REMARKER
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 VOLUME 69, ISSUE 1 ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS DALLAS, TEXAS
HABITS | New expectations
RECLAIMING OUR
HONOR It's the first "normal" school — two years in the making. Standards are high. Consequences are higher. Time to tighten up on the little things. See coverage, pages 16-17.
STORY Shreyan Daulat, Arjun Khatti, Morgan Chow, Dillon Wyatt PHOTOS Sal Hussain, Morgan Chow
INSIDE
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Chinese teacher earns Gene and Alice Oltrogge Master Teaching Chair BY Zack Goforth
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hinese teacher and Senior Class sponsor Janet Lin was appointed to the position of Gene and Alice Oltrogge Master Teaching Chair Aug. 17. “I was deeply honored and caught by surprise,” Lin said, “but I also know that [the award] means a great responsibility.” Following the award, Lin was able to reflect on her favorite memories from her seven years in the Foreign Language Department. “My favorite part of the job,” Lin said, “is when graduates email, call or text me and say, ‘Hey Ms. Lin, I placed in the third or fourth year for my college Chinese program.’ That’s how I know I equipped them well, and I really brought them to
the level they’re supposed to be at or sometimes even higher.” As of now, Lin’s plans for the future of the Chinese program center around expansion. “I want to give every student at St. Mark’s a chance to enroll in the Chinese program by exposing them to Chinese in some way,” Lin said. “I want them to not be afraid of learning Chinese and to realize that it can be fun.” To do so, Lin plans to extend the program’s outreach. “Lower School, for example, doesn’t have a Chinese program,” Lin said, “but we have the school-wide events such as the Lunar New Year celebration. Even though some kids do not have Chinese classes, events like this help to expose them to the culture. This year, we are planning even more surprises for the whole school.”
Another one of Lin’s goals is to reinstate the international trip to China. “The trip [to China] has been cancelled since 2019 because of the pandemic,” Lin said, “so we plan to resume this trip because it’s a great experience for everyone that goes.” Even with these new developments, Lin looks back and believes she would not be assuming this prestigious position without the help of a select few. “I would like to thank Mr. Dini and Mr. Ashton, and all of my colleagues for supporting me,” Lin said. “But mostly, I would like to thank my students for enjoying my class. Last year was a pretty difficult time for me, but I could wake up and know I was coming to teach [my students], which made really helped get me through those times and made me happy.”