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“The Mercersburg Plan is born of the times. This is now a kind of clarion
DOUGLAS HALE Head of School
call to ask us all together to think about what the opportunities are and, indeed, what the responsibilities are for students who are living in this age of technology.”
DEBBIE RUTHERFORD Associate Head of School
“We’re in times that really are making us look at things very differently than we did just 20 or 10 years ago.”
D E A R
F R I E N D S , A MESSAGE FROM DOUGLAS HALE, HEAD OF SCHOOL
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y now you have probably heard something about the Mercersburg Plan—
a strategic educational blueprint born of the times in which we live and addressing the fact that students today simply don’t learn the way they learned a generation ago. A sizable body of new scientific research tells us 2
with surety that adolescent brains function differently from the adult brain. Recognizing these challenges, school leadership and faculty have assessed every aspect of our academic and residential-life curricula. We also reviewed simultaneously reams of authoritative research on the impact of technological change on students. The result of that two-year study is a new commitment to experiential learning—learning by doing—across the whole of our campus. While the Plan is designed to keep Mercersburg ahead of the learning and teaching curve, it also reflects our evolution as an institution. Learning through practice, performance, and practical application is not new at Mercersburg, but this effort to focus and refine the techniques of experiential and collaborative learning across all disciplines will bring us farther, faster, in helping our students succeed in the global environment of the 21st century.
“What does a 21st-century education really mean? It means requiring that
DOUGLAS HALE Head of School
students not only understand a topic, but also gain mastery of the whole topic. To remain competitive and relevant, our students must set mastery as their goal, and the foundation for that mastery must be secured in high school.”
The Plan calls for every Mercersburg student to develop four critical capabilities: Ň 0astery of a specifically defined set of 21st-century skills Ň 8QGHUVWDQGLQJ RI DQG IDFLOLW\ ZLWK new technologies Ň $ ƉUVWKDQG international perspective Ň $ JUHDWHU VHQVH RI responsibility for their own education, communities, and the planet The Plan also calls for us to make the necessary investments to help bring these goals to fruition through fundraising in four key areas: Ň (QGRZPHQW IRU financial aid Ň 7KH DGGLWLRQ RI WKH Simon Student Center at Ford Hall Ň 7KH DGGLWLRQ RI D field house and an aquatic center adjacent to Nolde Gymnasium Ň 7KH ł7UXH %OXHŃ annual fund, which will provide support notably for technological innovations and for the retention, recruitment, and professional development of our faculty I invite you to join us on this exciting journey. The enthusiastic commitment of our board, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and friends to such a bold undertaking will be a living testament to our undying commitment to the traditions and democratic spirit of this great school.
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GRANT WIGGINS – President, Authentic Education “There may have been a time—300 years ago—when information was stable enough and small enough that you could transmit it from one person to another and have it be useful for a long period of time. “The problem now is that we are living in a world that requires constant adaptation. The rate of change requires people who are adaptable, who can get feedback and act on the basis of it. We face a fundamental challenge to the whole notion of what it means to be a teacher with students in a classroom.”
OUR SET OF 21ST-CENTURY SKILLS IS: Ň &ULWLFDO WKLQNLQJ DQG SUREOHP VROYLQJ Ň (ƈHFWLYH FRPPXQLFDWLRQ Ň &ROODERUDWLRQ Ň ,QIRUPDWLRQ OLWHUDF\ Ň &UHDWLYLW\ FXULRVLW\ DQG LPDJLQDWLRQ Ň 3HUVRQDO UHVSRQVLELOLW\ DQG DFFRXQWDELOLW\
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“My gift to the student center is in honor of my mother and father and
DEBORAH SIMON ’74 Board of Regents
all the parents at Mercersburg who had the foresight to send their children here. It was the most wonderful experience I ever had, and I think in the long run it will be the most wonderful experience for other children and parents.”
B U I L D I N G
C O M M U N I T Y RESIDENTIAL LIFE AND THE SIMON STUDENT CENTER The residential curriculum that is part of the Mercersburg Plan sets out a residential-life program that is intentional, deliberate, and structured to bring about very specific and positive results in the lives of our students. The dormitories will remain an important aspect of this curriculum, but our approach will also benefit enormously from the thorough redesign
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of Lower Ford Hall, scheduled for renovation by September 2013. The new student center will give students a place that is truly theirs, where they can develop social, interpersonal, and relational skills in a positive and inviting environment. It will feature a grill, a theater, small performance spaces, a lounge, a game room, an outdoor patio with a fire pit, and offices for a range of student-run clubs and our residential program staff.
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DERRY MASON – Tippetts Dorm Dean, English, Director of Outdoor Education “There’s a difference between a ninth grader and a 12th grader. Ninth graders and 10th graders need more structure. Every day the younger students need to practice managing and taking care of themselves. They are learning that their actions have consequences on themselves and on those around them, for good and bad. “Citizenship is a word that seems to come and go in popular culture. We are working on having it make a comeback. It speaks to a lot of the values that we hold dear about how to act as a member of a community.”
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Photo by Maxwell MacKenzie
DENISE DUPRÉ ’76 President, Board of Regents
“Any student athlete who puts time, effort, and energy in will typically get back much more than the physical rewards. It’s about teamwork, leadership, synergy, working with other people.”
C O L L A B O R A T I O N
&
T E A M W O R K
TEACHER-COACHES AND NEW ATHLETIC FACILITIES The Mercersburg Plan lifts up the model of the teacher-coach as foundational to the concept of learning by doing, while also calling for the completion of our athletic center through construction of two major facilities: a field house and an aquatic center. Together, these facilities will make a bold statement about the position of athletics in both our academic and residential-life curricula as a means to develop character, maturity, and leadership qualities. When completed, all of our athletic facilities will be state of the art.
