Mercersburg Magazine - Winter 2011/2012 by Mercersburg Academy

Mercersburg A magazine for Mercersburg Academy family and friends

VOLUME 38 NO. 3 wi nter 2012

The Road Less Traveled

page 22

CVR2

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V O L UME 3 8

NO. 3 wi nter 2012

A magazine for Mercersburg Academy family and friends

Mercersburg

The Road Less Traveled

1,055 Words

Inside the annual Mercersburg numbers game. Page 14

The State of College Admissions, 2012 Edition

Director of College Counseling Bill McClintick talks U.S. News rankings, how technology impacts the college-search process, and why some of the most expensive universities are often the most affordable. (Really.) Page 16

Mercersburg Profiles

These alumni road warriors are finding and defining themselves at destinations and on pathways near and far. Page 22

My Say

Standard American English: always under construction. Page 49

You Should Know

This shot of the Irvine Memorial Chapel earned Oliver Zoeller ’13 second place in the Campus Beauty category of the school’s inaugural “Beat the Pros” photo contest. (First place went to Juny Kim ’14 and Caroline Yoo ’13.) To see all the winners, visit www.mercersburg. edu/ beatthepros. Photo credits: p. 2 Chris Crisman; p. 3 Mercersburg Academy Archives; p. 4 (top) courtesy Zoë Tsoukatos; p. 5 (Navy group) Jennifer Pangraze, (faculty) Bill Green, (DiLalla) Stacey Talbot Grasa; p. 6 (Krauss) Pangraze, (Meredith) Mercersburg Academy Archives; p. 8 (Hargrove) David Rolls; p. 9 (dance) Ryan Smith, (Stony Batter) Green; p. 10 (percussion) Lesley Gourley, (Band/Chorale) Pangraze, (strings) Lee Owen; p. 11 (Magalia/Octet) Pangraze; p. 12 Dave Keeseman; p. 13 (golf) Jack Hawbaker, (lacrosse) Keeseman; p. 16 Renee Hicks; p. 21 courtesy Renzhong Chen; p. 24–27 Green; p. 28 courtesy Bruce McLaughlin; p. 30 Dean Shu; p. 31 courtesy Matt Timoney; p. 33 Rod Searcey; p. 34 (action) Christopher Mitchell, (headshot) Macalester College Sports Information; p. 36–38 courtesy David Ashton; p. 48 Lisa Grosser ’14; p. 49 Eric Poggenpohl. Illustrations: cover: Jean-Francois Podevin

From the Head of School Via Mercersburg Arts Athletics Class Notes

Mercersburg magazine is published three times annually by the Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications. Mercersburg Academy 300 East Seminary Street Mercersburg, Pennsylvania 17236 Magazine correspondence: Lee_Owen@mercersburg.edu

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Editor: Lee Owen Class Notes Editor: Tyler Miller Contributors: John David Bennett, Shelton Clark, Susan Pasternack, Michele Poacelli, Zally Price, Jay Quinn, Lindsay Tanton, Wallace Whitworth Art Direction: Aldrich Design Head of School: Douglas Hale

Class Notes correspondence: classnotes@mercersburg.edu

Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications: Wallace Whitworth

Alumni correspondence/ change of address: Leslie_Miller@mercersburg.edu

Assistant Head for Enrollment: Tommy Adams

Read us online: www.mercersburg.edu/magazine

Assistant Head for External Affairs: Mary Carrasco

© Copyright 2012 Mercersburg Academy. All rights reserved. No content from this publication may be reproduced or reprinted in any form without the express written consent of Mercersburg Academy. 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.

From the Head of School

The Road Begins Here

hile this edition of Mercersburg tracks several of our young graduates in their college matriculation choices, it’s worthwhile to take a step back and remember that the first major moment of decision in these students’ educational journeys was when they took the path that led them to their prep school—Mercersburg. As important as college and university experiences can be, I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve heard from alums that attending this fine school in central Pennsylvania was actually the crucial decision which transformed their lives’ trajectories—educationally, personally, and professionally. Since it is true that where we start often shapes and informs how we finish, in education, one’s starting gate can be nothing less than crucial; that start can give a young person all the right stuff to move the finish line, as well as the quality of the finish itself, well beyond anything ever thought possible. I strongly believe that Mercersburg excels in every imaginable way as an excellent starting block, both for college and for life beyond college. The decision of the graduates featured in this magazine (as well as many other graduates) to begin the process of coming to Mercersburg was the starting point for their eventual college choices. Each decided, through being curious or inspired or cajoled (or in earlier times, perhaps even forced) to start the process of coming to Mercersburg. This choice is probably the first big considered decision of our students’ young educational lives. That decision is “considered,” because starting one’s formal secondary school academic life at Mercersburg is not a snap decision; it requires more than simply checking off a list of features that one seeks in a first-rate boarding school. When the list is finally satisfied, though, that’s when the real Mercersburg appears, because the real

Mercersburg is truly greater than the sum of its parts. The real Mercersburg runs deeper, finer, truer than any viewbook or admission video can ever portray. And in its deepest sense, deciding to come to Mercersburg is actually about embarking on a journey to try to find one’s “essential self,” to use the words of Frederick Buechner, the great writer and religious thinker. In his remarkable memoir, The Sacred Journey, Buechner contends that all of us as human beings are basically searching for just three things: our essential selves to be, others to love, and meaningful work to do. I contend that choosing to come to Mercersburg is both a great starting point and an incredibly helpful (and hopeful) platform for young people as they begin their search for those things. When we say “Define yourself. Here.” we’re not sloganeering; we’re simply stating what Mercersburg students say actually happens to them here. At Mercersburg, one is not purely an athlete, or just an artist, or only a math whiz; one will likely be a bit of all those because every student is encouraged to try all these endeavors—simultaneously. Our hope is that starting down this road known as Mercersburg will always lead one day to choosing the college or university of each student’s dreams, not someone else’s dreams. I’m confident the young alums featured in this magazine have charted their own postsecondary educational choices wisely. And much of that confidence comes from being certain that the earlier choice those students made in choosing Mercersburg Academy has prepared them well to make other wise choices along the way.

Douglas Hale Head of School

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D at e s to Re m e m b e r

Mar 16

Mercersburg A roundup of what’s news, what’s new, and what Mercersburg people are talking about.

Cum Laude Convocation 11 a.m., Irvine Memorial Chapel

Jacobs Residency Lecture/Concert: Jonny Dubowsky 7 p.m., Simon Theatre

Apr 23 May 26 Jun 1

Jun 8–10

Commencement, 11 a.m. End of year for underclassmen Reunion Anniversary Weekend

Schedule subject to change; for a full and updated schedule of events, visit www.mercersburg.edu

Passport Required Gift makes international travel central to the Mercersburg experience A generous $3.9 million bequest from Howard Flock ’40 will support international travelstudy programs for Mercersburg students. The gift from Flock, who died in 2009, will further enhance student opportunities far outside the classroom. By immersing themselves in different cultures, students further their awareness of global issues and experiences while learning to make decisions independently. “This wonderful gift from Howard Flock reflects his deep commitment to the life of the mind in general and his belief in particular in the value of travel and exposure to other cultures and world-views in the lives of young people,” says Douglas Hale, Mercersburg’s head of school. After graduating from Mercersburg, Flock earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master of fine arts from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. He was a longtime professor at York University in Toronto, where he helped build an influential psychology department. His older brother, Manfred ’37 (also deceased), was a fellow Mercersburg alumnus. “To travel in a country foreign to a student demands courage and independence, as well as learning to find ways to communicate with others,” says Debbie Rutherford, associate head of school, who is chairing a committee that is overseeing implementation details of the opportunities created by the gift. “Mr.

Flock (far right) as a member of the Mercersburg News staff

Flock had incredible vision in his gift to the school, and his hope for the outcome of student travel experiences connects directly to the Mercersburg approach. This amazing gift will now ensure that these programs are open to Mercersburg students for generations to come and will challenge us to keep the experience authentic and about the student’s personal growth and underst anding of the world.” Approximately 47 percent of Mercersburg’s 2011 graduating class participated in a travel program as students at the school; 39 percent

of those students traveled internationally. Members of the current student body are citizens of 34 nations, including Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, and Vietnam. While financial aid has been available on a limited basis for school trips, the Flock gift will increase opportunities for students regardless of their ability to absorb the travel costs.

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Chocolate, Hollywood Style

From right: Zoë Tsoukatos ’99 and her brothers, Petros and Pantelis, in front of their gifting-lounge display at the Emmys in Los Angeles.

Gift bags distributed to celebrities at the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards in September included chocolates with a distinct Mercersburg connection. Zoë Tsoukatos ’99 is president of Zoë’s Chocolate Co., which has stores in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and Frederick, Maryland, and was selected as the official chocolatier of this year’s Emmys. The company’s pear spice caramels were included in gift bags for Emmy nominees and presenters, plus other celebrities in attendance.

