St. Mark's School of Texas

St. Mark's School of Texas
Courage and Honor
Address
10600 Preston Road Dallas, Texas, 75230 United States
Coordinates	32°53′25″N 96°48′03″W / 32.890363°N 96.800762°W / 32.890363; -96.800762
Information
Type	Private, Day, College-prep
Religious affiliation(s)	Non-sectarian Episcopal (historically)
Established	1906
Sister school	The Hockaday School
Headmaster	David W. Dini
Faculty	125
Grades	1–12
Gender	Boys
Number of students	845
Campus	40 acres (160,000 m2)
Athletics conference	SPC
Sports	17 sports teams
Mascot	Lion
Nickname	Lions
Tuition	$22,627 - $28,149
Website	www.smtexas.org

The St. Mark's School of Texas is a nonsectarian preparatory day school for boys located in Dallas, Texas, USA. The School offers grades 1–12.

History

St. Mark's developed from three preceding private schools: Terrill School (1906–1944), Texas Country Day School (1933–1950), and The Cathedral School (1944–1950). The school traces its earliest history to Mr. Terrill's school, which is considered the city's first effort to create a private school that could rival its East Coast counterparts. The Terrill School served as a base for the foundation of the Episcopal-associated Cathedral School, which then merged with the nonsectarian Texas Country Day.

The St. Mark's founders decided to make the school nonsectarian, with nondenominational Chapel services led by an ordained Episcopalian Chaplain. The school officially opened as St. Mark's School of Texas in 1953. The Hockaday School for Girls, founded in 1913, became the sister school to St. Mark's.

The school today

On its 40 acre-campus is an array of buildings, most of which are named after well-known Dallas families. Texas Instruments' co-founders Cecil H. Green and Eugene McDermott donated a math and science quadrangle, the main library, the greenhouse, the planetarium and the observatory.^[1] Shortly after those buildings' completion in the 1960s, Time magazine called St. Mark's the "best-equipped day school in the country."

In more recent years, the natatorium was named in honor of Ralph Rogers;^[2] the Lamar Hunt family donated a football stadium, and Tom Hicks funded a new gymnasium. The Roosevelt family contributed a carillon in 2005 and a pipe organ in 2013.^[3]

Spearheaded by a $10 million donation from the family of Harlan Crow,^[4] the Centennial Project raised over $110 million when it ended in June 2013. The Project led to 11 endowed teaching chairs as well two new state-of-the-art academic buildings: Centennial Hall, housing the Math, English, History, and Administrative Departments; and the Robert K. Hoffman '65 Center, housing the Language, Debate, Journalism, and College Counseling programs, in addition to the Student Store and Senior Lounge.^[5]

As of 2014, the school's overall endowment was over $100 million ^[6]

Academics

Its 849 students are spread across first through twelfth grade, and the overall student/faculty ratio is 8:1. Of more than 120 faculty and administrative members, 92 have advanced degrees, including nine with doctorates. More than 30 faculty members have been at the School 20 years or more. There are seventeen endowed chairs for teaching and administration (e.g., for the headmaster).^[7]

Over half the class of 2015 was recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, with 29 boys named as Semi-finalists and 19 boys being named commended scholars.^[8] This recognition is based on the results of a single test (the PSAT), with 0.5% of the country's rising seniors being named semifinalists. Scores of commended students were in the top 2% in the state. Over the past 5 years, St. Mark's has had a higher percentage of seniors being named Semi-Finalists (28.4%) than any other school in the Dallas-Ft. Worth region.^[9] The median SAT for seniors in 2013 was 2170 on a 2400 point scale. Seven St. Marks seniors have been named Presidential Scholars by the Presidential Scholars Program since 2003.^[10] In 2013, a student also won the Nestle Very Best in Youth Award, one of 18 winners from around the country.^[11]

While many graduates stay in Texas, many also matriculate around the country. The Wall Street Journal ranked American high schools based on their sending graduates to 8 selective universities (primarily on the east coast); St. Mark's was the highest ranked Texas school in that imperfect assessment ^[12][13] Multiple other surveys also rank St. Mark's as the top private school in the state and among the best in the country.^[14][15][15] While presumably pleased by these rankings, St. Mark's administrators have repeatedly argued that no single ranking can capture a school's excellence or its fit with any particular student.

