Page 1

I N T H I S I S S U E

Partnership Network 1

Teacher Feature 2

Catholic Schools Week 2

Alumna Spotlight 3

Olweus Anti-Bullying Program 3

Student Artwork 4

N E W S L E T T E R W I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 1 4 V O L U M E X , I S S U E 1

St. Mark the Evangelist School Joins the Partnership Network

SUBSCRIBE ONLINE

www.saintmarkschool.org/alumni

SUPPORT OUR STUDENTS

Donations of any amount make a difference.

Below are some of our greatest needs.

$250 Supplies for the after-school program

$500 Academic field trip for one grade

$3,500 Scholarship for a deserving student

DEAR FRIENDS,

A warm hello to all of you in our

St. Mark family! I am very pleased

to announce that as we begin our

102nd year and continue our

mission as the first New York City

Catholic school founded to serve

African American children, St.

Mark has joined the Partnership for

Inner-City Education network. The

Partnership has supported our

school for many years. We value

their experience with schools like

ours and look forward to working

closely in the future.

Sincerely,

Antwan Allen, Principal

St. Mark the Evangelist School is

thrilled to be one of six Pre-K through

8th grade Catholic schools in Harlem

and the South Bronx that are part of

the recently launched Partnership for

Inner-City Education network. These

six schools are being managed by the

Partnership, an organization that has

been integral to our school for many

years, in collaboration with the

Archdiocese of New York.

Because of the Partnership

network, St. Mark the Evangelist

School will build on our strong

Catholic school foundation to prepare

our students to succeed in high school,

college and throughout their lives. In

doing so, the school will remain

faithful to what is known and loved

about us and will also work together

with the Partnership to offer our

students the following:

Challenging, high achieving

academic program

Broad program including arts,

music, sports, community service,

and technology

Expanded after-school

programming

Assistance with high school

placement

The Partnership will also help to

strengthen our school operationally

and financially, so that it can continue

to serve our neighborhood for years to

come. The other five schools in the

network are Mount Carmel-Holy

Rosary, Our Lady Queens of Angels,

St. Athanasius, Immaculate Concep-

tion, and Sacred Heart.

Pleas visit the Partnership’s

website at www.partnershipnyc.org

for further information about our new

network.

To learn more about St. Mark the

Evangelist School, please visit our

website: www.saintmarkschool.org.

Page 2

Teacher Feature: Mrs. Gordon

Mrs. Virgena Gordon has been

teaching at St. Mark the Evangelist

School since 1993. She has taught

Kindergarten for fifteen years, guiding

young students on the path to bright

futures. For the past three years, she

has ensured that 100% of her students

enter 1st grade reading at or above

grade level.

Mrs. Gordon grew up in Portland,

Jamaica, about 60 miles from

Kingston. She became a teacher

because, as she describes it, “There

were only two options available to me:

teaching and nursing. I chose

teaching because I hate giving shots.

I have never regretted my decision!”

Mrs. Gordon received her teaching

certification and bachelor’s degree

from Shortwood Teachers College.

Following graduation, she taught in

Jamaica until she left for the United

States at the age of 36.

When Mrs. Gordon first arrived in

America, she worked as a housecleaner

and nanny because she lacked the

credentials to teach here. After living

in Washington, D.C., and North

Carolina, she came to New York at the

urging of her sister. Here she met a

woman who advised her to submit her

résumé to the Archdiocese. The rest is

history: she interviewed with Sister

Catherine, the former Principal at

Saint Mark the Evangelist School, on a

Friday; was given a teaching manual to

read over the weekend; and started

teaching 3rd grade that Monday. As

Mrs. Gordon describes it, “Preparation

meeting opportunity equals luck.”

A few years later, Mrs. Gordon

volunteered to teach Kindergarten

because she was concerned about the

academic performance of the children

entering her 3rd grade class. She felt

they needed a stronger academic

foundation. When the former

Kindergarten teacher left St. Mark in

1998, Mrs. Gordon replaced her and

has taught Kindergarten ever since.

When asked about the key to her

success, Mrs. Gordon stated: “At the

end of each year, you re-examine your

performance. What did you do well?

What did you do poorly? Each year,

my goal is to have all of my students

become independent readers, in other

words to have the skills to decode

words so that they can read without

having to rely on anyone else. If I can

teach them to decode words by

themselves, everything falls into place.

