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Mercersburg Outdoor Education 30 kayaks, a huge climbing wall,
and so much MOE!
Whether it’s hiking in local state parks or trekking in Peru, MOE (Mercersburg Outdoor Education) is well outfitted to teach you leadership, communication, endurance, respect, and clear decision-making. MOE faculty want you to make good decisions under pressure, appreciate the world around you, and be self-reliant and resourceful. And with MOE, you learn these things while clinging to the face of a cliff or sleeping in a snow cave.
Launched in 2004, MOE thrives in the Masinter Outdoor Education Center, a renovated 10,000square-foot timber-frame barn. That’s enough space to hold the program’s ... • 1,100-square-foot indoor rock-climbing wall • 30 kayaks • 8 canoes • 25 bikes • 100,000 feet of rope MOE OFFERINGS/ OPPORTUNITIES • Backpacking • Ice Climbing • Mountain Biking • Mountaineering Expeditions • Rock Climbing • White Water Kayaking • Wilderness Leadership Training & FirstResponder Certification • Winter Camping
structured, NOT RESTRICTIVE. Residential life at Mercersburg doesn’t just happen. It’s a very thoughtful, intentional program that has been honed over the years to provide the right amount of structure and supervision, yet also plenty of freedom, so that students can truly breathe and enjoy themselves in an environment where they know what the community expects of them. Experienced faculty manage the entire residential life program. All dorms have deans and live-in faculty. Mercersburg’s associate head of school is charged with establishing and maintaining the vision and overall quality of our entire residential life experience. The director of dormitories coordinates the communications and curriculum of the various dorm deans in order to keep dorm life fresh, on track, and rewarding for everyone. Dorm faculty are available all day, every day, so no students should ever feel that they lack a sensitive and informed adult to consult or rely upon, should the occasion arise. The Academy provides both a 24-hour, professionally staffed health center and 24-hour on-campus, roaming security presence. Mercersburg publishes the Community Handbook every year so that all students and their parents have access to the complete guidelines they must follow and the many services and amenities available to them while living at Mercersburg.
ninth-graders ARE SPECIAL. For most ninth-graders, boarding school is a completely new thing. That is why we dedicate two separate dorms for housing ninth-grade boys and girls, respectively. This way, all ninth-graders learn to navigate Mercersburg together and they can make new friends more quickly. Ninth-grade residential life isn’t just about roommates and dorms, it’s also about succeeding academically. For example, it’s the Mercersburg residential life curriculum that requires all ninth-graders to get out of their dorm rooms and into a two-hour study hall every Sunday through
Thursday evening. Faculty actively manage these study halls, with the intent that all ninthgraders have ample opportunity to develop the right kinds of study skills for success in their first year at Mercersburg—and beyond. Life as a ninth-grader has its trying moments. That is why we ask select seniors to conduct Peer Groups for ninth-graders, held weekly during the first two terms. At each Peer Group, the leader discusses an informative topic of interest to ninth-graders, and, in turn, the ninth-graders in each Peer Group have an open and supportive forum in which they can ask questions and share thoughts about dorm issues and life in general at Mercersburg.
stay connected SERVING OTHERS IS BIG AT MERCERSBURG | Living at Mercersburg can push you to explore a deeper definition of what life is. For many, that begins with community service. In fact, a majority of Mercersburg students participate in at least one service project each year. MAPL GAMES AND BURGIN SHOWS | You won’t have to wait for a trip to “the big city”; instead, you can walk only a few yards from your dorm to get your athletic or cultural fix. There’s plenty to take in right here on campus with 26 varsity sports teams and a steady stream of theatrical, musical, and visual arts fare at the Burgin Center for the Arts.
A CLUB FOR EVERY TASTE | Getting involved in clubs and groups on campus gives you the opportunity to meet all kinds of people who enjoy the same things you do. Here are a few of the clubs and organizations, in no particular order: • Ultimate Frisbee • The Fifteen (literary) • Green Team • Math Club • Chorale • Asian Club • Jazz Band • Karux (yearbook) • Stony Batter (theater)
Irving-Marshall Week The primo all-school event of this year and every year. Irving-Marshall Week is the blowout end to the winter term. The entire student body divides into two “societies” (Irving and Marshall) and competes in everything from Ping-Pong and wrestling to chess and swimming. The week culminates in a standing-room-only contest of spirited monologues, famously called Declamation, where the Irving society pits its biggest talents against those of the Marshall society. It ends with a dinner and dance, and the society that wins gets the ultimate prize—bragging rights until the next year’s Irving-Marshall.
