REFRESH THE RESIDENTIAL LIFE EXPERIENCE

IMAGINE, if you will, the Mercersburg dorm of the future.

What if your teenage boarding school self had a living space that looked and felt more like home, and what if that space contained both historical and contemporary elements?

Welcome to the campus master plan’s second ambition: Refresh the residential life experience. It has been 20 years since the last dorm renovation investment, so it’s time.

“Our goal is to refresh the residential life experience of our students by improving the boarding facilities,” said Jeff Blanchard, architect.

“We understand the importance of maintaining the dormitories, but the high demand makes it challenging to make necessary upgrades to individual facilities.”

To overcome that challenge, a new 42-student dormitory situated near Tippetts and Fowle halls will be constructed. Students initially will live in the new dorm while their current dorms are renovated. Then another group of students will be placed in the new dorm.

“Once the upgrades are completed, students will return to their original dormitory, and we will move on to upgrade another facility,” Blanchard said, noting that the renovation work will begin with the older, smaller dormitories, such as South Cottage, Swank Hall, and Keil Hall.

In essence, your favorite dorm gets a face-lift, with an upgrade of high tech chiseled in.

What could that look like?

Associate Head of School Jennifer Craig has given this some thought, and she envisions spaces that contribute to students’ wellness while allowing them to balance the academic and social aspects of being a teen.

What if dorm rooms were:

• L-shaped to allow for privacy

Various sizes: singles, doubles, triples, quads

What if dorm rooms offered:

• Built-in storage areas

Pocket doors that slide into walls Standing desks

• Motion sensors, and power-saving electrical outlets and lighting fixtures

• Smart TVs

What if each dorm had:

• Common collaborative spaces with entertainment and academic elements, 3D printers, whiteboards, flexible pods, big screens

Bathrooms with private booths, rather than semiprivate stalls

• Food areas providing opportunities to cook Small workout/yoga rooms

• Outdoor spaces for plantings, fire pits

Future dorms could have all or most of these elements. Perhaps they’ll have elements that haven’t been imagined.

When dorms were previously renovated, Wi-Fi was an emerging idea, not a standard offering, noted Associate Head of School for School Life Julie Maurer ’90, P ’18, ’20, ’22, ’23.

“Our buildings and grounds and our techs have done a remarkable job retrofitting those spaces,” Maurer said. “It’s really exciting to think what they could look like if we would design them with that in mind. How do we think about modern spaces for our students to be in that have the kind of modern technology and convenience that they use and need?”

Spaces where students can gather within and around the dorms also will be a priority. That includes thinking about the day student experience and how the school can be more thoughtful about the dorms they also call home. “We cherish our day students, and having students from our local communities is a big part of the culture of Mercersburg,” McDowell said.

The goal is to allow for teenage energy, encourage leadership, and provide privacy, which helps students develop identity.

“Dorms are a special place. This is where an enormous amount of bonding and connecting and learning and growth happens,” McDowell said. “As much as we can, we want our dorms to feel like their home.

“It really is about community space, about intentional spaces for groups of kids and adults living together to go beyond just studying and the basics of life, but really making sure there’s meaningful space for engagement and connection.”