“We had a lot of great comments—there were certainly some oohs and aahs,” says Tsoukatos, who personally accompanied the 100 gift bags to Los Angeles with her brothers, Pantelis and Petros. “[Actress] Melissa Joan Hart has a sweets shop in L.A. and wants to carry our products, which we are very excited about.” All three siblings are third-generation chocolatiers. Their grandfather (also named Petros) arrived in the United States in the early 1900s to help his sister and brother-

Mercersburg Magazine Takes Five For the fifth-straight year, Mercersburg magazine was selected for a CASE District II Accolades Award this winter. The magazine earned the 2012 Gold Award in the full-color independent-school magazine category for the Mid-Atlantic region (which includes six states from New York to West Virginia, the District of Columbia, and parts of Canada and the Caribbean). Mercersburg is the only publication in the category to receive an Accolades Award in each of the past five years. CASE (the Council for Advancement and Support of Education) is the international association for advancement and communications professionals in higher education and independent schools. Faculty member Lee Owen is editor-in-chief of the publication, while Wallace Whitworth is director of Mercersburg’s Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications. Aldrich Design of St. Paul, Minnesota, handles art direction. The magazine is printed at HBP in nearby Hagerstown, Maryland. (Alumnus John Snyder ’76 is HBP’s president.)

in-law run a chocolate store in Waynesboro. His son, George (father of Zoë, Pantelis, and the younger Petros), came to America in the 1970s to work in the family business. Zoë’s Chocolate Co. was founded in 2007. “Going to the Emmys definitely gave us some notoriety,” Tsoukatos says. “I believe we have a truly unique and wonderful product, and to be recognized for it is amazing.” Fox televised the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which were held at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

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An Official Naval Day Vice Admiral Michael H. Miller, the superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, visited Mercersburg in September for lunch with several postgraduates who are attending Mercersburg under the auspices of the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation. It marked the first visit by a Naval Academy superintendent to a nonmilitary Foundation-affiliated high school.

Pictured (L–R): Maddi Thompson ’12, Meredith Wallace ’12, Patricia Neno ’12, Miller, Hunter Harrell ’12, Patrick Lien ’12, Tim Wu ’12. (Behind the group is a portrait of Rear Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey ’30, one of Mercersburg’s three Medal of Honor recipients.)

New Faculty in 2011–2012

Front row (L–R): Katie LaRue (athletics), Emily Geeza (residential), Abby Schindler (classical & modern languages), Hsinwei Chen (classical & modern languages). Back row: Sherri Stone (college counseling), Mark Schindler (admission), Steve Crick (fine arts), Michael Conklin (admission), Matthew D’Annolfo (admission), Amy Kelley (mathematics), Carolyn Bell (mathematics). Not pictured: Laura Patterson (residential), Doug Smith (residential).

Occupying Wall Street, Journal Edition A story by Aric DiLalla ’12 about concussions and football helmets was published on the homepage of the Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition in the fall. DiLalla, of Raleigh, North Carolina, is co-editor-in-chief of the Mercersburg News and wrote the article while attending the prestigious National High School Institute at Northwestern University over the summer. DiLalla spent five weeks on the Northwestern campus as part of the program, which offers sessions in journalism, film/ video, theatre arts, debate, and speech, and counts CBS journalist Charles Kuralt, former U.S. Senator Richard Gephardt, actors David Schwimmer and DiLalla Noah Wyle, and actresses America Ferrara and Shelley Long among its alumni. (DiLalla will enroll at Northwestern as an undergraduate in fall 2012.) His story was one of a handful chosen from writers in the journalism program, which included 84 students from across the nation (and a handful from foreign countries). “The program was really helpful and definitely helped me increase my level of writing,” DiLalla says. “They really critiqued everything pretty heavily. We wrote all kinds of stories—news, features, editorials—and I’ve never had my writing scrutinized the way it was over those five weeks.” DiLalla’s father, Richard ’81, also attended Mercersburg.

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’Burg’s Eye View

campus notes

Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love, gave the Ammerman Family Lecture in October and conducted a workshop with students. She was one of three authors of Mercersburg summer reading selections to visit campus over a 12-month span, j oi ni n g J a m e s M c B r i d e ( Th e Color of Water) and William Kamkwamba ( Th e B oy Wh o Harnessed the Wind). Krauss’ latest book, Great House: A Novel, was a 2010 National Book Award finalist. She was named one of the 20 best writers under 40 by The New Yorker, and her work has also been published in Harper’s, Esquire, and The Best American Short Stories. Other on-campus speakers in the fall included best-selling author and entrepreneur Reza Aslan, who gave the Schaff Lecture on the topic of youth revolution in the Middle East, and television and film producer David Jeffery, who works on the Fox television show Bones and screened his documentary film, The Lesson Plan, for the entire school.

The American Boychoir, based in Princeton, New Jersey, spent two days in Mercersburg in December which included a performance for the school in the Burgin Center for the Arts’ Simon Theatre. Faculty participated in all-day workshops with noted experts Alfie Kohn (who spoke on

the topic of homework) and Ron Taffel (who discussed issues facing today’s teenagers, including technology and social behaviors).

In the fall and winter, Mercersburg hosted student exchange groups and a handful of teachers from schools in Germany, Chile, and—for the first time—China. Seven students from the Gauss Gymnasium in Worms, Germany, spent four weeks on campus in September and October, while eight students from Colegio Alemán de San Felipe in Chile arrived in January for a monthlong stay. January was also the month of an inaugural weeklong exchange with the Nanjing Foreign Language School in China; a group of 11 students and a teacher from Nanjing spent a week at Mercersburg. Student and faculty groups from Mercersburg first visited Gauss in 1999 and Colegio Alemàn in 2008; an Academy student group will travel to Nanjing in the near future.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Ted Meredith (1912) was posthumously inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in October. Meredith captured the 800-meter competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, and won a second gold medal running a leg of the 4x400-meter relay for the U.S. team. He qualified for the Olympic team while still a student at Mercersburg. Meredith, who died in 1957, is one of Mercersburg’s 12 Olympic gold medalists. Alumni of the school have made 54 Olympic appearances and won 20 total medals, and have appeared in all but two non-boycotted Summer Olympics since 1906. Meredith is also enshrined in the National

Correction In the summer 2011 issue, a story on page 34 incorrectly stated the years that Joe Chandler and Tim Rockwell served as Mercersburg’s dean of students. Chandler was dean from 1977 to 1979, while Rockwell held the position from 1979 until 1996. Mercersburg regrets the error.

Track & Field Hall of Fame and the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame.

Blue Review 2011, the most recent edition of the annual literary-arts journal by Mercersburg Academy students, was awarded a top-tier Gold Medal in its category by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The edition, published last May, garnered 957 of a possible 1,000 points, as well as an AllColumbian Award, placing it within the 95th percentile of high-school literary-art publications submitted to the annual judging. The journal is the descendant of The Lit, first published at Mercersburg in 1901. Editors-in-chief were Kathy Clarke ’12 (art) and Lane deCordova ’12 (prose and poetry). Ryan Ma ’11 led the design team, while Harrison Helm ’12 served as managing editor. Meredith

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From the Mailbag Divine Coincidence It was a quiet Saturday at home in Phoenix. The mail came, and I was reading the summer edition of Mercersburg magazine, which had arrived a few minutes before. The Mercersburg graduate in our family was Winston Smoyer ’28. Win lived into his 90s and passed away in 1991. The Mercersburg magazine continues to be sent in the name of his widow, Katherine Smoyer. Win’s brother, Stan ’30, passed away in 2010 at the age of 98. I have been to Mercersburg once. That visit was the occasion of the dedication of the Smoyer Tennis Center in November 1991. Stan Smoyer and his son, David, were there, as was my wife, Anne Smoyer Thomas. Stan informed Win that the new center would bear his name, and Win was pleased to learn of the gift just prior to his death. Mercersburg has always been a part of our family life in the form of hats, sweatshirts, and stories. The story Win was most proud

of centered on his success in the annual Mercersburg Fund appeal for which he was Southern California chair for many years. The total pledges were always significant. On Win’s Southern California list was actor Jimmy Stewart ’28, who usually accounted for the most significant pledge on the list. Another story comes from Win’s final Mercersburg reunion, when he was 89. When he returned home, he was asked if there were other classmates his age in attendance. “Yes,” he said, “three others—but they weren’t able to walk by themselves!” On this Saturday, a series of events fell together to bring Mercersburg into acute focus in my life. At 2 p.m. I was reading the essay by Dr. Richard E. Wentz, a former Mercersburg teacher [page 5, summer 2011 issue]. At exactly the same time, my close friend, Dr. Charles Emerson, a professor of religious studies at Arizona State University, was attending the memorial service for his

longtime friend—the same Dr. Wentz—in Flagstaff, Arizona. Keep in mind I never met Dr. Wentz, but I knew and cared enough about my friend Charles Emerson to know where he was this day and who his friend was who had recently passed away. To me, this represents divine coincidence. The Mercersburg family is clearly much larger and widespread than can be imagined! Steve Thomas Phoenix, Arizona

in the 200 medley relay; the team of Monaghan, Kupke, Kevin Carroll ’11, and Tom Zhang ’12 turned in a time of 1:33.06, ranking 15th on the Swimming World list. In the team st andings, Mercersburg tied St. Francis de Sales High School of Toledo, Ohio, for eighth place. The Bolles School of Jacksonville, Florida, topped the rankings. “It’s always an honor for our swimmers to be recognized and score points in this event, which is a mythical national championship,” says Pete Williams, Mercersburg’s head swim coach since 1988. “In order to earn any

points at all, you have to finish in the top 16 in the nation in your race. So it’s great recognition for our athletes.” A story in the same issue of S w i m m i n g Wo r l d listed Mercersburg as the No. 4 highschool boys’ swim program of all time, behind Mission Viejo [Calif.], Bolles, and St. Xavier [Cincinnati]. Mercersburg was ranked one spot ahead of longtime rival and Mid-Atlantic Prep League foe Peddie.

