately like they have in other subjects.

SD: What is the worst grade that you have received, and what led to that? Luke Piazza: I once got a 69 on a history test because I didn’t read the part in the instructions that said, “Justify the historical significance of your answer,” which was minus one point on every single question on the test. If I had, I would have had a 95. Tough luck. Rishi Mohan: I’ve probably received a good amount of zeros on homework assignments because they were late or incomplete or something, but the worst major grade I received was a D+ on one of Ms. Sutcliffe’s [former teacher J.T. Sutcliffe] math tests. I only studied the stuff I knew while avoiding studying the stuff I actually needed to learn. VV: The worst grade I received was a 54 on an 11th grade physics test about torque and rotation. It was a result of a combination of things, namely lack of understanding in class or studying outside of class, along with a plethora of major assignments that week.

SD: Do you listen to music while working? If so, what is your favorite genre for studying? ST: I listen to a lot of music while doing homework—mainly pop or rock while I do math or complete assignments. My favorite artists to listen to right now are Kanye West, One Direction and The Eagles. When I’m reading or studying, however, I usually turn off the music because the lyrics can distract me. Robert Pou: I listen to music as long as I’m not doing any reading or writing. I normally listen to country music. VT: Although I don’t often listen to music while studying, recently I’ve found myself enjoying Machine Gun Kelly’s newest album, Tickets to My Downfall while working on large projects for hours at a time. SD: What time do you usually start your work when you get home? Tim Weigman: It really depends, but I usually start my work as soon as I get home and eat dinner. That could be anywhere from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. based on my sports schedule or any other extracurriculars I’m involved in. VV: During sports seasons, I usually don’t start working until around 9 p.m. Otherwise, I start at around 6 p.m.

SD: What time do you go to bed on an average school night? Sid Sinha: In general, I start winding down around midnight. Part of that routine for me is packing my bag for sports the next day, making sure all my papers are in place and charging all my devices. Once all of that is in order, I get to bed by around 12:30 a.m. ST: I try to wind things down around 10 p.m. so that I can fall asleep by 10:30 p.m. because I like to wake up early to exercise and shower before school. LP: I jump around on my sleep schedule a lot, so I don’t have a normal time I really go to bed at. On average, I would say I go to bed at 11:00, but I’ve consistently gone to bed anywhere from 9:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. over the years.

SD: How long do you spend on homework a night on average? VT: There’s no definite answer for this. Sometimes, I find myself with only 30 minutes of work because I’ve gotten everything done earlier. Usually, I’m probably at approximately one to two hours of homework a night this year (last year it was likely three to four hours). Then, I usually work for a couple more hours on projects, extracurriculars, or whatever else might be coming up. On really bad nights, I’ve worked for more than seven to eight hours, though these don’t happen too often. Matthew Ho: It widely fluctuates between days. An average amount of homework in past years would be around four hours. Now, with the new schedule, it is around two to three hours.

Cum Laude Inductees

For their academic achievement and upstanding conduct, the following seniors were inducted into the school’s Cum Laude Society. Jordan Gaines Matthew Ho Mustafa Latif Henry McElhaney Rishi Mohan Luke Piazza Robert Pou Sarbik Saha Siddhartha Sinha Ned Tagtmeier Saivishnu Thirunagari Varun Trivedi Sivakrishna Uppalapati Vatsal Vemuri Benny Wang Timothy Weigman Shiv Yajnik David Yang Maxwell Wu Charlie Zhang

Marksmen Ball to take place in modified state

by Nolan Marcus

The Marksmen Ball, a senior-only dance held at the end of each year, will be relocated and reorganized to accommodate COVID-19 guidelines. The dance will take place May 22 from 7 p.m to 11:30 p.m.

The dance’s location has been moved to the Perot Quadrangle to abide by COVID-19 regulations.

“A normal Marksmen Ball would take place at Belo Mansion, which is down in the Arts District next to The Nasher Center,” Senior Class co-sponsor Joe Milliet said. “However, this year it will be on the quadrangle.”

The night will still start out with socialization between the attendees and pictures with the seniors, their parents and dates. Pictures will be taken in the commons one-by-one to avoid breaking social distancing rules.

“There will still be the first 45 minutes, where the kids arrive and go take pictures in the commons,” Milliet said.

Following the pictures, the seniors are scheduled to participate in the customary mother-son dance.

“Instead of doing the video next, they are going to do the mother-son dance while the photographers are still present,” Milliet said. “So now it goes photos and visiting, then the mother-son dance.”

Following dinner, yearbook adviser Ray Westbrook and his yearbook staff will present the yearbook to the seniors and announce the book’s dedicatee. The Senior Class nominates three faculty or staff members to honor.

“The Senior Class, in a senior meeting, nominates and votes on whom they want to dedicate the yearbook to,” Westbrook said.

Like many other faculty members and administrators around campus, Milliet assigns a great deal of importance to the dedication of the Marksmen.

“The presentation with the yearbook and the dedicatee is a big deal,” Milliet said. “It’s a big honor. It’s a surprise— they don’t tell them until everyone finds out.”

After the presentation, the attendees will be shown a video as a recap for the year. Since the event will be held outside this year, the showing of the video has been rescheduled to a darker time of the evening.

“You can’t do the video first because it’s an outdoor screening,” Milliet said. “That’s why the mother-son dance and the video have switched places.”

Once the video ends, the parents will leave campus to allow the further proceedings to continue.

“After the parents leave, the boys and their dates will go into the Great Hall and have their dance,” Millet said. STORY Will Pechersky, Shreyan Daulat PHOTOS Courtesy Dave Carden

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May 21, 2021