Athletics

St. Mark's organizes 17 varsity sports teams that compete against similarly-sized private schools in the Southwest Preparatory Conference.^[16]

As of 2014, Swimming has won 18 conference titles in 20 years, Wrestling has won 15 titles in 17 years and Track and Field has won 9 titles in 11 years. Lacrosse, Crew, and Water Polo have each won state championships since 2010.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Fifteen alumni have gone on to play college lacrosse since 2001. Twenty three other alumni have run college track or cross-country since 1989, while a total of eighty-one St. Mark's graduates have gone on to play NCAA football after graduation.^[21] The football players include Sam Acho '07, Emmanuel Acho '08, and Kalen Thornton '00, all of whom went on to play in the National Football League—the Acho brothers are currently linebackers on different NFL teams.^[22] Most recently, Ty Montgomery '11 was named to multiple All American teams in 2013 and 2014 while playing wide receiver and returning kicks for Stanford.^[23][23] Over the past several years, about 10% of St. Mark's graduates signed to play intercollegiate sports in college.^[24]

Extracurricular activities

St. Mark's offers 42 Upper School clubs and academic teams for the 80 to 90 boys per graduating class.[13] This extracurricular activity has led to significant external recognition.^[25]

The school newspaper and literary magazine won 2015 Gold Crowns, the highest award given by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.^[26][27][28] In that year, only 11 newspapers, 13 yearbooks, and 16 magazines won Gold Crowns from around the country. This was the 12th straight Gold Crown for the newspaper, and third straight for the magazine.The yearbook won a Silver Crown after having won 6 straight Gold Crowns until this year.^[29][30][31] A St. Mark's senior was named journalist of the year in the state of Texas in 2013, 2014, and 2015 by the National Scholastic Press Association. These three winners then went on to the national journalism competition, finishing 2nd in 2013 and 3rd in 2014, with the 2015 competition coming up.^[32]

The debate team has won three national titles.^[33] The school itself annually hosts one of the most prestigious high school debate tournaments in the country, The Heart of Texas Invitational.

The school's photography program has been named best in state by the Association of Texas Photography Instructors for eight consecutive years (2007–2014).^[34]

A middle schooler (Sai Gunturi '07) won the 2003 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs are probably the most famous alumni musicians; while in high school, they created a band called The Marksmen. The founder of Texas Monthly and a co-founder of the National Lampoon both attended St. Mark's. Prominent alumni actors include Tommy Lee Jones and Luke Wilson, both of whom were better known as athletes than actors when in school.^[35][36]

The avidity with which students pursue extracurricular activities is mocked in the film Rushmore, which was co-written by Owen Wilson, who himself was asked to leave the school prior to graduation. Rushmore was set at a fictional cross between St. Mark's and Houston's St. John's School, the alma mater of the other cowriter and director, Wes Anderson. The film features a protagonist who participates in dozens of clubs and activities.^[37]

The local press has long written about ways in which St. Mark's blends in and differs from the rest of Dallas.^[38][39]

Notable alumni

References

External links

• St. Mark's School of Texas website

Boys' schools in Texas Public boys' schools Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy (Dallas) Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men (Houston) Private boys' schools Cathedral High School (El Paso) Central Catholic Marianist High School (San Antonio) Cistercian Preparatory School (Irving) Holy Cross of San Antonio (San Antonio, 6-8 boys only, 9-12 coed) Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas (Dallas) St. Mark's School (Dallas) The Regis School of the Sacred Heart (Houston) St. Thomas High School (Houston) Strake Jesuit College Preparatory (Houston)

Southwest Preparatory Conference All Saints' Episcopal School (Fort Worth, Texas) Casady School Cistercian Preparatory School Episcopal School of Dallas Episcopal High School Fort Worth Country Day School Greenhill School Hockaday School Holland Hall Houston Christian High School John Cooper School Kinkaid School Oakridge St. Mary's Hall St. Andrew's Episcopal School St. John's School St. Mark's School St. Stephen's Episcopal School Trinity Valley School