PRIDE THE
Spring 2015 Volume 20, Issue 1 St. Mark’s School of Texas Alumni Magazine
In this issue:
The Future of Science David Dini’s First Year The New Sound of St. Mark’s: The Roosevelt Family Pipe Organ
Endless Be Your Fame: Remembering J.J. Connolly
The Future of Science at St. Mark’s In every scientist, engineer, explorer, and researcher a spark of curiosity was ignited at a young age. Before stepping onto the moon, Neil Armstrong built wind tunnels in his parents’ basement. Before his 13th birthday, Alexander Graham Bell invented a device to quickly husk wheat. Before graduating from high school, Bill Gates formed his first tech start-up. Scientific curiosity may be a power harnessed by adults, but it is a trait formed in youth.
F
or Class of 2014 Valedictorian and current
University of Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin Scholar Halbert Bai, John Mead’s sixth-grade biology class first ignited his spark. The experiment
was simple enough: examine a drop of water from the pond outside the McDermott-Green Quadrangle under the microscope. But within that single drop of water, Mr. Mead led his students on a bio-safari, revealing an intricate world beyond the range of human vision. Halbert had always enjoyed learning about science from teachers and textbooks, but at St. Mark’s, he experienced it firsthand. “Even as a sixth-grader, I was able to not only see and perform some major historical experiments but also come up with my own hypotheses that I validated or refuted in experiments that I designed on my own,” Halbert said. “My curiosity in science truly blossomed at St. Mark’s.”
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(above) Biology teacher Mark Adame leads iGEM students in a lab.
Arriving at St. Mark’s, Halbert found a science program built
Inside labs and classrooms in the Science
on experiential learning. Students don’t just study theories,
Quadrangle, learning is truly hands-on. Lower
solve equations, follow preset experiments, and read about their subjects. Teachers at St. Mark’s bring science to life.
Schoolers stare up in awe at the planetarium’s domed ceiling as Dr. Steve Balog, Cecil H. and Ida Green Master Teaching Chair, takes them on an interactive tour of the zodiac.
“The inquiry-focused curriculum prepares Marksmen for the real world,”
Middle Schoolers hold their breath as they
Halbert said. “Having the content we learn in the classroom be applied through
release meticulously crafted spaceships
hands-on experiments allowed us to learn skills we could not attain just by
made of paper and straws, hoping their small
listening to lectures or reading textbooks.”
marshmallow astronauts won’t bounce out on impact. And Upper Schoolers use centrifuges in college-level labs to identify missing ions.
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Leading the sciences at St. Mark’s as Stephen M.
After poring through scientific literature and
Seay ’68 Science Department Chair, Fletch Carron
journals, the team decided to research lung cancer
has great respect for the School’s long history of
and the possibility of creating a biosensor for the
scientific education. “Ever since the construction
disease. Meeting almost daily over the summer of
of the McDermott-Green Quadgrangle, St. Mark’s
2013, Halbert and the 14 other iGEM Team members
served as a beacon for students interested in the
designed gene circuits and refined their experiment
sciences and an incubator for their passions.”
methods for implementation. At the end of the
In the same year that the United States first put a
around the world and, out of the 11 special prizes
man in space, St. Mark’s cemented its dedication to
available, they received the Safety Commendation
the sciences with the opening of the McDermott-
Award—an impressive feat for a first-time team.
(below) Ken Owens ’89 leads an explosive demonstration.
season, they competed against 55 other teams from
Green Science & Mathematics Quadrangle. Built in 1961 with support from the founders of Texas
But the team wasn’t satisfied with simply competing.
Instruments, the building elevated St. Mark’s to the
After all, Marksmen are taught that with knowledge
national stage and led TIME magazine to declare
and privilege comes a responsibility to serve. During
that the School was the “best-equipped day school
their intensive summer of research, the iGEM
in the country.” More than half a century later,
Team partnered with the Brendan Court Summer
scientific curiosity continues to flourish.
Enrichment Program and Jubilee Center to teach local students about the consequences of smoking
In true Marksman fashion, learning doesn’t stop
as related to their lung cancer research, while also
when the school day ends. It’s not unusual to walk
introducing basic concepts of genetic engineering.
through the Science Quadrangle long after the campus has emptied to find both students and teachers hard at work. Halbert was one of those students, attending biology club meetings after school. In the spring of his junior year, Halbert
“I hope that the St. Mark’s science teams will focus not only on solving the larger problems,” Halbert said, “but also strive to make positive contributions in the here and now.”
decided to expand the club beyond a simple interest group. With input from biology teacher Mark Adame, Halbert formed the St. Mark’s iGEM Team. Through participation in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, the iGEM Team turned a group of students into full-fledged researchers. As Halbert explains, “We had already done most of the basic biotechnology techniques in club meetings, so we thought that iGEM was a wonderful way to put our knowledge into action.”
St. Mark’s School of Texas
Spring 2015 | Features
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Features Fifty years ago, St. Mark’s built the Quadrangle to inspire a new generation of thinkers and explorers. This generation included a young Hillcrest High School student who, after seeing St. Mark’s new state-of-the-art science center, asked his parents if he could transfer to 10600 Preston Road. His parents agreed and, after graduating with the Class of 1964, Steve Winn went on to found a tremendously successful software business. Now, Steve wants to provide inspiration to the next generation of Marksmen. “St. Mark’s is truly unique,” Steve said at a (above) Fletch Carron, Stephen M. Seay ’68 Science Department Chair, teaches an Upper School physics class.
meeting of the St. Mark’s faculty and staff on October 28, 2014. “It’s an incubator that turns boys’ dreams into a man’s delight. Our greatest leaders, scientists, mathematicians, and the people who will change the world in a positive manner come from this place.” In front of the very teachers who will shape those Marksmen, Steve announced that the Winn Family Foundation is committing $10,000,000 to serve as the catalyst for a new state-of-the-art science center. The future Winn Family Science Center will once again put St. Mark’s at the forefront of science education in America.