• Mercersburg News • Tech Crew • Blue Review (student art and lit) • Bowling Club • Burgin Center Usher • Photography Club • Ski Club • Grilling Club
HANGING OUT IN GOOD OLE FORD | It comes down to this: you gotta love Ford Hall. It is the place to eat, drink, relax, connect, or just hang. Upstairs, Ford feeds our entire school community with dining hall fare of great quality and wide variety. Downstairs, there’s “Lower Ford,” which is practically a community in itself. All day, every day, you can get free coffee, tea, muffins, and the like at Mercersburg Café, not to mention smoothies and other fare for a modest charge. Lower Ford also houses our mailboxes and the student bank, plus a store for the basic necessities and great Mercersburg apparel. On any weekend, you’re liable to find a cookout, a dance, a movie, or an open mic night. There’s a TV, pool tables, and Ping-Pong. You can always find a group or a friend to hang with at Ford.
SPIRIT WEEK | There are spirit rallies and events all week, including a contest for best dormroom decorations. The events climax with a special Alumni Weekend, when athletic and arts events abound, and current students join visiting graduates and their families for the ancient tradition of Steps Songs at Main Hall, a big bonfire, and much more. TRIPS | We’re so convenient to four great cities: Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Which means we regularly schedule supervised student trips to any of the above to enjoy their cultural, athletic, and commercial riches. You may go to Georgetown or maybe the Smithsonian; or you may root for the Orioles, the Nationals, or the Ravens; or just enjoy world-class sightseeing and shopping.
residential life IS A FRIEND�MAKING MACHINE. As a student at Mercersburg, you’re always in the company of equals. In no time you will discover that ninth and 10th graders mesh exceedingly well with 11th and 12th graders, and it isn’t uncommon to find a senior and a ninth-grader becoming the best of friends. This is one of the supreme benefits of residential life among the open and accepting student body that are the hallmark of Mercersburg. And the kinds of friends you will make here will differ from many that you would make at a day school. Consider Mercersburg alumni: whether they are in their 20s or their 60s, their camaraderie speaks volumes about just how deep these friendships are between graduates who lived in the dorm together for years. In a sense, your Mercersburg friends virtually become your brothers and sisters, because you will have been through so many things together—so many learning experiences that will simply never arise in a day-school setting.
prepping FOR THE REAL WORLD. You know what they say: experience is the best teacher. And for a teenager, there is no experience more instructive, more fun, more personally challenging, and more attuned to helping you learn about you than residential life at Mercersburg. Every year, our graduating seniors unfailingly confess that over their four years here, they grew the most by way of their experience of living in community—24/7—with their classmates. There simply is no substitute. When you live with someone for nine consecutive months, you learn a lot about that roommate (plus your hallmates) and yourself—how to behave, how to manage your own emotions when you’re sharing a fairly small space, and so much more. This is the stuff that real life is made of. This is a big reason you come to Mercersburg.
community, Mercersburg style You come here to learn and to grow. And you come to be part of a vibrant boarding-school community. So it’s only natural that Mercersburg Academy should be much more than a school, because it’s the place where you’re going to live for four years. Over time you will find that “going to Mercersburg” and “living Mercersburg” are one and the same, and that being here changes you and your whole definition of community forever. There’s plenty to do here. Sports. Plays. Poetry readings. Dances. Barbeques. Backpacking. Extracurricular life at Mercersburg is full and fun. And just when it seems more than you could imagine, someone (you?) starts a new club.
campus life It’s everywhere and nowhere. It’s right before your eyes and completely invisible. It’s a bonfire and a Burgin show. It’s hanging on the side of a mountain tethered to a single rope, and it’s hanging with friends in Lower Ford on a Friday night. It’s about 430 students who start out each year working on “me being me” only to discover they’ve morphed into “us being us.” Campus life is both the inspiration and the outcome. You can try to describe it, but it’s far better just to find it, tap into it, go with it, and enjoy it, adding your unique energy, creativity, and personality to the marvelous mix. Campus life is community, pure and simple. And we have a place just for you.
Doug Hale Head of School
300 E. Seminary Street, Mercersburg, PA 17236
Design: CEH Design, Inc., Bethel CT • www.cehdesign.com Define Yourself and Define Yourself. Here. are registered service marks of Mercersburg Academy.
717-328-6173
www.mercersburg.edu
C To minimize the impact on the environment,
this publication is printed on paper made with 30% process chlorine-free post-consumer recycled fiber. The paper is also FSC and SFI chain of custody certified and 100% of the electricity used to manufacture the paper is Green-e certified renewable energy. The inks contain a high proportion of renewable vegetable-based ingredients.
Mercersburg Academy abides by both the spirit and the letter of the law in all its employment and admission policies. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.