A Message from the Assistant Head of Middle School

A Message From the Assistant head of Middle School

The journey of discovering "our best self"

Ask most adults to describe their middle school adolescent years, and you will likely get a wry smile and a head shake.

These years are often characterized as a roller coaster, or perhaps a perfect storm of changes and transitions. Physical changes, emotional swings, hormones, and friendships that can change by the hour. I can certainly speak from personal experience, parenting a child during these years can often resemble a full contact sport. Ouch! Exhilarating highs, turbulent twists and turns, and detours that often tripped us up. And sometimes all of this in one day! Ha!

At Saint Mary’s Hall, we see the Middle School journey as a unique learning opportunity for every child. Success in life, especially in Middle School, is less about what we achieve, and more about what we overcome. We will experience learning opportunities, not necessarily focused on success or failure, but rather opportunities to discover through trial and sometimes error, what we refer to as “our best self.” We discover that every day we make behavior choices that allow us to be our best self, or sometimes, choices that don’t reflect our best self.

At our school, every child will have opportunities to uncover their unique talents, express their personal values, and begin to create a sense of purpose to guide them in their life journey. We soon discover that when we choose to express our best self, we can make a positive impact not only on our lives, but also on the lives of our classmates, teachers, families, and community. We discover that our choices and positive behaviors are contagious, and can create a positive culture of kindness and respect that permeates through our entire school community.

Each student at SMH has a unique opportunity to set a positive example that makes a difference. An opportunity to learn and grow, to focus on being our best, and bringing out the best in others. Cheers to this journey!

Sincerely,
Mike Mayberry
Assistant Head of Middle School and Dean of Students

All-School

SMH Celebrates National Day on Writing

Saint Mary’s Hall celebrated their 5^th annual National Day On Writing celebration sponsored by the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE).

The SMH theme was “Writing Through Time.” Students from kindergarten through Upper School explored the evolution of writing over time. Students wrote pictographs on prehistoric cave walls and created hieroglyphics in clay tablets. Other students tried their hands with the printing press as they set type to print their names or messages. NEHS students, as well as teacher volunteers, typed on-demand poems and letters on manual typewriters. Many students enjoyed moving into the modern era, expressing their thoughts using emoji’s, hashtags, and tweets. A now traditional favorite was the calligraphy table where students learned the art of calligraphy and letter making. Many students enjoyed the print-on-demand station in which they were able to create online books as well as ready-made books to create their own stories, graphic novels, and cartoons. SMH Upper School students were excited to have San Antonio Express News columnist Cary Clack visit with them about how journalism has changed over time. It was a wonderful day to celebrate writing in all its forms and historical periods.

AugustHeart Free Heart Screening

AugustHeart will be hosting a FREE heart screening on Saturday, November 6, beginning at 10am. If you know students or families who are interested, please feel free to share the information with them.

What: AugustHeart FREE Heart Screening
When: Saturday, November 6, 10am
Who: Open to teens 13—18 years old
Where: Piper Bass Student Center (12002 Jones Maltsberger)
Registration: Please Pre-Register at https://augustheart.eventbrite.com

Mental Health Advocate and TEDx Speaker to Visit Saint Mary's Hall

Mark Henick, the mental health advocate and strategist behind the viral TEDx talk, Why We Choose Suicide, will address parents at Saint Mary’s Hall on Thursday, November 4, from 12pm-12:45pm in the Remmert Theater. He will lead an open, educational discussion on mental health, adolescence, and his lived experience. Light refreshments will be served.

Click here to read more about Mark Henick.

Upper School

SMH Student Achieves Perfect AP Test Score

Nicholas Campos ‘22 was one of only six students in the world to earn a perfect score on the AP U.S. History Exam.

KENS 5 visited campus last week to interview Nicholas and Upper School Social Studies Teacher Mark Remington. Read about Nicholas’ accomplishment. Watch the KENS 5 coverage.

Middle School

NJHS Halloween Challenge

This week, Form 8 students took on a National Junior Honor Society (NJHS)-sponsored challenge – a Halloween-themed door decoration contest!

Form 6 and 7 students will vote on their favorite doors, and the winning homeroom will receive the NJHS Spirit Stick. The students had a great time working on their doors. Great work, Form 8!

Mr. Mayberry’s Dean’s List for Kindness and Respect

The following people received nominations this week for the Middle School Dean’s List for Kindness and Respect.

