Every year, St. Mark’s welcomes hundreds of alumni and guests back to campus for Alumni Weekend, a multi-day event built around reunions, traditions and community-wide programming.
Planning for the weekend begins well in advance and requires coordination across the Office of Development and Alumni relations.
“It’s no one person that (plans) it by themselves,” Jack Mallick ‘14, Director of Alumni Relations, said. “19 folks come together and play a really big part in making this weekend happen.”
The structure of alumni weekend saw major changes a few years ago. Mallick and the Office of Development worked with members of the Lower, Middle and Upper school offices to create a schedule that works seamlessly with all three divisions.
“We just completed year three of this new alumni weekend schedule, which offers a really unique opportunity for each division level to interact with alums and alumni weekend in a unique way,“ he said.
Every year, the planning committee incorporates some changes from the previous year.
“We switch up what speakers we bring in and what themes we want to focus on,” Mallick said. “We try to find things that are going to resonate with the boys at each level.”
Alumni Weekend this year opened with a golf tournament on Thursday, April 23 held this year at Grapevine Golf Course, with a total of 144 alumni participants.
On Friday, guest speakers visited campus and spoke to students. During Lower School chapel, Alan Schoellkopf ‘91, served as a homilist. Middle School assembly featured Christian Hinojosa ‘96, who spoke about character and leadership. During Upper School Assembly, Dan Hunt ‘96, spoke to students about sports leadership and community impact.
On Saturday, the school hosted a family cookout on the quad featuring food trucks, bounce houses and student-led campus tours. Academic spaces, including the makerspace and planetarium, were also open for demonstrations and shows.
In addition to visiting campus, alumni attended reunions that were spread across the city.
“Saturday night, we hosted 12 reunions across the city of Dallas,” the staff member said, ranging from the Class of 1966 celebrating its 60th reunion to the Class of 2021 marking its fifth. Events gave classmates space to reconnect while returning to familiar parts of their shared history.
Mallick notes how the success of the weekend depends on broad participation across campus.
“It can’t be done without our maintenance team, our security team, SAGE and all the student, faculty and staff volunteers that participate throughout the weekend and make this a welcoming place,” he said. “It’s a true community wide effort.”
Mallick also noted that ultimately, alumni weekend is meant to strengthen long-term ties between graduates and the school.
“Our alums invest so much in the school, it’s right for us to invest back in them,” he said. “(St. Mark’s) isn’t a place where you’re done after you graduate. Our goal within the Alumni Association is to give alums every opportunity to interact with the school in a way that they would enjoy.”