Dr. Thomas is a retired surgeon who attended Stanford University and Stanford Medical School. His wife, Anne Smoyer Thomas, is Win Smoyer’s eldest daughter and Stan Smoyer’s niece. (Win and Stan’s younger brother, Charlie ’33, died in 2007 at age 92.) To read an obituary for Richard Wentz, see page 48 of this issue.

Pool Party Mercersburg’s boys’ swim team finished tied for eighth in the independent-schools division of the 2011 Swimming World National High School Championships (which simulates a mythical national-championship meet using the nation’s top times from the 2011 season). The rankings were published in the September 2011 issue of Swimming World magazine, which compiles the list each year. The Blue Storm’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Tareq Kaaki ’11, Kevin Shivers ’13, Conor Monaghan ’11, and Linc Kupke ’11 posted a 1:23.34 effort, good for third nationally. (The team recorded the time at the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming Championships in February 2011, which was good for first place.) Mercersburg also won an Easterns title

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Brian Hargrove Appointed Assistant Head of School for Advancement Head of School Douglas Hale announced the appointment of Brian H. Hargrove as Mercersburg’s assistant head of school for advancement, effective June 4, 2012. Hargrove succeeds Mary K. Carrasco, who discussed with Hale in the spring of 2011 that she and her husband intended to relocate outside the Mercersburg area. “All of us are extremely excited that Brian Hargrove has accepted our invitation to join the Mercersburg family as our next assistant head of school for advancement,” Hale said. “I very much wanted this person to be a highly experienced frontline fundraiser who could work with great ease and effectiveness among all donors, both parents and alumni; a strategic thinker and planner; a true professional who knows how to partner with the head of school, but who also works harmoniously and with great effectiveness with all of the Mercersburg faculty and staff; someone who can lead, manage, and truly inspire the members of the alumni and development office; and someone who demonstrates a strong desire to be an active and engaged member of the Mercersburg community. We have that person in Brian Hargrove. “It is also very important that I take this opportunity to thank publicly Mary Carrasco for all she has done for Mercersburg since coming to the school in 1999 as director of development, which included direction of the Mightily Onward capital campaign and, since 2007, as the assistant head of school for external affairs. Everyone at Mercersburg will sorely miss her leadership, vision, dedication, innovation, partnership, and love of Mercersburg. We wish Mary and Phil our very best as they relocate to a new community where both can maximize their career and personal aspirations.” Hargrove is the director of development for St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas, one of the finest independent day schools in the country. An alumnus of St. Mark’s, he has served as director of development there since February 2004 and directs all development operations, including capital campaign planning and giving, annual fund, advancement services, and alumni relations. Hargrove received a B.A. from Gettysburg College, where he was president of the student body, and an MBA from Texas State University. He, his wife, Linda, and their four young children will relocate to Mercersburg this summer. Hargrove spent two days in January with the Mercersburg Board of Regents as an observer at the Board’s winter meetings in Philadelphia. “Linda and I are so excited to be a part of the Mercersburg family. We appreciate its unique qualities and deeply value its collective impact on young women and men,” Hargrove said. “Moreover, I am thrilled to join such an impressive team. As I learned more and more about the Academy, I discovered a clear commitment among the faculty, the administration, and the volunteer leaders to an

The Hargrove File Education St. Mark’s School of Texas B.A., Gettysburg College MBA, Texas State University Selected experience St. Mark’s School of Texas (director of development) PCI: the data company (account executive working with colleges/independent schools) Heyman Associates (vice president/partner) Gettysburg College (associate/assistant director of capital giving, regional development officer) Family Wife, Linda; children, Lois, Faith, Mac, Mary Claire

even more promising future, in addition to their recognition of the important role that our advancement team will play in supporting the mission for years to come. I look forward to partnering with the school community to make Mercersburg an even better place for current and future generations of students.” Prior to St. Mark’s, Hargrove was an account executive with PCI: the data company in Dallas, which provides data, publishing, and software products to universities, colleges, and independent schools. Prior to PCI, he was a vice president and partner with Heyman Associates, an executive search firm in New York City. He acquired his initial fundraising experience at his alma mater, Gettysburg College, where he held three progressively important positions: regional development officer, assistant director of capital giving, and associate director of capital giving. “I’m delighted that Brian will be joining us at Mercersburg,” said Denise Dupré ’76, president of Mercersburg’s Board of Regents. “He is an ideal match for us in every regard. The Board of Regents wanted someone in this critical position who would truly fall in love with Mercersburg Academy and demonstrate a real passion for secondary education. I’m totally confident he is up to the job—and then some.” Mary Carrasco echoed Dupré’s enthusiasm. “Brian is going to bring a great deal of high quality experience from St. Mark’s and Gettysburg College, particularly wonderful experience with young alumni programs, plus parent and alumni relations in general,” Carrasco said. “I’m very confident in his ability to take Mercersburg’s program to the next level, and I’m really excited that the achievements we have made over the last several years are only going to increase under his leadership. “I’m happy that I had the opportunity to build on a very strong program. The faculty, administration, and Board of Regents have adopted an exciting set of initiatives to support the Mercersburg Plan and the school has commitments of approximately $70 million toward the fundraising to support those initiatives. And I am grateful for all the alumni, parents, and friends who have made Mercersburg an important part of their philanthropy.”

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Arts

D at e s to Re m e m b e r

Mar 18–19

Chorale trip to New York City

Apr 28

Mar 30

Spring Pops Concert

May 6

Spring Dance Concert Stony Batter Players: Shakespeare Scenes

Schedule subject to change; for a full and updated schedule of events, visit www.mercersburg.edu

Dance director: Denise Dalton “Some Assembly Required,” featuring choreography by Denise Dalton and music by Coldplay

Jennifer Nelson ’13 performs “Kitri’s Variation” from the 1869 ballet Don Quixote

Stony Batter Players directors: Laurie Mufson, Matt Maurer, Steve Crick

(above) Stefany Pham ’13 and Alex Boyd ’13 in World War Z (adapted by Matt Maurer) (left) Lane deCordova ’12 and Nnanna Onyewuchi ’12 in Rumors

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Instrumental Music

directors: Richard Rotz, Jack Hawbaker, Michael Cameron

String Ensemble Jazz Band

Percussion Ensemble

Chorale

Vocal Music

directors: Richard Rotz, Jim Brinson

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Visual Art faculty: Mark Flowers, Wells Gray, Kristy Higby

Jelena Zhang ’13, acrylic painting (above) Suzanne Holcomb ’13, ceramics (top right) Min Hee Lee ’12, acrylic painting (bottom right)

Octet (below)

Magalia (above)

Athletics Dates to Remember

Mar 24

Varsity athletics vs. Lawrenceville

Apr 23

Varsity athletics vs. Blair

May 12

May 22–26 PAISAA State Baseball Tournament

(sites TBD)

MAPL Track & Field Championships (at Hightstown, New Jersey)

Schedule subject to change; for a full and updated schedule of events, visit www.mercersburg.edu

Spring Varsity Athletics Roundup Baseball

Baseball Award (most outstanding player): Christian Binford ’11 Brent Gift Baseball Award (most improved player): Matt MacMahon ’12 Swoope Baseball Trophy (sportsmanship/good fellowship): Matt Timoney ’11 Head coach: Karl Reisner (20th season) Record: 19–7 (5–1 MAPL) Highlights: The team won its sixth MAPL title in 11 years in the league, defeating Peddie and Hun in the MAPL tournament… Binford, a right-handed pitcher (9–2, 0.58 earned-run average), signed with the Kansas City Royals after being drafted in the 30th round in June’s Major League Baseball FirstYear Player Draft; he had originally committed to play collegiately at Virginia… Binford and Reisner swept the [Chambersburg] Public Opinion’s Player and Coach of the Year awards, respectively; the paper named Binford, Timoney, and Lorenzo Vazquez ’13 to its all-area squad and put MacMahon and Sam Rodgers ’11 on its honorablemention team… Binford, Timoney, Vazquez, and Tucker Sandercock ’11 were named first-team AllMAPL, while MacMahon earned honorable-mention accolades… Timoney will play at Harvard and Will Levangie ’11 at Bates… Binford and Timoney earned varsity letters all four years… Levangie and Timoney were Academic All-MAPL selections.

Golf

Golf Award (most outstanding player): Harrison Brink ’11 Coaches’ Award (most improved player): Chuck Mellott ’11 Head coach: Paul Galey (12th season) MAPL finish: 4th Highlights: At the MAPL Championship, which was played in a Ryder Cup-format (three teams of two playing an alternate-shot format on the front nine and better-ball on the back), Mellott and August Jonas ’11 tied for third with a 78, while Brink and Otto Bunjapamai ’13 shot 79… during the regular season, the Storm defeated Hill and Hun

in head-to-head play but fell to Lawrenceville and Peddie… Jonas and Brink were All-MAPL selections, while Mellott was an honorable-mention pick… Jonas was the Blue Storm’s low scorer in a teamhigh five head-to-head matches; Mellott was the low scorer in four matches and Brink in three… Seth Noorbakhsh ’13 earned Academic All-MAPL recognition… Jonas began playing for Navy in the fall... beginning with the 2011–2012 academic year, golf is now a fall sport at Mercersburg, allowing the Blue Storm to compete in the IPSL and PAISAA state tournaments.