Reese Arrington ‘27
Ryan Arrington ‘27
Verraj Bajai ‘28
Andrew Bean ‘28
Lucille Bell ‘26
Edward Briggs ‘26
Hadley Bunch ‘27
Cecilia Canseco ‘26
Owen Colwell ‘27
Madison Golden ‘26
Charlotte Holmgreen ‘27
Meryl Jones ‘27
Axel Morgan ‘26
Renzo Morrill ‘28
Eloise Oliver ‘28
Meri Rabke ‘27
Eshan Somani ‘28
Abi Sorenson ‘26
Katherine Tubb ‘26
Mellie Urban ‘27
Addie Rowland ‘26
Bo Womack ‘28

As a reminder, any Middle School student or parent may nominate a fellow classmate or faculty member by simply sending Assistant Head of Middle School and Dean of Students Mike Mayberry a brief email describing the act of kindness or respect. These names will be shared weekly in the Middle School section of News from the Hall as well as announced during Middle School Monday morning announcements. We encourage everyone at SMH to have an attitude of kindness and respect, one that brings out the best in you and those around you!

Certamen Tournament Results

On October 23, Middle School Latin Teacher Raoul Nicoll’s SMH Novice Certamen Team competed in the first Area B Certamen invitational of the year at Tom C. Clark High School. The team consisted of Gaige Burgess ‘25, Aarav Gupta ’27, and Jacob Kollars ‘27.

Certamen is a quiz-bowl style game for students of Latin, Greek, and classical civilizations. It allows students to demonstrate their knowledge of the ancient peoples, languages, and cultures, and the relationships between those topics and the modern world. The matches are fun, competitive, informative, and compelling for students. All competing teams play in three preliminary rounds of 20 toss-up questions, each with two bonuses. The top three teams move onto the final.

At Novice level, 15 teams were competing from the following schools from Austin, Houston, and San Antonio: Antonian High School, Hill Country Middle School, Johnson High School, Klein Collins High School, Murchison High School, Reagan High School, St. Thomas Episcopal, Stevens High School, and Westlake High School.

The Saint Mary’s Hall Novice team placed 4^th overall, missing finals by a margin of only 10 points, the value of a single question!

Please congratulate these students!

Mole Day is a holiday celebrated by chemists and chemistry students. It is a big deal at SMH. It takes place between 6:02am and 6:02pm on October 23. The date and time of Mole Day come from Avogadro’s Number, which is a very, very large number: 6.02 x 10²³. This is the number of particles in one mole. A mole is a unit of amount of substance. When converting between the masses and quantities of substances, knowing how much mass is represented by one mole is very helpful. For example, a substance with a molecular/atomic weight of one atomic mass unit will have a mass of one gram for each mole of the substance.

Mole Day is a great way to get students excited about chemistry. Here at SMH, chemistry students celebrate mole day in many ways. AP Chemistry celebrates by eating a breakfast at 6:02am on Mole Day, as well as having each student make their own Mole Day experiment. Middle School Science Teacher Valerie Felger’s Form 8 Physical Science class celebrates by doing a Mole Day experiment, where each student writes their name in chalk and measures how many moles of chalk molecules they used. In order to do this, they measure the mass of a piece of sidewalk chalk before and after they write their name. They use the difference of the weights and the measure of Calcium Carbonate to set up an equation. They solve the equation to get the number of moles it took to write their name. They also get to eat MOLasses cookies and toast the Mole Anthem with some milk.

View a video of a particularly fiery Mole Day experiment.

Lower School

Shaking Up Art and Wellness

Creating interdisciplinary lessons of combining art with wellness, Lower School Art Teacher Kellen Stanley and Lower School Counselor Susan Moore-Sickmann team-taught Forms 3-5 classes for three days.

During the classes, students combined their imaginative and emotional intelligences to make SMH “shakers” (noise makers). The shakers were created in Art classes and inspirational sayings were written during Guidance classes. On the last day of the week, Ms. Moore, Ms. Stanley, and students “put everything together” to create inspirational artwork. The shakers were distributed during the football game that highlighted the SMH Fine Arts Department.

Exploring Executive Function

Form 4 and 5 students are working in the Learning Lab with Lower School Learning Specialist Libby White and Lower School Academic Support Specialist Amy Read to understand more about executive functioning (EF). Students are learning that these skills are the abilities in the brain that help us complete everyday tasks. These skills include planning, organization, time management, metacognition, working memory, self-control, attention, flexibility, and perseverance. Each skill plays an important role in helping to accomplish both daily responsibilities and long-term goals. While the students are learning about the individual skills and their jobs, they also understand that the skills often overlap and work together. Mrs. Read said, “We call these skills the “Keys to Success” whether at school, home, on the job, or in relationships. All of these skills work together to make sure we are working efficiently and effectively while going about our day-to-day living.”

