Senior Mark May has led an exciting life filled with nature and music.
Artwork by Mateo Rocha
When it comes to nature and music, Senior Mark May knows what he is doing.
The second semester of his 2010-2011 junior year, Mark took an Eco-Internship at Balarat, an outdoor education center which provides instruction to Denver Public Schools students in environmental studies, Western history, and outdoor leadership skills. It has been a part of DPS since the late 1960s, and in 1975 Balarat launched the 5th Grade Residential Program, where the 5th graders can stay at Balarat for two or three days. While at Balarat, the 5th graders are able to complete multiple activities and learn about nature, history, and astronomy. Balarat later expanded outdoor education experiences to 3rd graders, middle school students, and high school students.
The Eco-Intern Program, which Mark completed, allows high school students to spend the entire semester at Balarat, leading trips and gaining the experiences necessary to be an outdoors leader and naturalist. In order to be an Eco-Intern, May had to fill out an application and write an essay about why he is interested in being an intern. “I wanted something more and exciting for my junior year, and when I heard about the Eco-Internship at Balarat, I thought, ‘why not be in the mountains,’” Mark explained. “The greatest parts were that there was no homework, it was interesting, and I got to spend the entire day outside with great people and kids.”
The Balarat internship required most of Mark’s time to be spent with kids, and he says he acclimated well and enjoyed the time they spent hiking and learning about nature. “[May] befriended many of the kids and was able get onto the same level as them,” Thomas Jefferson Alumna Melanie Walker – who also took the internship – stated about Mark’s work with the children.
Along with Mark and Melanie, there were four other TJ students who had the opportunity to do the internship: Alumni Melissa Acker and Beth Sypniewski, and Seniors Ben Turgeman and Dinh Doan. “The internship with Mark was very eye-opening. He was very insightful, kindhearted, and generous,” said Walker.
May received a full 35 credits while attending Balarat, which is equivalent to a full semester of high school. “The only thing I have left to do now to be on the right track to graduate, is to make up my math credits,” said May.
May also enjoys playing music and was able to take his guitar to Balarat with him and play for the kids and the other interns. “His music is very mellow and has a good rhythm to it,” Walker recalls.
May not only played for the people of Balarat, but he is also beginning to shine through to the world. He is getting a big boost in the music business by playing at the Dew Tour in the next couple of months. The Dew Tour is a winter action sports tour that includes skiing and snowboarding. At each tour event, there is a live concert, in which May will be performing. Amanda Capper, a professional musician who has sold out at Red Rocks, discovered May at an open mic night. His preferred genre is reggae, and he plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar and the harmonica, and he writes his own music and lyrics.
May has been playing music for eight years. “Mamma May got me into music when I was little,” May states. He described how his mother, Mary Ann, surrounded him with music and musicians while he was a child. “She has supported me to the fullest, whether it be driving me to my gigs, or just listening to me play, and she lets me know she is there.” Mary Ann supported her son by playing records and songs over the radio for him, and helping him with the financial ties he has encountered as a striving musician. In furthering his career, May has been recording his songs in a studio this month.
Mark May both experienced and taught the nature of science, and has also created a career for himself through his music.