Boys’ Lacrosse

Captains: Giovanni DeSantis ’11, Peter Flanagan ’11 Boys’ Lacrosse Award (most outstanding player): Brendan Supple ’12 Lacrosse Alumni Award (most improved player): Alex Kelly ’12 Nelson T. Shields ’70 Lacrosse Award (spirit/ teamwork/sportsmanship): James Hendrickson ’11 Head coach: Mike Mitchell (2nd season) Record: 4–10 (0–5 MAPL)

Highlights: Supple was the nation’s leader in saves with 283 (eight more than his next-closest competitor in goal) and has given a verbal commitment to Le Moyne College… the team won three straight games in the middle of the season (against Wyoming Seminary, Twin Valley Lacrosse Club, and Perkiomen) en route to its highest single-season win total since 2006… Supple, Roy Simmons ’11, and Will Walter ’14 all were chosen for honorable-mention All-MAPL honors… Patrick O’Brien ’11 earned a varsity letter all four years… Jack Flanagan ’14 and Chris Hackett ’13 were named Academic All-MAPL… Mark Schindler, who played at Wesleyan University and coached Hampton Roads Academy to the Virginia state semifinals in 2011, has been named head coach beginning in the 2012 season.

Girls’ Lacrosse

Captains: Shelley LaMotte ’12, Maria Loyacona ’12, Phoebe Moore ’13 Girls’ Lacrosse Award (most outstanding player): LaMotte

Coaches’ Award (most improved player): Hanna Warfield ’13 Head coach: Rick Hendrickson (1st season) Record: 4–9 (0–5 MAPL) Highlights: The team finished the season with a three-game win streak that included victories over Foxcroft, Perkiomen, and Middleburg… the team fell one goal short of the school singlegame goal record in a 23–11 win over University High of Morgantown, West Virginia… LaMotte earned first-team All-MAPL honors, while Jordan Shihadeh ’14 and Syd Godbey ’14 were named honorable mention… Shihadeh was the team’s leading scorer, tallying 39 goals and 15 assists for a total of 54 points… LaMotte caused a teamhigh 22 turnovers, Nina McIntosh ’12 led in draw controls (38), and Warfield was tops in ground balls (53)… Syd Godbey ’14 piled up 171 saves and stopped 49 percent of shots she faced… Warfield and Sasha Karbach ’12 both earned Academic AllMAPL honors… Hendrickson served as interim head coach in place of Sarah Mason, who was on maternity leave. Mason will return as head coach in the spring.

Softball

Captains: Audrey Brown ’11, Julie Garlick ’11 Softball Award (most outstanding player): Garlick Coaches’ Award (most improved player): Val Langlois ’12 Head coach: John David Bennett (2nd season) Record: 6–10 (0–5 MAPL) Highlights: Garlick, who will play at Haverford in the spring, was a first-team All-MAPL selection as a shortstop and also made the Public Opinion’s all-area second team; she also lettered all four years… Garlick led the team in batting average (.585), hits (24), runs (17), doubles (seven), and stolen bases (12), while Nikki Rhyne ’12 was tops on the squad in home runs (four) and runs batted in (12)… Shelby Smith ’14 slugged a team-high four triples… though the Storm struggled in MAPL play, it did go a perfect 4–0 against IPSL competition (St. Maria Goretti, St. James, Maryland School for the Deaf)

and finished the year with four wins in its final five games… Langlois and Abby Hopple ’14 represented the squad on the Academic All-MAPL team.

Boys’ Tennis

Boys’ Tennis Award (most outstanding player): Paul Kreifels ’12 Coaches’ Award (most improved player): Gun Ho Ro ’14 Head coach: Eric Hicks (17th season) Dual match record: 5–6 (2–3 MAPL) MAPL finish: 4th Highlights: A season after going winless, the Storm bounced back to finish one match away from the .500 mark… Kreifels, the team’s No. 1 singles player, was All-MAPL in singles play and as half of the No. 1 doubles team (with Ben Bunjapamai ’11)… the team claimed MAPL victories over Hill and Hun by identical 6–1 scores, and beat St. Paul’s, Chambersburg, and John Handley in nonconference matches... Albert Lam ’14 had the team’s best singles record (7–2) playing mostly at the No. 5 position… Bunjapamai’s combined 10–6 mark at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles was tops on the squad… Eli Littlefield ’11 earned a varsity letter all four years… Kreifels was also a distinguished scholar and was named to the Academic All-MAPL team.

Boys’ Track & Field

Boys’ Track & Field Award (most outstanding athlete): Donya Jackson ’11 Robert Fager Black ’07/’45 Trophy (sportsmanship/ loyalty): Matt Cook ’11 Edward J. Powers ’37 Award (most improved athlete): Zack Holzwarth ’13 Head coach: Frank Rutherford ’70 (11th season) MAPL/state finish: 4th/12th Highlights: The 4x100m relay team of Jackson, Taku Yamane ’12, Bobby Burg ’11, and Justin Reyes ’12 finished second at the MAPL Championships, the PAISAA Championships, and at the Penn Relays in the independent-prep division… Holzwarth took second in the pole vault at the PAISAA meet, while Gerverus Flagg ’12 (5th/discus), Cook (5th/3200m)

and David Roza ’11 (6th/3200m) also placed high… other top MAPL performers included Chall Montgomery ’11 (who finished second in both the high jump and long jump) and Roza, who took third in the 3200m… Cook was a four-year letterwinner… Cook and Palis Tarasansombat ’11 earned Academic All-MAPL honors.

Girls’ Track & Field

Girls’ Track & Field Award (most outstanding athlete): Brittany Burg ’13 Robert Fager Black ’07/’45 Trophy (sportsmanship/ loyalty): Mackenzie Riford ’11 Edward J. Powers ’37 Award (most improved athlete): Ashley Heisey ’12 Head coach: Nikki Walker (2nd season) MAPL/state finish: 2nd/4th Highlights: Riford and Paige Summers ’11 became the 20th and 21st athletes in Mercersburg history to earn 12 varsity letters during their athletic careers at the school… Sarah Firestone ’13 won the MAPL and PAISAA championships in the javelin, setting a school record (122–4) in the process… Summers, who won the discus at the PAISAA meet, also placed in the shot put (fourth) and javelin (sixth)… Heisey also set a school record in the pole vault (9–3) at the MAPL Championships, where she took first… other individual MAPL event winners included Burg (400m hurdles, 1:07.97) and Abby Colby ’12 (3200m, 5:31.71)… the team was undefeated in dual meets and captured the IPSL title… at the state meet, the 4x800m relay team of Riford, Colby, Julia Steinhage ’12, and Sophie Ostmeier ’13 placed second and Burg was fourth in the 400m hurdles… Emma Clarke ’14 and Melody Gomez ’13 were named Academic All-MAPL.

1,055 Words

Michelle Skuba Gray ’12 and Abby Ryland ’12 stroll on public artwork painted by this year’s group of seniors that have attended Mercersburg all four years. Each year, the four-year seniors gather late one night to put a distinctive stamp on the intersection where East Seminary Street meets Rutledge Road in front of Main Hall. Photo by Kevin Gilbert.

Mercersbu rg magazi n e wi nter 2012

Th e state o f

College Admissions 2012

edition

with

Bill McClintick Mercersburg’s Director of College Counseling past president of both the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling (PACAC)

Interview by Lee Owen

Mercersburg magazine: Is it tougher for qualified student applicants to get into what are considered “top” colleges today, compared with decades ago? McClintick: It is more difficult. The reality is that the application pools at top schools have grown exponentially. Over the last 10 to 15 years, admit rates have dropped precipitously. Almost every single Ivy League school now has an admit rate below 10 percent. And those numbers are still comprised of the best and the brightest, so it’s not as if applicant pools have declined in quality. In fact, the applicant pool has gotten stronger. Much of this is due to the fact that most major universities have broadened their recruiting efforts geographically. In addition, schools are now taking a far higher percentage of international applicants than they did 15 to 20 years ago, which only increases the level of competition. MM: Has Mercersburg always been a place where students ended up at a wide variety of college destinations, or is this a more recent phenomenon? McClintick: Certainly during the time of my predecessor, Wirt Winebrenner ’54, who ran college counseling here back in the 1970s and 1980s, things began to change. I can recall visiting Mercersburg back in the 1980s as a college-admissions representative [from Hartwick College and later Kalamazoo College], and being impressed by the breadth of schools Mercersburg kids considered. Even back then, Mercersburg had become a somewhat atypical prep school in terms of the range of options that its students considered.