EF skills can be enhanced in very fun, simple ways, through play and everyday activities. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard has published a resource that can help you help your children at home if you are interested.

New Garden in Bloom

Kindergarten students in Room 5 now have a garden thanks to the efforts of class parent volunteers. Kindergarten Teacher Amy Whittington said, “The garden is the student’s creation, and the children love getting to see the flowers, vegetables, and herbs they planted growing each day around them during outdoor lessons and picnic lunches.”

Mrs. Whittington and Kindergarten Assistant Kathy Fetzer would like to thank the many families who helped. Please enjoy the video of Room 5’s garden day.

News from the Lower School Library

The Lower School Library’s Mystery Reader program has begun after a yearlong absence. The children are delighted to see our wonderful parents and friends again in the library. They joined the students with Halloween stories and costumes. Favorites among the students were Creepy Carrots and Creepy Pair of Underwear!

The Lower School Library’s Read-A-Thon ended October 29. Parents and students have 8 days to finalize their online shopping. A letter was sent home last week asking for parent volunteers to help distribute the shopping items to the students.

A great big thank you to the many parents, grandparents, and friends who donated to the Eleanor Duncan Sarratt Memorial Library. Lower School Librarian/Instructional Technologist Linda Wells stated, “I continue to be both amazed and very grateful to our parents, grandparents, and friends for their amazing support for the Lower School Libary’s programs. Through their generosity, we can have great authors and programs for our children. I am also grateful to the children who read many, many minutes to help make this happen. Thank you all.”

Team Building at T Bar M

After lunch, students played different games with their counselors that encouraged them to work together as a group. Overall, the trip brought this group of leaders together as a community and taught them the power of courage and teamwork.

October is not just a time for spooky festivities, it is a time for learning! In Montessori, the “Halloween season” inspired many fabulous educational opportunities. Students learned about pumpkins: how to wash them, count them, float them in water, carve them, and create pumpkin artwork. They used skeletons to learn about bones and the human body. Students in Montessori Teacher Tia Cobb’s class had the chance to learn about the human brain from Dr. Samiya Ahmad (mom of Yasir Ahmad ’35). There were also many great stories, like This Is the House that Monsters Built. Montessori students are always engaged in fun learning activities!

Fine Arts

Middle School Art Show

It was a Form 8 Drawing Challenge!

Student artists were tasked to draw only the negative space of a skeletal form. By only drawing the negative space, students were guided to study the area around the subject matter and explore how the balance of positive and negative space affects the overall composition. The show is up in the Middle/Upper School Library through November 5.

Kaleidoscope Opens This Week!

The Middle and Upper School Contemporary Dance Production Kaleidoscope performs Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6 at 7pm. Performances include student choreography, the annual “Jenny’s Piece,” choreographed by guest artist Eddy Borges, Hip Hop, Contemporary Ballet, Jazz and Musical Theater Dance, and more! Tickets are available here.

The All-School art exhibition Transformations opens on Tuesday, November 9 in the Coates-Seeligson Theater/Chapel Galleries. A reception will be held outdoors at 6pm in front of the theater to celebrate the student artists’ work. Artwork from all three divisions will be on display through January 9.

Form 1-3 families are invited to the Form 2 Hallway and Lower School Art Room for the Forms 1-3 Art Night and Open House.

Physical distancing and masks are required when indoors.

Private Strings Recital

On Sunday, November 14, private violin and viola students will display their work this fall in a free recital in the Remmert Theater. The event is open to the public. Masks are required.

Congratulations to Form 1 Dancers Evie Cummings '33 and Elizabeth Shi '33 for receiving the Form 1 Dance Awards last week. Their awards were announced on the Lower School Morning Report, and presented to them in Dance class by Head of Dance Yosvani Cortellan and Lower School Dance Teacher Yanaylet Lopez. Congratulations dancers!

Speech & Debate News

Upper School

The Upper School Speech & Debate team was awarded the National Speech and Debate Association’s (NSDA) prestigious 100 Club for their work during the 2020-2021 school year. J. Scott Wunn, the Executive Director of the NSDA, stated in a letter to Upper School Speech & Drama Teacher Terran Duhon, “Saint Mary’s Hall’s Club Award is remarkable because it demonstrates outstanding commitment to teaching students’ essential life skills-including communication, research, listening, writing, and organization.” Congratulations to Mr. Duhon and the 2020-2021 Speech and Debate Team!

