St. Mark's School
Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
Developed out of the desire to create the best educational environment for the St. Mark’s community, the Center serves as both the physical and intellectual hub of the school. Space, expertise, financial support, research, relationships are all resources the Center leverages in an effort to maximize outcomes for our entire educational community.
Comprised of three arms, Student Enrichment, Faculty Development and Academic Support, the Center aims to create the best educational environment for it’s students, teachers and even for the greater Southborough community.
Faculty Development is intended to provide the best professional development opportunities for all teachers at St. Mark’s as well as for teachers in the schools surrounding school. Through collaborative conference opportunities, all the educators are given opportunities to positively contribute to the national dialogue on 21st century secondary and post-secondary education.
Academic Support raises community awareness of effective teaching and learning strategies reflecting current understandings of the brain and education through outreach programming and private consultation with the School’s Learning Specialist. The Academic Support branch of the Center also sponsors a discussion series, Coffee Talk, which covers such topics as executive functioning, processing speed and memory. This series benefits St. Mark’s faculty as well as area educators.
Student Enrichment is the arm of the Center that promotes opportunities for all students to pursue their interests and passions beyond the classroom. The goal is to challenge St. Mark’s students to better understand themselves, their communities, and the world by exploring their interests in an experiential way. The Center is currently focused on generating and developing internships, providing grant and fellowship funds to support advanced research projects and travel, sponsoring specialized programs to increase student awareness of job skills and career paths, and creating a comprehensive database of all enrichment opportunities linked to our website.
The Center also has a broader public purpose, serving as a resource and collaborative partner for schools striving to attain the best educational outcomes for their students. Indeed, one of the Center's five central goals is to contribute to the broader national/transational dialogue on secondary education, so that we can do the work necessary to transform learning for all of our students.
St. Mark’s Mentorship Program
The St Mark’s Mentorship Association (SMMA) is a partnership between the Seven Hills Charter School and St. Mark’s.
The mentorship sessions convene at the St. Marks School. Mentors are chosen from the St. Mark’s community through an application process that allows only students truly intent on making a difference to become mentors.
The program is geared towards inspiring the Seven Hill Charter students to be academically enthusiastic and to provide them with positive adolescent role models. St. Mark’s has an abundant campus, faculty who serve as experts on a broad range of subjects, rigorous academia, and a large athletic facility. The St. Mark’s Mentorship Association works towards spreading the abundance of opportunities afforded to St. Markers in order to bridge the gap between low and high income students.
For more information click here.
To read about a recent SMMA event click here.
Brantwood Camp
Brantwood Camp is a residential summer camp for boys and girls, located in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and has been a special place of St. Mark’s summer service since 1920. Brantwood provides educational and recreational programs for inner–city children. St. Mark’s students who are 16 years of age or older may serve as “shackies,” counselors responsible for a cabin of campers during one to three two–week sessions. Many students who have served at Brantwood over the years cite this experience as one of the most significant and formative of their time at St. Mark’s.
For more information click here.
After School Programs
St. Mark’s students go into nearby Marlborough, MA once or twice a week in the afternoon to provide tutoring and to play with younger children through after–school care programs at Immaculate Conception parochial school, the Boys and Girls Club and the Country Side housing development.