MM: A couple years ago, when talking about previous generations of students and families, you said that “people were far less obsessed with where they went to school than they are now.” Why is that? McClintick: There’s absolutely no doubt that the media is far more interested in college admission now than when my generation or yours went to school. When I was a child in the 1970s, most of my peers applied to three or four colleges. The average high-school senior at a place like Mercersburg is applying to 10 colleges now. There’s no doubt that the introduction of rankings and the blind acceptance of those rankings as a true statement of quality quite often is clouding people’s judgment. It has made it a much more difficult process. At many prep schools, there’s a tendency for kids to cluster in applying to the same schools. In addition, colleges have also become more aggressive in marketing themselves. There are more earlyapplication options, fee waivers, and all sorts of tactics to boost applications, which allows schools to reject more applicants—which, in turn, lowers each school’s acceptance rate, therefore making those institutions more selective, which helps in prestige and the U.S. News & World Report rankings. The Common Application has made the application process much easier, which is both a blessing and a curse. In the early 1990s, the average number of applications per student was about six, and now it’s about 10. That may not sound like a lot, but when you extrapolate it over an entire class, it is a lot. It has become easier because of technology, which is a catch-22. It’s easier for students and colleges to process application materials, but it also makes it a little too easy because students can be less thoughtful about where they’re applying.

Mercersbu rg magazi n e wi nter 2012

MM: Has technology affected the process in other ways? McClintick: It has made it easier for students to research options but has also been very problematic for colleges, because they are receiving a lot of what they call “stealth applications”—an application from a student that they have had no contact with. The student may have thoroughly researched the school’s programs and may be a great fit for the school, but because he/she hasn’t followed the traditional model of interacting with a school [calling or writing the college for information or a catalog, then following up with an application], it’s harder for the school to gauge the applicant’s true level of interest. Out-of-the-blue applications drive admission officers crazy. But technology has made the process so much easier. Schools today are trying to get to kids earlier. They’re sending email blasts to 10th graders or younger students, leading to acceleration of the process. As we sit here [in December], 85 percent of our seniors have applied somewhere. That’s an unusually high number—and most of the kids that haven’t applied anywhere yet are our postgraduates, many of whom are attending Mercersburg in hopes of receiving appointments to Annapolis or West Point. Even many of the state universities have added early “priority” dates to try to get kids into the process sooner. There is a lot of pressure on the kids.

MM: Just 15 years ago, the percentage of Mercersburg students enrolling at schools on the Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges list of “most competitive” schools was 18 percent. For the Class of 2011, that number was 47 percent. What do you think are the reasons for this? McClintick: The reality is that I do think Mercersburg’s reputation nationally has increased. At the same time, though, more colleges now fall into that “most competitive” category. The number of schools that were “most competitive” 20 years ago is probably half of what the number is now. The criteria haven’t changed, but the number of schools that meet the criteria has changed. Students at Mercersburg do tend to look far and wide. We’re probably even more national in our distribution than we were 20 years ago. The truth is that today a Pennsylvania resident who is willing to look at a school in California or Oregon may have an advantage over the same kid who wants to stay in Pennsylvania. MM: How has the economic downturn affected how students and families approach the college-application process? Obviously the demand for financial aid has increased, which we’ve seen at the boarding-school level as well. McClintick: Almost everywhere, financialaid resources have not been able to keep up

with financial need. So from a counseling perspective, it has really impacted how we advise students that we know will have financial need. We encourage those students to apply to more places because they need the ability to compare aid packages, and they have to develop financial backups as a part of their college lists, which completely changes the process. Not only do you make sure each student has “reaches,” “midranges,” and “likely” schools, but you have to make sure they have financial options that you know the family can handle. It can be very difficult because gaining admission to a school and getting enough funding from a school are two very different matters. Every year we might have eight to 10 cases where a kid will get into a college but simply can’t afford it. It’s a fairly significant percentage. What some will find interesting is that in many cases, a student’s best options from a financial standpoint may come from the most expensive schools, since many of the more well-endowed schools can give better aid packages. If you apply to a state school or a less-expensive private school, it may very well be harder to get the funding from there due to sheer numbers and a lack of resources. MM: By and large, are today’s students more interested in an “individual” college experience than they used to be? Are they more interested in finding the school that

Percentages of Graduating Class Enrolling at Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges’ “Most Competitive” Institutions 50% 47% 43%

40%

43% 37%

Percentage of enrollees

30%

29% 26% 22%

20% 15%

14%

13%

’92

’93

10%

’91

’94

year OF GRADUATING CLASS

21%

19%

18%

’95

’96

’97

24%

’99

’00

29%

26% 24%

24%

23%

19%

’98

’01

’02

’03

’04

’05

’06

’07

’08

’09

’10

’11

Mercersbu rg magazi n e wi nter 2012

fits them best instead of only wanting to go to School X because that’s where their grandparents or parents went, or because they had always dreamed of going to, say, Harvard or Yale? McClintick: It always has been and always will be the case that “name” will drive decisions for a number of students. But, in our case, I would still say the majority of our kids are focused on fit. MM: How has the business of college admission—private consultants, parental and societal emphasis on SAT prep courses— changed things? McClintick: It has certainly ramped up the anxiety. It’s amazing how many cottage industries have sprung up around the process that literally did not exist 20 years ago. U.S. News has been producing its “America’s Best Colleges” rankings for almost 20 years; the Barron’s rankings have been around longer than that, and Barron’s is driven more by academic profile. In particular, U.S. News has a lot of different variables in its rankings that are certainly subjective and intentionally tweaked every year so that schools move up and down. And there are many more organizations putting out rankings than there used to be. Sometimes these are about the only resources students have. If you look at a lot of public high schools, you might have a 300-to-1 student-counselor ratio—and that’s good compared to other schools. In those cases, where can a student and a family turn? To guides, U.S. News, test-prep firms, and resources like those. MM: How do you help students manage the stress that goes along with choosing where to apply, getting top grades here to make themselves more attractive to schools, and—in some cases—being rejected by a “dream” school? McCli ntick: We always try to have a conversation with them—“you will go to college, you’ll go someplace good, and you’ll probably find a place that is a very good fit for you because the vast majority do.” It’s a challenge to keep kids from stressing out. I still think our students [at Mercersburg] are

Class of 2011: College (non)Confidential The 126 members of Mercersburg’s Class of 2011 are attending 84 different institutions. 31 are public institutions. Most-popular choices: 7 United States Naval Academy 5 Lehigh University 4 Bucknell University 4 United States Military Academy 4 University of Southern California

3 Boston University 3 Hobart and William Smith Colleges 3 North Carolina State University 3 University of Virginia

Farthest from Mercersburg (international division) Cambridge University (Cambridge, England), 3,656 miles Farthest from Mercersburg (domestic division) Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, Calif.), 2,363 miles Closest to Mercersburg Shepherd University (Shepherdstown, W. Va.), 27.6 miles Highest elevation Western State University of Colorado (Gunnison, Colo.), 7,704 feet above sea level Highest elevation (non-Colorado division) Frostburg State University (Frostburg, Md.), 2,068 feet above sea level Lowest elevation (it’s a tie!) Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, Fla.), 3 feet above sea level U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.), 3 feet above sea level Largest undergraduate enrollment Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 38,594 Smallest undergraduate enrollment St. John’s College (Annapolis, Md.), 450 Source: Google Maps, individual school websites

saner than what a lot of my colleagues put up with in different day schools or other pressure cookers. MM: What will the future look like from a college perspective both for kids graduating from high schools like Mercersburg and for college applicants in general? McClintick: I think that 20 years from now, the landscape will look different yet again. It will be driven in large part by demographics—both in terms of where the population is going to be geographically and what it will look like ethnically—and

economics. Community colleges should continue to grow, and some of the lessselective private and even public schools in states where there are declining populations may close or consolidate. Schools like Mercersburg will probably reap the benefits in that our population demographics may change to some extent and may be affected by economic conditions, but probably not as dramatically as the general population. Colleges will continue to actively seek out applicants from places like Mercersburg.

Mercersbu rg magazi n e wi nter 2012

Plenty of Choices Success and happiness: more important than a name-brand college diploma By Renzhong Chen ’89

Many visitors equate the Great Wall of China with Badaling in Beijing, the most famous section of the Wall that was the first to be restored and opened to the public. Some even insist on going there. If so many people go there, including Presidents Nixon and Obama, it must be good, right? Well, most come away disappointed—not because Badaling itself is any less majestic than other sections, but simply because it is too crowded. Before visitors can see the entrance, they find themselves disoriented in the midst of a massive parking lot with hundreds of tour buses and even more cars. There are long lines everywhere: at ticket windows, restrooms, and restaurants. One can hardly have a photo taken without other people in the frame.

To see a profile of Chen from the spring 2011 issue of Mercersburg magazine, visit www.mercersburg.edu/badaling or scan this QR code with your smartphone or other mobile device.