They will be able to read and enjoy

books for life. As they say , ‘If you give

a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If

you teach that man to fish, you feed

him for life.’’’

Mrs. Gordon at work in Kindergarten

Catholic Schools Week

Dressing for Success Wacky Tacky Day

Page 3

For accomplished alumna Maraya

Brown, St. Mark is a family affair.

Maraya’s mother Nicole Brown has

taught at St. Mark for fourteen years,

originally teaching 4th grade and now

3rd grade. Maraya’s youngest brother

Cyrus is a 5th grader at St. Mark, where

he plays the trumpet. Maraya attended

St. Mark from Pre-K to 8th grade,

graduating in 2010. She always had to

be “on her best behavior” because her

mother works here. When she had her

mother as a teacher in 4th grade, it was a

year of “no excuses.” Maraya learned

to “respect teachers” because of her

mother’s profession and admits, “I get

my ambition from my mother.”

Born and raised in Harlem, Maraya

truly enjoyed spending her formative

years at St. Mark, where she met her

best friend. She sang in the school

choir, managed the basketball team,

and “learned to interact with different

types of people.” She appreciated the

small setting at St. Mark, as well as the

“sense of religion” here. “I had a great

learning experience,” she proclaims.

Maraya is now a senior at St. Jean

Baptiste High School, where she is

President of the Student Council as well

as a member of the National Honor

Society, French Honor Society, and two

dance teams (African and Latin to rep-

resent her heritage). She is also a stu-

dent ambassador and a peer tutor. For

her community service requirement,

Maraya spends every Wednesday

volunteering as a teacher’s assistant in

Mrs. Gordon’s Kindergarten class at St.

Mark. She feels it is important to “give

back because St. Mark has done so

much for me.”

Maraya will graduate this spring

and head off to college. She plans to

major in a STEM field and become a

lawyer. She is proud of her roots at St.

Mark, and St. Mark is proud of her! “St.

Mark opened doors for me,” she says.

“It helped me get to where I am today.”

Students at St. Mark often describe

their school as a “bully-free zone” and

a “place where everyone belongs.”

This is thanks in part to the Olweus

Bullying Prevention Program, an

internationally acclaimed, research-

based program that came to St. Mark

through funding from the Partnership

for Inner-City Education.

The Olweus program teaches

students to recognize, report, and

reduce acts of bullying. St. Mark

launched the program in January

2013 and has had great success over

the past year educating the school

community about bullying. Though

St. Mark does not have a significant

problem with bullying, our school

leaders feel it is important to be

proactive to ensure that all students

feel safe, show respect, and develop

into good citizens.

feel left out, and they really open up in

our class meetings.”

Each year, the Olweus program

kicks off with a dynamic, school-wide

pep rally that celebrates the anti-

bullying culture at St. Mark. Fifth

grade teacher and Coordinating

Committee member Chinique Pressley

says, “The whole school really enjoys

the rallies. Each class has the oppor-

tunity to share what they’ve learned.

Now that we have Olweus, the stu-

dents try harder to get along, to com-

fort others, and to work together to

solve problems.”

The students also believe that

Olweus is making a difference at St.

Mark. Sixth grader Courtney Faulden

commented that students “are more

aware of other people’s feelings” be-

cause they can “ask questions and ex-

press themselves” in class meetings.

Olweus is a school-wide program

that involves all students, staff,

faculty, and parents. At St. Mark, the

program is led by the Bullying

Prevention Coordinating Committee

made up of five teachers and

administrators who received training

from certified Olweus coaches. The

Committee has trained all faculty and

staff to ensuring that every adult at St.

Mark knows how to identify and

address bullying.

Teachers hold weekly classroom

meetings in which students discuss

bullying issues. All students have

memorized the definition of bullying

as well as four anti-bullying rules that

are enforced throughout the school.

Fourth grade teacher Herbert

Simmons says, “Students know what

the expectations are, and they know

how to recognize bullying. They work

harder now to include students who

Olweus Bullying Prevention Program

Alumna Spotlight: Maraya Brown

Page 4

55 West 138th Street

New York, NY 10037

Phone: (212) 283-4848

info@saintmarkschool.org

www.saintmarkschool.org

Student Art Work

Courtney Faulden - 6th grade Maya Thompson - 7th grade

If you would like to donate to St. Mark the Evangelist School, please visit our website at www.saintmarkschool.org or

contact Ray Laszczych at laszczych@saintmarkschool.org or (212) 283-4848.