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DOUGLAS HALE Head of School
“The language of coaching and the language of teaching have never been closer together than it is now. The best teachers are the best coaches in the classroom. And the best coaches are the best teachers on the athletic fields.”
Field house and aquatic center The field house will accommodate indoor practice for multiple teams and multiple sports during inclement weather. It will also provide a venue for events and fitness programs to serve the entire Mercersburg community, not just our competitive teams. The new aquatic center, long overdue, will create a facility worthy of Mercersburg’s history of greatness in swimming and will make a strong 12
statement about Mercersburg’s athletic aspirations. By doubling the size of our pool to 50 meters, the aquatic center will not only serve as a venue to host swimming competitions but as a practice facility for diving, kayaking, and other fitness activities.
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RICK HENDRICKSON – Director of Athletics, English “Mercersburg has a commitment to personal fitness through our physical education expectations. Athletics is a large part of that, but only a part. Every student at Mercersburg engages in some type of physical activity, thus every student at Mercersburg makes his or her way to the Nolde Gymnasium area and the surrounding complex. The new aquatic center and the new field house are about programming for our current students while also celebrating the great tradition of Mercersburg athletics.”
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GRANT WIGGINS President, Authentic Education
KARL REISNER History, Baseball
“At Mercersburg, just as was true where I taught, teachers coach. You don’t talk soccer at kids day after day; you get them playing soccer. They learn by doing. And they especially learn from feedback.”
“We really need these facilities and we need to get them soon so that we can continue to compete.”
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“The ideal student body is the best qualified student body that you can find,
ALLEN ZERN ’61 Board of Regents
irrespective of their ability to pay for the education. Mercersburg is and should be elite scholastically, academically, and intellectually while remaining egalitarian socially.”
B U I L D I N G
C O M M U N I T Y
FINANCIAL AID AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY The Mercersburg Plan emphasizes the long tradition of building, each year, a community of students that is reflective of society at large. This environment of diversity and equality multiplies the impact of Mercersburg’s academic and residential-life curricula and is a signature of the Mercersburg experience. Financial aid allows us to make sure that RXU VWXGHQW ERG\ PLUURUV VRFLHW\ LQ JHQHUDO ľWKDW ZH DUH QRW D łEDUEHOOŃ school made up only of students who are very affluent on the one end, and, on the other end, students who have fewer resources.
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JULIE MAURER ’90 – Academic Dean “Financial aid helps to keep all of the many wonderful opportunities at Mercersburg available to all of our students, not just a select few. Because of the generosity of our financial aid programs, students from all backgrounds are able to consider taking an international study trip, applying for a class with a travel component, or experiencing a show in Washington, DC, as part of our curriculum. In short, financial aid helps promote the democratic spirit of Mercersburg.�
At present, nearly half of Mercersburg students receive financial aid. Meanwhile, tuition has continued to increase by 3 to 4 percent every year. Aordability is the biggest point of concern among many families of pro-spective students today. The size of our tuition can be perceived as a financial hurdle for families who have no history of attending boarding schools. Increasing our endowment and enlarging the pool of funds available WKURXJK WKH Ĺ‚7UXH %OXHĹƒ DQQXDO IXQG DUH HVVHQWLDO 1RW RQO\ GR WKHVH IXQGV 18
help oset tuition expenses, but they are also applied to the other expenses that support the extraordinary Mercersburg experience—field study in major FLWLHV LQ WKH 8 6 DQG DURXQG WKH ZRUOG RXWGRRU HGXFDWLRQ YLVLWLQJ DUWLVWV scholars in residence, and other key components of the Mercersburg Plan. No student should be denied fundamental international-study experiences because of an inability to pay for them.
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PAIGE SUMMERS ’11 “I came to Mercersburg purely on financial aid. I would never have been able to come here otherwise. I am so thankful. It has forever changed my life, molded me into a better person, and truly prepared me for college. It’s something that I will never fully be able to say ‘thank you’ enough for.”
“I can’t stress enough the importance of every contribution and what
GABRIEL HAMMOND ’97
a dierence that makes—and particularly when you think about
Board of Regents
deserving scholarship students and the impact they have on the Mercersburg community.�
T H E
M E R C E R S B U R G
P L A N
The faculty and administration have created the vision of the Mercersburg Plan. It can only be realized if alumni, parents, and friends commit their generous support. That vision is of a Mercersburg where: Ň (YHU\ QHZ JUDGXDWH GUDZV FRQƉGHQWO\ RQ D VHW RI G\QDPLF 21st-century skills; Ň (YHU\ IDFXOW\ PHPEHU LV WUDLQHG WR LQWHJUDWH H[SHULHQWLDO OHDUQLQJ 20
and new technologies into teaching; Ň 7KH HQWLUH 0HUFHUVEXUJ IDFXOW\ GLUHFWO\ IDFLOLWDWHV RXU DPELWLRXV academic and residential-life curricula; Ň ,QFUHDVHG HQGRZPHQW SULQFLSDO SURYLGHV HVVHQWLDO ƉQDQFLDO DLG and allows us to manage tuition increases; Ň Ĺ‚7UXH %OXHĹƒ DOXPQL UHJXODUO\ FRPPLW DQQXDO JLIWV DQG RWKHU forms of support; Ň 0HUFHUVEXUJ LV D OHDGHU DPRQJ VFKRROV QDWLRQDOO\ DQG LQWHUQDWLRQDOO\ as well as the school of choice in our region.
For more information on how you can contribute to the Mercersburg Plan, please contact the Director of Development at 717-328-6323 or the Assistant Head of School for Advancement at 717-328-6109.
300 East Seminary Street, Mercersburg, PA 17236 800-588-2550 | www.mercersburg.edu