Some do get to enjoy Badaling: those who love and thrive in crowds, those who beat the crowds by venturing farther than most, and the privileged few who can have the whole place cleared for them. For the rest, Badaling can be drudgery. The popularity of Badaling is largely a self-fulfilling prophecy. The point, my friend, is that just because many people want to go somewhere doesn’t mean you should go there as well, and you should well consider this principle when selecting a college. See, I am Chinese. Like many Asian children, I was brought up worshiping Harvard and Yale and Cambridge and Oxford. The rest were just The Rest. Fate put me on another path, however. The very moment I was receiving my diploma from Mercersburg Academy on June 3, 1989, a great convulsion started to seize China. I had planned to return home, but now I was stranded, without having applied to a U.S. college and without money. In a heroic effort, the goodly college counselors at Mercersburg somehow found me two private

Mercersbu rg magazi n e wi nter 2012

schools that offered me admission and, equally important, a full scholarship. I ended up going to Lafayette College. I am as grateful to this day as I was back then. However, I had not heard of Lafayette College, and the only thing I was sure of was that it belonged to The Rest. I started wondering what it was like. As it turned out, it was rather like Mercersburg, at least in the campus atmosphere. At the age of 19, having gone through a turbulent time with little news from home and no means to support myself, Lafayette became my safe harbor. There were people there to welcome, orient, and guide me. I could easily find professors after classes to answer my questions. A few of them invited me to their homes just to shoot the breeze. The school accountant even sat me down for an hour and taught me how to file my first U.S. tax return. I did very well at Lafayette and went to Stanford University for graduate studies. After working in Boston for a few years, I went back to China and co-founded eLong. com, which is now Expedia China. In China, I have come across quite a number of former students in the U.S., some of whom are truly impressive (see table above). So who gets into good graduate schools? As you can tell from the list below, you don’t have to be a Harvard undergraduate to be a Harvard graduate student. A good college will give you a better chance, but the most important factor is how well you do in college. And how well you do in college has a great deal to do with whether you and the college are a good fit. If you know what you want, and feel comfortable forging ahead in a crowded environment independently, then a large

Renzhong Chen ’89 was the first Mercersburg graduate from mainland China. He came to Mercersburg on an ASSIST (American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers) scholarship for a single year. He received a scholarship to Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1993, and he received his master’s degree from Stanford University. While working in Boston, he met Lee Zhang, who later recruited him to return to China to work in a start-up Internet venture. In 1999, along with Wall Street banker Justin Tang, Chen and Zhang founded eLong.com, a successful Beijing-based travel site that was acquired by Expedia.

“power” school may be right for you. If you need a nurturing environment with a bit more space to shine, then a small liberal-arts college will probably serve you better. The reputation of a college is important, of course, but first and foremost, consider how well your college can prepare you for the next and most important leg of your education. Whatever you do, try not to be blindsided by the Badaling Syndrome and simply follow others. There are plenty of extraordinary schools among The Rest that can catapult you to the pinnacle of your education.

Station in Life

Undergraduate School

Chief counsel, POBC (China’s Central Bank)

Renmin University, China

Stanford University/Harvard University

Graduate School(s)

Co-founder, eLong.com/iKang

Concordia College, Minnesota

Harvard University

CFO, E-House China

Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

CEO, China eCapital

Harvard University, Massachusetts

Harvard University (MBA)

CEO, Super 8 China

Hope College, Michigan

University of Pennsylvania/Wharton School (MBA)

Prominent tech investor

(none)

University of California, Berkeley

Chairman and co-founder, Ctrip.com

Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

Georgia Tech

Head of Microsoft Research China

USTC, China

George Washington University

Former head, Merrill Lynch China

Brandeis University, Massachusetts

Harvard University (MBA)

Founder, Sohu.com

Tsinghua University, China

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chairman, China Equity

HUST, China

Tsinghua University/Rutgers University (MBA)

CEO, Dangdang.com

Beijing Foreign Language University

New York University (MBA)

Adelphi University • Albion College • Albright College • Alfred University • Allegheny College • American University • Amherst Co College • Austin College • Babson College • Ball State University • Bard College • Barnard College • Barry University • Baruch C College • Benedictine College • Bentley University • Bethany College • Binghamton University • Birmingham-Southern College • University • Bridgewater College • Brown University • Bryant University • Bryn Mawr College • Bucknell University • California I • California State University, Northridge • California University of Pennsylvania • Campbell University • Canisius College • Carlet Centre College • Chapman University • Chatham College • Christopher Newport University • Claremont McKenna College • Clari College • Colby-Sawyer College • Colgate University • College of Charleston • College of New Jersey • College of New Rochelle • C • Columbia University • Columbus College of Art and Design • Connecticut College • Cooper Union for the Advancement of Scien • DeSales University • Dickinson College • Drew University • Drexel University • Duke University • Duquesne University • Earlha College • Elmira College • Elon University • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University • Emerson College • Emory & Henry College • University • Florida Gulf Coast University • Florida International University • Florida Southern College • Florida State University • • Gannon University • George Mason University • George Washington University • Georgetown University • Georgia Institute o • Greensboro College • Grinnell College • Guilford College • Gustavus Adolphus College • Hamilton College • Hampden-Sydne Pacific University • Hendrix College • High Point University • Hobart and William Smith Colleges • Hofstra University • Hollins U • IE University • Illinois Institute of Technology • Indiana University Bloomington • Indiana University of Pennsylvania • Iona C Johns Hopkins University • Juniata College • Kalamazoo College • Kent State University • Kenyon College • King’s College • Ku University • Lafayette College • Lake Forest College • Lancaster University • Lasell College • Lebanon Valley College • Lees-McRa College • Lewis & Clark College • Limestone College • Linfield College • London School of Economics • Longwood University • Lo University • Loyola University Chicago • Loyola University Maryland • Loyola University New Orleans • Luther College • Lynchbur College • Manhattanville College • Marist College • Marquette University • Maryland Institute College of Art • Marymount U Design • Massachusetts Institute of Technology • McDaniel College • McGill University • Merrimack College • Messiah College • • Middlebury College • Millersville University of Pennsylvania • Millsaps College • Montana State University-Bozeman • Mon Morehouse College • Morrisville State College • Mount Allison University • Mount Holyoke College • Mount Saint Mary’s Univer Florida • New Hampshire Institute of Art • New York University • Niagara University • North Carolina Central University • Uni North Carolina State University • Northeastern University • Northwestern University • Norwich University • Oberlin College • Ohio Wesleyan University • Old Dominion University • Oregon State University • Otis College of Art and Design • Otterbein Uni School for Design • Paul Smith’s College • Pennsylvania State University, Abington • Pennsylvania State University, Altoona • Penn State University, Lehigh Valley • Pennsylvania State University, Mont Alto • Pennsylvania State University, Schuylkill • Pennsylvan • Point Park University • Pomona College • Pratt Institute • Presbyterian College • Princeton University • Purdue University • Q School of Design • Rhodes College • Rice University • Rider University • Ringling College of Art and Design • Roanoke College • Jersey • Rutgers University in Newark • Sacred Heart University • Sage College of Albany • Saint Augustine’s College • Saint Fran Vincent College • Salisbury University • San Diego State University • Santa Clara University • Savannah College of Art and Desig University • Seton Hall University • Seton Hill University • Sewanee: The University of the South • Shenandoah University • S Pennsylvania • Smith College • Southern Methodist University • Southwestern University • Spelman College • St. Edward’s Un Stanford University • State University of New York at Plattsburgh • State University of New York at Cobleskill • State University o • Stevens Institute of Technology • Stevenson University • Susquehanna University • Swarthmore College • Syracuse University • • Towson University • Trinity College • Trinity College Dublin • Trinity University • Trinity Washington University • Truman State States Merchant Marine Academy • United States Military Academy • United States Naval Academy • University at Buffalo • University of Alaska Fairbanks • University of Arizona • University of Arkansas • University of California, Berkeley • University of Ca of California, Riverside • University of California, San Diego • University of California, Santa Barbara • University of California, S University of Colorado, Colorado Springs • University of Connecticut • University of Dallas • University of Delaware • University o at Manoa • University of Houston • University of Illinois at Chicago • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • University of Iow • University of Maryland, Baltimore County • University of Maryland, College Park • University of Massachusetts Amherst • Univ of Mississippi • University of Missouri • University of Montana • University of Nevada-Las Vegas • University of New Hampshire North Carolina at Charlotte • University of North Carolina at Wilmington • University of North Florida • University of Oregon • Uni of Redlands • University of Rhode Island • University of Richmond • University of Rochester • University of San Diego • Univers Andrews • University of Tampa • University of Tennessee • University of Texas at Arlington • University of Texas at Austin • Unive • University of Toronto • University of Utah • University of Vermont • University of Virginia • University of Warwick • University College • Villanova University • Virginia Commonwealth University • Virginia Military Institute • Virginia Polytechnic Institute an & Jefferson College • Washington and Lee University • Washington College • Washington University in St. Louis • Waynesburg Un • West Liberty University • West Virginia University • West Virginia Wesleyan College • Western Connecticut State University • W • Widener University • Willamette University • Williams College • Wingate University • Winthrop University • Wittenberg Univ

