Father-son breakfasts and coffees only make up a fraction of the events the school hosts for students and their fathers. Year after year, mug after mug, these special events have cemented a legacy in the journey of each student and father.
However, mother-son activities at the school are less common. They naturally don’t share the same activities or traditions, but there’s always been a significant difference.
She’d been asked several times before, but Chantal Gunawardena finally agreed to serve as the junior class grade representative. And it was only then that she first heard about an annual tradition for juniors and their mothers.
“I didn’t even really feel anything was missing until I heard about the Mother Son picnic,” Gunawardena said. “I was like, ‘Oh, how wonderful is that?’”
Before the picnic, Gunawardena had taken part in other, smaller events for the juniors. Normally, they would cap the maximum participants at around 35 to 40 people. The mother son picnic was much different. Upwards of 90 eager parents joined their sons for upper school lunch.
“I’ve been looking forward to this event all year long and talking about it all year long to everybody, and just making sure as many people could come,” Gunawardena said.
While the picnic was initially planned for the amphitheater, heavy rain thwarted the plan. Gunawardena acknowledged that the school could easily have cancelled the event, but administrative efforts allowed the event to take place in the Zierk Athletic Center instead.
“It felt like a little mini vacation, a little getaway, right in the middle of their finals or AP week,” Gunawardena said. “You had the swimming pool on one side, you had the basketball on the other, and we had a desert lobby, and it felt like a little getaway.”
Students brought picnic blankets where they ate their favorite lunches that their mothers packed, surrounded by flowers and decorations. As Mothers’ Day was coming up, the picnic’s timing gave the students the opportunity to share a “Thank You” gift to their mothers.
Alongside a macaron tower and an ice cream bar, there was a photo booth where mothers and sons could take photos together. The juniors also created bouquets to gift to their mothers. While the bouquets were easy to put together, the unique and rare moment where students got to share a special event with their parents created an unforgettable 45 minutes.
“I was actually really amazed at some of the boys’ choices they were making,” Gunawardena said. “They were so well thought out.”
Gunawardena acknowledges that a huge attendance truly contributed to the atmosphere and success of the picnic. By communicating about the event well in advance, she spread awareness and excitement surrounding the picnic. In the culmination of their efforts, almost every junior and their parent showed up.
“You can organize any event at any time, but it’s choosing that perfect scenario,” Gunawardena said. “The boys are already on campus, and the moms just have to show up, and it was just a beautiful event.”
Many students joined the school early while others came their freshman year. The junior class has always been a tight-knit community, but the mother son picnic brought about a newly strengthened bond with the parents.
“It resonated with a lot of moms who’ve been at this event for their previous children, and I feel that we all had such a wonderful time,” Gunawardena said. “It brought the entire class together, like I have actually never seen at an event before.”
Gunawardena thinks of this picnic as more than just ice cream or bouquets. She thinks of milestones and highlights of childhoods that near their end. The culmination of joy and growth, celebrated as an entire class, is at the doorstep of senior year.
“Junior year is a time when you realize that you’re about to have a senior, and then he’s about to go off to college,” Gunawardena said. “So it’s kind of that moment in time where one chapter is ending, and a new one is starting.”
There may be more father-son events than mother-son events, but Gunawardena maintains that they’re both incredibly important.
“It is a special relationship that you have with your mom, and it should be celebrated in that special way,” Gunawardena said.
Junior class grade representative Hilary Shank views her position as a way to give back to the school that has supported her son, who is her only child at St. Mark’s.
“It just felt like a really great opportunity to get back to the school for all the wonderful things they’ve done for us and our family over the past years,” Shank said.
Shank has also used the time she spends planning events for her son’s class to learn more about her son and how the school is shaping him.
“It has been a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to see my son on campus,” Shank said. “(I) see how much he enjoys St Mark’s and see how much St Mark’s really has made him into the man he’s becoming.”
A large part of this impact that the school has on the students is the sense of a special community.
“St Mark’s does an exceptional job of really celebrating the community of St Mark’s and giving parents an opportunity to not only contribute with volunteering at the school but also being able to have events that involve the class, so that the class can really get to know each other.”