Middle School

Form 8 students from the Saint Mary’s Hall Middle School Speech Team competed virtually at the Henry Clay Jr. High School Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky.

Here are the results:

Dramatic Interpretation
- Isa Acosta ‘26 – 5^th place
- Sawyer Beach ‘26 – 2^nd place
Broadcasting
- Sohan Bhakta ‘26 – 2^nd place

Athletics

Fall Senior Recognition

Towards the end of every season, the Athletics Department takes the opportunity to recognize the special students who have made the decision to participate in sports at Saint Mary’s Hall.

These students exemplify what it means to be a Baron. They selflessly give up time with their friends and family, to commit to help a team, and represent their school. Have a look at our fall senior athletes, and take the time to thank them for their commitment, and passion for the school.

Volleyball

Team Manager Mollie DuPhorne

Mollie has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for four years and been the volleyball manager for three years.
Mollie hopes to attend the University of California Santa Barbara or the University of Washington and major in English and creative writing.
Mollie’s favorite volleyball memories are laughing and having fun with everyone on the bus before and after away games.

#3 – Madison Cox

Madison has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for four years and played volleyball for one year.
Madison hopes to attend Texas A&M and major in psychology.
Madison’s other extracurricular activities include drawing.
Madison’s favorite volleyball memory is when Lauren said, “it’s just like short court” in the middle of a game.

#4 – Remy White

Remy has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for 15 years and played volleyball for nine years total.
Remy hopes to attend the Unites States Coast Guard Academy and major in marine environmental science and then become a helicopter pilot.
Remy’s other extracurricular activities include varsity track & field: high jump, sprints, and javelin. She volunteers with the National Charity League and enjoys cooking/baking and trying new recipes with her dad.
Remy’s favorite volleyball memories are warming up with the team because we all dance and laugh and have so much fun together.

#7 – Penelope Luna

Penny has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for four years and played volleyball all four years.
Penny hopes to attend Columbia University and double-major in biology and neuroscience.
Penny’s other extracurricular activities include debate and serving as executive director of three nonprofits.
Penny’s favorite volleyball memory is the Holy Cross game her freshman year. There was lots of school spirit, a packed gym, they won, and it was the hardest the team ever played – super electric game and tons of fun.

#9 – Payton Wood

Payton has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for 12 years and played volleyball for eight years.
Payton is undecided on where she will attend college, but would like to major in sociology or communications.
Payton’s favorite volleyball memories are the conversations she has with her teammates on the court.

#10 – Lauren Vegas

Lauren has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for three years and played volleyball three years.
Lauren hopes to attend Yale University next fall and major in economics.
Lauren’s other extracurricular activities include playing softball, teaching Hebrew, and serving as president of her youth group.
Lauren’s favorite volleyball memories include playing silly games at a tournament sophomore year.

#14 – Isabella Presutti

Isabella has attend Saint Mary’s Hall for 12 years and played volleyball for nine years.
Isabella hopes to attend Notre Dame and major in psychology.
Isabella's other extracurricular activity includes playing club volleyball on a national team since 8^th grade.
Isabella’s favorite volleyball memory is beating Holy Cross her freshman year.

Field Hockey

#8 - Valeria Ramos Prado

Valeria has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for three years and has played field hockey for three years.
Valeria is unsure where she will attend college at this time, but plans to major in Neuroscience.
Valeria’s favorite field hockey memory is driving to joy ride with Lindsay '21, Abbie '22, and Nicole '22 singing Kasey Musgraves and lemonade mouth at the top of their lungs the whole way there.

#00 – Abbie Zeller

Abbie has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for 13 years and played field hockey for seven years.
Abbie is not sure where she plans to attend college, but hopes to major in biology or psychology and go on to study medicine.
Abbie’s other extracurricular activities include serving as Student Body Secretary, Speech & Debate, Junior State of America, and the Research Science Scholars Program.
Abbie’s favorite field hockey memory would be leaving her goalie bag at school when she was going to an away game in Austin and not realizing that she didn’t have anything until the team was already in Austin. She was an absolute mess when it happened, but it is super funny to laugh about now. Now she never leaves her goalie bag anywhere! Thanks St. Andrews for letting her borrow their goalie gear for the game!