ollege • Arcadia University • Arizona State University • Ashland University • Assumption College • Auburn University • Augsburg College, City University of New York • Bates College • Baylor University • Becker College • Bellarmine University • Belmont Abbey • Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania • Boston College • Boston University • Bowdoin College • Bradley University • Brandeis Institute of Technology • California Lutheran University • California Polytechnic State University • California State University, Chico ton University • Carnegie Mellon University • Carroll College • Case Western Reserve University • Catholic University of America • ion University of Pennsylvania • Clark University • Clarkson University • Clemson University • Coastal Carolina University • Colby College of the Holy Cross • College of William and Mary • College of Wooster • Colorado School of Mines • Colorado State University nce & Art • Cornell College • Cornell University • Dartmouth College • Davidson College • Denison University • DePaul University am College • East Carolina University • Eastern University • Eckerd College • Edinboro University of Pennsylvania • Elizabethtown • Emory University • Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts • Fairfield University • Flagler College • Florida Atlantic Fordham University • Franklin & Marshall College • Franklin College Switzerland • Frostburg State University • Furman University of Technology • Georgia Southern University • Gettysburg College • Gordon College • Goucher College • Green Mountain College ey College • Hampton University • Hartwick College • Harvard University • Harvey Mudd College • Haverford College • Hawaii University • Hood College • Howard University • Hult International Business School • Hunter College, City University of New York College • Iowa State University • Ithaca College • Jacksonville University • James Madison University • John Carroll University • utztown University of Pennsylvania • La Salle ae College • Lehigh University • Lenoir-Rhyne ouisiana State University • Loyola Marymount In the past five years, Mercersburg students have rg College • Macalester College • Manhattan been accepted at 463 colleges and universities in 43 University • Massachusetts College of Art and Miami University • Michigan State University American states and six countries around the world. ntserrat College of Art • Moravian College • Read the stories on the following pages to put faces rsity • Muhlenberg College • New College of iversity of North Carolina School of the Arts • and names with a just a few of those destinations. Occidental College • Ohio State University • iversity • Pace University • Parsons The New nsylvania State University, Erie • Pennsylvania nia State University, University Park • Pepperdine University • Philadelphia University • Pitzer College • Plymouth State University Queen’s University • Quinnipiac University • Radford University • Reed College • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute • Rhode Island Rochester Institute of Technology • Rollins College • Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology • Rutgers, The State University of New ncis University • Saint Joseph’s University • Saint Louis University, Madrid • Saint Michael’s College • Saint Peter’s College • Saint gn • School of the Art Institute of Chicago • School of the Museum of Fine Arts • School of Visual Arts • Scripps College • Seattle Shepherd University • Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania • Siena College • Skidmore College • Slippery Rock University of niversity • St. John’s College • St. John’s University • St. Lawrence University • St. Mary’s College of Maryland • St. Olaf College • of New York at Cortland • State University of New York at Geneseo • State University of New York at Potsdam • Stetson University Temple University • Texas A&M University • Texas Christian University • Texas State University-San Marcos • Texas Tech University University • Tufts University • Tulane University • Tusculum College • Union College • United States Air Force Academy • United University College London • University of Alabama • University of Alabama at Birmingham • University of Alaska Anchorage • alifornia, Davis • University of California, Irvine • University of California, Los Angeles • University of California, Merced • University Santa Cruz • University of Central Florida • University of Chicago • University of Cincinnati • University of Colorado, Boulder • of Denver • University of Durham • University of Evansville • University of Georgia • University of Hartford • University of Hawaii wa • University of Kansas • University of Kentucky • University of La Verne • University of Maine • University of Mary Washington versity of Massachusetts Boston • University of Miami • University of Michigan • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities • University • University of New Haven • University of North Carolina at Asheville • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • University of iversity of Pennsylvania • University of Pittsburgh • University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown • University of Puget Sound • University sity of San Francisco • University of Scranton • University of South Carolina • University of Southern California • University of St. ersity of Texas at San Antonio • University of the Arts • University of the Incarnate Word • University of the Sciences in Philadelphia y of Washington • University of West Florida • University of Wisconsin-Madison • Ursinus College • Vanderbilt University • Vassar nd State University • Virginia Wesleyan College • Wagner College • Wake Forest University • Warren Wilson College • Washington niversity • Wellesley College • Wentworth Institute of Technology • Wesleyan University • West Chester University of Pennsylvania Western New England University • Western State College of Colorado • Westminster College • Wheaton College • Whittier College versity • Wofford College • Worcester Polytechnic Institute • Xavier University • Yale University • York College of Pennsylvania

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Edwards as Maria in Stony Batterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2011 production of The Sound of Music

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The Other Annapolis In the shadow of the Naval Academy sits a different institution with an iconoclastic approach

By Lee Owen

When a student receives an appointment to Annapolis, there is never any doubt what that means. This is certainly the case at Mercersburg, where the United States Naval Academy has been a historically popular college destination and has held or tied for the No. 1 ranking among members of the graduating class in four of the past five years. But not all Mercersburg graduates studying in Maryland’s capital city wear dress whites or dress blues. Just an anchor’s throw down the street from the USNA is St. John’s College, a small liberal-arts school with no majors, no traditional academic departments, and an uncommonly radical curriculum centered on the Great Books program. All undergraduates essentially take the same courses—in language,

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“You can have an existential crisis here every two weeks, and that’s weird when you’re 18 to 22 years old.” —John Henry Reilly ’10

mathematics, laboratory sciences, and music, as well as discussion-based seminars with interdisciplinary components. Professors are known as “tutors” and are expected to be generalists rather than experts in a specific field. “It’s really interesting the way it’s set up,” says John Henry Reilly ’10, who represents half of the Mercersburg contingent at the school (along with Hannah Edwards ’11). “Sometimes you’ll get a tutor with a Ph.D. in Euclidian geometry, but other times that same person will teach economics. The classes are not lecture-based, so it’s not as essential how knowledgeable the tutor is about the subject specifically. It’s not the teacher’s job to teach you an opinion. It’s much more based on asking questions than lecturing.” The school was chartered in 1784, though it switched to its distinctive Great Bookscentric curriculum in the mid-1930s after barely emerging from accreditation and financial crises. It opened a second campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1964; each campus is home to approximately 450 undergraduates. St. John’s has been celebrated in Loren Pope’s Colleges That Change Lives (an influential 1996 book spotlighting out-of-the-way “hidden gems” among colleges and universities), and while a handful of other institutions also incorporate the Great Books in a significant way, St. John’s is the most deliberate about it.

“You don’t have to be a voracious reader to go here, but you do have to have the drive to become one,” says Edwards, who is from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. “At least from my limited perspective as a freshman, what it really comes down to is a deep-seated desire to learn—and from that, everything else springs.” The St. John’s list, which the school’s website describes as “under continued review since 1937,” initially sprang from the work of John Erskine, a professor at Columbia University. Two of Erskine’s friends and colleagues were Stringfellow Barr and Scott Buchanan, who implemented the curriculum at St. John’s in 1936 while serving as president and dean of the school, respectively. The roster of works is generally arranged in chronological order, beginning with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey through Plato and Aristotle, the Hebrew Bible, Chaucer and Shakespeare, and Mozart and Beethoven, all the way to Mark Twain, Jane Austen, T.S. Eliot, Booker T. Washington, and William Faulkner. (To see the entire list, visit www.stjohnscollege. edu/academic/readlist.shtml.) “People here say that St. John’s doesn’t necessarily have a heavy workload—it has a heavy brainload,” Reilly says. “You have to be passionate about what you’re learning or this won’t work for you. “[Having a huge appetite for] reading is not as essential as having the passion to talk about some of the stuff. As a sophomore this year, I feel as if I actually haven’t had

that much to read per se. But I really can’t compare it to other colleges.” St. John’s was the only college to which Reilly applied. He learned of his acceptance even before his senior year began at Mercersburg. Reilly grew up in the Baltimore area and followed his father, Jack ’62, to the Academy; the Reillys lived down the street from David Townsend, a St. John’s faculty member. That connection turned into a destination for the younger Reilly, who is now a lab assistant in Townsend’s first-year science course. In keeping with its nontraditional nature, St. John’s assigns grades for each student but only discloses the grades to the student by request. Semesters conclude not with traditional final exams, but with an individual conference of each student’s tutors in front of the student. The session, called a Don Rag, features the tutors conversing about the student’s performance as if the student were not present. “It is a bit strange,” Edwards says. “You’re in a room with your tutors as they talk about you in the third person. But I actually think I was better prepared for this experience because of my history at Mercersburg—it’s a little like reading [teacher and adviser] comments, except without a numerical assessment of your work.” “I’ve never really had a bad Don Rag, but you pretty much know how you’re doing before you go in,” Reilly adds. “You know whether you’re doing your work and contributing [to class discussion]. If you’re a bad student, a Don Rag is absolutely excruciating. Tutors can tell you to look at other schools. But if you’re a good student, it’s fine.” Alumni of the school range from Francis Scott Key (who penned the lyrics to The StarSpangled Banner) to three former governors of Maryland, the co-founder and retired CEO of CarMax, and the creator of the television show MacGyver.

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“St. John’s is not set up so that you immediately become a successful person when you graduate—what St. John’s does is make you consider what it is to be a human being,” Reilly says. “You can have an existential crisis here every two weeks, and that’s weird when you’re 18 to 22 years old. “If you want a guaranteed job afterward, it’s not necessarily where you should go. But it’s an outstanding place to go on to law school or medical school from and learn how to tell anyone they’re wrong about anything. If you’re a doctor, you have to think very logically, and in class here you’re arguing with people all the time, which helps if you want to go into law.” Each spring, a team representing St. John’s hosts a squad from the neighboring USNA in an annual croquet match that doubles as the social event of the year on campus. Reilly describes the event and the festivities surrounding it as “feeling like the world’s largest garden party.” Combine the social side of the Kentucky Derby with a Renaissance festival set to a Roaring Twenties jazz soundtrack, and you get the picture. “It’s the one day of the year where the campus is completely packed with up to 6,000 people,” says Reilly, who volunteers that he plays a lot of croquet and is holding out hope of being chosen for the St. John’s team in the spring. “It’s very surreal. You hear swing music and feel like you’re in the 1920s. It’s thousands of people gathering because of this really weird English sport.” Edwards has yet to attend a St. John’s– Navy croquet clash, but is eagerly anticipating the experience. “It sounds like a lot of fun, and we don’t have any intercollegiate sports here so it certainly is a change,” she says. “I have been careful not to ask around too much about it because I’m a bit of a purist and want to experience it as much as possible by my own self. And there’s a swing dance afterward, which is certainly something to look forward to.”

