Community Tunes in to Speaker Series

Throughout the month of June 2021, hundreds of community members tuned in for two special installments of the Alumni Leadership Speaker Series (ALSS).

 

On June 23, the ALSS hosted a conversation with Mark Cuban, renowned entrepreneur, star of Shark Tank, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and a St. Mark’s parent. Alumni Association President Paul Genender ’87 moderated the discussion, which explored the rise in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

 

“Anything that’s a stored-value, whether it’s gold or a baseball card, is only worth what someone will pay for it,” Mark explained. “A lot of what people own that’s of value to them is stored digitally, on a computer or a phone. I think Bitcoin works better as a digitally stored value, it’s easier to transfer, and it accomplishes the same purpose as gold.”

 

The conversation also touched on the emergence of NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) and recent developments in the NBA. In closing, Mark took time to reflect on the St. Mark’s community, saying, “My son wears his St. Mark’s gear far more than his Mavericks gear.”

 

Another ALSS event occurred earlier in June, with former NFL and Texas Longhorn linebacker Sam Acho ’07 hosting a panel discussion with three recent St. Mark’s graduates. Kit Colson ’21, Harrison Ingram ’21, and Leo Ohannessian ’21 talked about navigating the college athletics recruitment process during a global pandemic. Kit will compete in track and field for Yale University, Harrison will play basketball for Stanford University, and Leo will play water polo for the University of California, Santa Barbara.

 

“The recruiting process this year was completely different than it ever has been,” Kit said. “Because the season was canceled nationally due to COVID, all of the recruiting was pushed up. The coaches got involved a lot earlier and, especially since we couldn’t do campus visits, I ended up committing earlier than I thought I would.”

 

This month’s installments of the Alumni Leadership Speaker Series were presented as part of the Make Your Mark campaign, celebrating the strength of the St. Mark’s community and encouraging support for the School’s annual fund. Click here to learn more and click here to watch recordings of this month's two ALSS events.