#4– Katherine Drawert

Katherine has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for 10 years and has played field hockey for seven years.
Katherine’s is unsure of her college of choice yet, but plans to major in business and political science.
Katherine’s other extracurricular activities include serving as MUN President, Mu Alpha Theta, and Math Team Captain Emeritus.
Katherine’s favorite field hockey memory is buying matching Buccees shorts with Genevieve '25.

Cross Country

Gian Avalos

Gian has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for seven years and has been on the cross country team for seven years.
Gian hopes to attend Notre Dame University and plans to major in economics.
Gian’s favorite cross country memory is winning the district championship in Austin.

James Peyton Randolph

Peyton has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for four years and has participated in cross country for one year.
Peyton is undecided about where he plans to attend college next fall, but would like to major in economics.
Peyton’s other extracurricular activities include serving as Portfolio Manager of Student Investment Group, Co-President of the Student Alumni Association, and Lead Ambassador in the Shield Society.
Peyton’s favorite cross country memory is waking up an hour and a half before the district race in Austin and still arriving before the race began.

Football

#1 Austin Soltis

Austin is a “Lifer” at Saint Mary’s Hall having attend for 15 years and played football at SMH seven years.
Austin hopes to attend Texas A&M next fall, and plans to major in business administration.
Austin’s other extracurricular activities include, Young Men’s Service League and Sports Council.
Austin’s favorite football memory was winning against Poteet his freshman year.

#3 Alec Czar

Alec has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for four years and has been a football player for three years.
Alec hopes to attend The University of Colorado Boulder and major in business.
Alec’s other extracurricular activities include basketball and lacrosse.
Alec’s favorite football memory was beating New Braunfels Christian earlier this year.

#9 King Kleberg

King has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for eight years and has been a football player for three years.
King is undecided on his college choice at this time and plans to major in business.
King’s other extracurricular activity is golf.
King’s favorite football memory is scoring a game-winning touchdown.

#10 Jack Hall

Jack has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for 13 years and has been a football player for three years.
Jack hopes to attend the University of Miami and major in economics.
Jack’s other extracurricular activities include basketball and lacrosse.
Jack’s favorite football memories are the bus rides with the team.

#11 James Hawes

James has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for four years and has been a football player for four years.
James hopes to attend The University of Texas at Austin and major in neuroscience.
James’ other extracurricular activity is lacrosse.
James’ favorite football memory is going to State freshman year.

#13 Rudy Zarate

Rudy is a “Lifer,” has attended Saint Mary’s Hall for 14 years, and has been a football player for six years.
Rudy hopes to attend The University of Texas at Austin and major in architecture or neuroscience.
Rudy’s other extracurricular activity is lacrosse.
Rudy’s favorite football memory is winning against El Paso Cathedral to put the team in the State Championship game.

#14 Alex Alvarez

Alex has attend Saint Mary’s Hall for four years and has been a football player for all four years.
Alex is undecided on where he plans to attend college, but would like to major in architecture.
Alex’s other extracurricular activity is lacrosse.
Alex’s favorite football memory is going to Whataburger with the team.

#25 Andrew Fisher

Andrew has attend Saint Mary’s Hall for seven years and has been a football player for all seven years.
Andrew hopes to attend Texas A&M, and would like to major in business.
Andrew’s favorite football memory was playing the State Championship freshman year.

Cheerleading

Lauren Hale

Lauren has attend Saint Mary’s hall for six years and participated in cheer for one year.
Lauren is undecided on her college of choice at this time and plans to major in communications.
Lauren’s other extracurricular activity includes playing piano for 11 years.
Laurens’s favorite cheer memory is going to Torchy’s on the way to the away game with the team.

Hunter Hoelscher

Hunter has attended Saint Mary’s hall for six years and participated in cheer for one year.
Hunter plans to attend New York University and major in business.
Hunter’s other extracurricular activity is soccer, which she plans to play in college.
Hunter’s favorite cheer memory is cheering at the first home game with a big, excited crowd and a lot of positive energy!

Patience Locke

Patience has attend Saint Mary’s hall for 15 years and participated in cheer for one year.
Patience is undecided on where she plans to attend college, and she would like to major in sociology or public policy.
Patience other extracurricular activity is art.
Patience's favorite cheer memory is the football game against New Bruanfels Christian because she thought the game was really fun and the energy of the cheerleaders was great.

Camille Serot

Camille has attend Saint Mary’s hall for 15 years and participated in cheer for one year.
Camille is undecided on where she plans to attend college, and she would like to major in international business and research.
Camille’s favorite cheer memory is hitting her first stunt and basket toss as a team.