After walking across the stage at Commencement, Halbert
While the new Science Center will usher in an
headed north to Philadelphia and the University of
exciting chapter in St. Mark’s history, the Winns
Pennsylvania, where he is pursuing science and business as a prestigious Benjamin Franklin Scholar. Just as Halbert is
emphasize that a building is just a building. The real investment being made is in the teachers who take advantage of the classrooms, labs, and
excited to explore all of the possibilities ahead of him, he
equipment to shape the thinkers and leaders
remains convinced that St. Mark’s will lead the future of
of tomorrow. This fact was underscored by
science education.
the Winns’ decision to announce their gift in a special meeting with the faculty.
There are others who share in this vision for the future and understand that to keep up with the ever-evolving world of science, commitment is needed.
“You faculty are the custodians of our dreamers,”
The McDermott-Green Science Quadrangle was once on the cutting edge
Steve said during the announcement. “I’ve seen
of education, and incremental improvements have helped St. Mark’s keep
what you are capable of in the past 50 years.
pace with the times. But now a major leap forward is needed to take science
Now it’s time to think about the next 50 years
education from good to great.
and the young dreamers who will delight us by graduating from this institution and change our future forever.”
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St. Mark’s School of Texas
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“Our greatest leaders, scientists, mathematicians, and the people who will change the world in a positive —Steve Winn ’64 manner come from this place.”
Board of Trustees President Taylor Wilson ’81, Chris Winn ’99, Melinda and Steve Winn ’64, and Eugene McDermott Headmaster David Dini.
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Today, we can already see the beginning
But his father worked hard with him late into the
of the next generation of dreamers in
nights and, by fifth grade, Halbert entered an
Halbert Bai. Arriving in Middle School,
advanced English class. His homeroom teacher,
it became clear that Halbert excelled in science. But as St. Mark’s aims to educate the whole boy, Halbert’s teachers encouraged him to explore his passions and curiosities across every discipline. This was an experience and a challenge that the young boy had not found at his previous schools.
Mrs. Irving, encouraged Halbert to apply to St. Mark’s, but she soon became ill with breast cancer. On her deathbed, she wrote Halbert’s St. Mark’s recommendation. At 10600 Preston Road, Halbert found a completely new kind of learning. While Halbert proved himself as an excellent science student, he found his artistic pursuits to be
Halbert’s journey to St. Mark’s was anything but typical. His father, who
equally rewarding.
escaped Communist China on a scholarship, raised Halbert alone, working
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long hours at a small medical clinic just to make ends meet. Their early
In the 2014 Marksmen yearbook’s “Most Likely
life together was simple, in a small home that contained little more than a
To…” page, the senior class voted Halbert “Most
refrigerator, a stove, and a single mattress. Halbert’s English was so poor that
Likely to Teach Photography.” On campus,
in first grade he was placed in an ESL class at Plano’s Daffron Elementary
Halbert spent almost as much time in the
School. He fondly remembered how he “thought the word and was a letter
photography lab as he did in the biology lab.
that followed y, and came before z, as in w, x, y, and, z.”
During his Upper School career, Halbert served
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as the photography editor and editor-in-chief of
St. Mark’s. While his teachers saw the incredible
The Marque literary magazine, was a member of
potential in this science student, Halbert was
St. Mark’s top-ranked photography program, was
encouraged to embrace an interdisciplinary
named a Texas Imagemaker, and was a winner in
education. In the end, this approach paid off as
the national YoungArts competition.
Halbert picked up concepts and lessons from other fields that he then applied directly back to science.
When photography instructor Scott Hunt, Arnold E. Holtberg Master Teaching Chair, remembered
Now the School looks forward to the next
Halbert in the 2014 Marksmen yearbook, he
generation of students who will embrace the
made it clear how Halbert’s scientific passions
sciences as part of their education and ultimately
crossed over to the arts: “Halbert has a passion for
shape the future. In his commencement address to
researching and finding out the latest technological
the Class of 2010, Silicon Valley venture capitalist
advances—looking at what other contemporary
Steve Jurvetson ’85 told students that “we are
photographers are doing.”
entering an intellectual renaissance, interwoven across the sciences. Consider your destiny on this
Halbert quickly found his pursuits into the artistic
planet as something grand. Change the world for
world not as diversion or recreation, but as solid
the better.”
building blocks on which to grow his academic education.
Thanks to the vision of the Winn Family, St. Mark’s stands ready to prepare its students for
“My work in the arts provided challenges and opportunities that I could not find in the academic classroom,” he said. “The skills I learned in the photography lab have given me a different set of mental tools to approach complex problems.” By branching out into so many areas with ambition and success, Halbert has truly embodied the interdisciplinary ideal that is at the core of
St. Mark’s School of Texas
this renaissance.
(below) Halbert posing with his camera for a yearbook article.
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The Future of Science | The New Sound of St. Mark’s | Remembering a Legend