Ryleigh Vance

Ryleigh has attend Saint Mary’s hall for four years and participated in cheer for one year.
Ryleigh is undecided on where she plans to attend college, but she would like to major in business and communications.
Ryleigh’s favorite cheer memory is getting ready for practice and games. Ryleigh would also like to give a shout out to her elite sister, Melianna, for always being so kind and amazing, as well as her fellow stunties, Abby '24 and Gabby '24 for always saving her life.

Cross Country’s Chan Finishes Top 10

Cross country Barons got up early to compete at the TAPPS 5A District 3 Championship meet at Brentwood School in Austin. Starting at 8am the women’s varsity team lined up to make a case for who has the best 2-mile runners in the District in what was probably the most challenging course of the season. The Barons showed a lot of pride as Anna Vaquiax ‘24 came in at 29^th in a time of 16:27 and Camila Navas-Hahn ‘23 was close behind in 32^nd place at 16:40. Wrapping up the results for the team was Ally Gibbs ‘23 who finished 59^th in a time of 26:40.

The men's 5K race was without a doubt the tightest race of the year as our Barons finished in 5^th place overall with 117 points but missed the hardware of a top three team placing by just 6 points. Leading the way for the Barons was our new All-District Cross-Country award winner Christopher Chan ‘24 who took 6^th place overall in a time of 18:44. He was followed by Peyton Randolph ‘22 in 20^th place at 20:37 and Patrick Lang ‘23 at 24^th in a time of 21:10. Rounding out our scoring team members were Gian Avalos-Delgado ‘22 at 22:42, good enough for 34^th place, and JC Yaeger ’25 in 39^th place at 23:16. Ian Garza ’25 was the next to cross the finish line for the Barons in 43^rdplace at 23:33 and then came Ephriam Cho ’24 in 48^th at 24:53. Wrapping it up for the team was Cypress Rabke ‘25 in 51^st at 25:09. Overall, 69 runners faced off in the race that involved many hills, tight turns, and rugged wooded terrain, making it clearly the toughest course of the season.

Form 8’s Axel Morgan wins Gold

Congratulations Axel Morgan '26 on winning the gold medal in the Texas Pickle Ball Open! Check out the match here.

Fine Arts and Football combined to create a unique experience, completely unique to Saint Mary’s Hall. At a recent Football game, the Fine Arts Department showcased their talents with singing, dancing, and art. Take a look at this short video (above) recapping the exciting night.

Chapel

Learning About Dia de los Muertos in Chapel

This past Monday in Chapel, we heard from faculty and students representing the Spanish Department on the meaning of Día de los Muertos.

We also discussed the importance of taking time to reflect and appreciate the unique contributions of those who have passed on, as a piece of their legacy lives on in us. Recognizing that conversations around death and dying can be difficult, I want to highlight the amazing resources we have here at SMH in our School Counselors and Chaplain, among others, to help you navigate the discussion. Thank you again to the following presenters:

Lower School

Faculty

Lower Schol Spanish Teacher Zarela Ríos
Lower School Spanish Teacher Jessica Rivera

Middle School

Students

Isa Acosta ‘26
Sawyer Beach ‘26
Sohan Bhakta ‘26
Holland Hoelscher ‘26
Evan Liu ‘26
Bernardo Medina ‘26
Nicholas Morgan ‘26
Amruta Patel ‘26
Bianca Rodriguez ‘26
Edward Ton ‘26

Faculty

World Languages Department Chair Laura Renard
Middle School Spanish Teacher Lourdes Saks

Upper School

Students

Ali Rose Davis ‘24
Nicole Mays ‘22
Genevieve Seeligson ‘25
Abbie Zeller ‘22

Faculty

Upper School World Languages Teacher Denise Díaz
Upper School Spanish Teacher Elsa Tonone de Sala

Peace and Blessings,
Dr. Fredricc Gerard Brock
Interim Chaplain

Wellness

Mental Health Advocate and TEDx Speaker to Visit Saint Mary's Hall

Mark Henick, the mental health advocate and strategist behind the viral TEDx talk, Why We Choose Suicide, will address parents at Saint Mary’s Hall on Thursday, November 4, from 12pm-12:45pm in the Remmert Theater.

He will lead an open, educational discussion on mental health, adolescence, and his lived experience. Light refreshments will be served.

Click here to read more about Mark Henick.

News From the Hall

November 1, 2021