Reilly speaking at Commencement 2010

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The Real

School of Rock What’s in a university’s name? For Bruce McLaughlin, a great fit

“It’s a really good school. I’m not sure how it gets overlooked, but it does.” —Bruce McLaughlin ’10 on the Colorado School of Mines

By Lee Owen

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It’s probably safe to say that the Colorado School of Mines is not the most famous university from the state known best, perhaps, for world-class skiing, Coors beer, and Denver Broncos quarterbacks (first John Elway, now Tim Tebow). As such, Mines sophomore Bruce McLaughlin ’10 earned some quizzical looks when he told classmates and adults of his college destination while a senior at Mercersburg. “Some people thought I was going to the Colorado School of Mimes,” chuckles McLaughlin, who grew up just east of Mercersburg in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. “It’s a really good school. I’m not sure how it gets overlooked, but it does.” The Colorado School of Mines is actually the Centennial State’s oldest and highest-rated public university, checking in at No. 31 among public universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 “America’s Best Colleges” rankings. The designation puts the school ahead of the likes of the University of Missouri, the University of Oregon, and both the University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado State University. Mines students are not given pickaxes at orientation, but do receive miner’s helmets, which all incoming freshmen wear for the school’s traditional “M-Climb.” The entire freshman class journeys up Mount Zion behind the school and whitewashes the large M that overlooks the city of Golden, where both the campus and the famous Coors brewery are located. Students cover themselves and their helmets with whitewash in the process, similar to the Mercersburg tradition of “painting the numbers” on the street in front of Main Hall each fall. Not surprisingly, Mines has a strong science and engineering focus. More than 85 percent of its 3,300 undergraduates are engineering majors, including

McLaughlin, who is studying metallurgy and materials engineering. “There are a lot of really intelligent people here,” he says. “I met kids who had already taken Calculus III before they got here. At a place like this, there are obviously strong math and science requirements. They say the students here are different—we consider ourselves engineers. Our mascot is a donkey named Blaster that holds dynamite. We have a bunch of neat traditions dating back to the late 1800s.” In his college search, McLaughlin looked for a school with strong outdoor offerings as well as a solid materialsengineering curriculum. He donned skis for the first time at age 3, and was a regular on the slopes at Liberty Mountain Resort in Adams County throughout his childhood. When he got to the Academy, McLaughlin became involved with Endeavor, the popular wilderness-education and leadership program run by Mercersburg Outdoor Education. Upon arriving in Colorado, he began working at Mines’ Outdoor Recreation Center, which offers a multitude of different outdoor activities to students interested in exploring all the nearby natural beauty. The school is about 15 miles west of Denver and within easy drives of several high peaks and popular ski resorts (including Winter Park, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Keystone). “There’s certainly a lot of interest in skiing here,” McLaughlin says. “Last night, I helped put on a backcountry-

skiing workshop for about 15 people. We talked with them about the gear you need, avalanche safety, and the range of things we do. “And Mercersburg is the biggest reason I’m interested in this kind of thing. It played a huge role for me. I would never be part of all this if it hadn’t been for Mercersburg.” From a more academic standpoint, the university offers McLaughlin and his fellow students (including recent Mercersburg graduate Brandon Adams ’11, who is in his first year at the school) a cutting-edge variety of research opportunities. Mines was crucial in developing bits and other equipment for massive drills that are being used to dig tunnels through the Alps, and General Electric is building a large new solar plant in the nearby suburb of Aurora utilizing technology that the school is involved in. “They’ve developed a new technique using quantum dots to reduce the amount of elements necessary to make solar panels, which also has implications for increasing efficiency in older models of solar panels,” McLaughlin says. “It’s really cool to be a part of all this.” While still two years away from his bachelor’s degree, McLaughlin is already thinking about the future, and is open to perhaps remaining at Mines for a longer period. “Because I’m so interested in the outdoors, I’ve always thought about being a materials engineer,” he says. “I could possibly pursue a second degree in mechanical engineering in order to follow a path into the outdoor-gear industry. I’m also interested in specializing in materials like nonferrous alloys or ceramics for a master’s degree.”

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Crimson Tidings A REMARKABLE JOURNEY FROM A SMALL POLISH TOWN TO HARVARD By Michele Poacelli

Kala

What if the stakes of the traveler in the famous Robert Frost poem were even higher? Pausing at the junction of two paths, he cranes his neck to see the established trail wind into the woods. He thinks about taking it. He really does. But of course, he settles on the less-traveled one. Now, what if the traveler’s parents were dead set against his choice of the overgrown path and forbade it? Would that have made a difference? Not if the traveler were Magdalena Kala ’09. Kala, who is in her third year at Harvard University, hails from the village of Przystajn (population 2,300) in central Poland. After studying abroad in America in summer 2005, she decided that she wanted to attend high school in the United States, though her parents adamantly opposed her choice. Perhaps they had concerns about her physical health. At age 14, Kala suffered serious injuries in a motorcycle accident that left her hospitalized for three months and unable to walk for nearly a year. Her parents tried to persuade her to attend a school in Poland with an International Baccalaureate program. But Kala had made up her mind. She applied to five boarding schools in the United States, including Mercersburg. Christopher Tompkins, then the Academy’s assistant head for enrollment, made a special trip to Poland from Germany to meet with Kala. They hit it off, and the rest is Mercersburg history. “She is an exceptional student,” says Tompkins, who is now the headmaster at Perkiomen School about 50 miles north of Philadelphia. “I’d love to have five Magdalenas at any school where I am.” Kala came to Mercersburg as a 16-year-old and soon distinguished herself as a scholar, a leader, and—defying the odds stacked against her from her motorcycle accident—an athlete. She played squash competitively and also dabbled in tennis, cross country, and rock climbing. She graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 2009 and was a member of

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the Cum Laude Society. In her valedictory address, Kala urged her classmates to look back not only on the highlights of their careers at Mercersburg but also the “seemingly insignificant moments, the simple wonders that truly make up the Mercersburg experience.” When it came time to decide on her next path, Kala had plenty of attractive routes from which to choose—Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, Smith, Colby, Wellesley, and Harvard. For many (if not most) high-school seniors, these truly are roads less traveled. From small towns in Poland, the same roads are hardly visible. But there she was at the juncture of paths, craning her neck to stare down all seven of them. Each led to one of the top American colleges. She chose Harvard. Not surprisingly, life in Cambridge moves at a breakneck pace. Kala reports that at Harvard, “everything is taken to the extreme,” and with so many diverse opportunities available, “sleep is not always an attractive option.” She sometimes gets in as little as eight hours over the course of a workweek in order to reach everything on her plate. And that plate is overflowing as she strives to maximize her collegiate experience and prepare for a future career in finance and business. With a resumé that boasts international work experience and

leadership positions in numerous groups at Harvard, Kala has already had a taste of the professional world. She spent the past two summers interning with companies in the Polish capital of Warsaw and in Shanghai, China. During Harvard’s January term, she worked with a microfinance tour-group organization in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Kala holds an executive position on the business board of Harvard’s renowned daily newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, and she is treasurer of the Harvard International Relations Council, one of the oldest student groups on campus. While Kala marches toward her future, she remains true to her roots and is active in Harvard’s Polish Society and the Harvard Club of Poland. She also volunteers as a counselor for a select group of Polish high-school students applying to college in the United States. In this role, she reads and critiques their essays and advises them through the application process. Kala has stood pensively at crossroads in her life. Then, with decisiveness and sure footing, she has forged ahead down less established paths. An uncompromising sense of purpose and a tireless drive have made all the difference for her. And Kala has only begun her travels.

Now Pitching for Harvard Matt Timoney ’11 is the only person in history to appear in three different Little League World Series. Born in Dallas before moving at age 4 with his family to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Timoney played for the Dhahran Little League squad in the 2004, 2005, and 2006 events; his brother, Tom ’09, was a member of the team in 2002 and 2003. It is unusual for Harvard to be the only option for an athlete to continue his playing career, but that was essentially the case for Timoney, a four-year letterwinner in baseball at Mercersburg who also co-captained the boys’ soccer team. He committed to the Crimson as a senior at Mercersburg and will be a freshman pitcher on Harvard’s baseball team this spring. “My college search was unique because I didn’t have many choices,” he says. “I know that sounds strange considering that I go to Harvard, but it was the case nonetheless. I really didn’t see any of the other colleges that recruited me as a particularly good fit, and I was on the verge of not playing baseball past high school. I even got to the point last year where it was either playing

From left: Matt Timoney ’11 (Harvard), Will Levangie ’11 (Bates), and Danny Roza ’11 (Yale) on the day of the 2011 Harvard-Yale football game baseball for Harvard or looking for schools to apply to without the intention of being on the baseball team. So it turned out that the only school I considered was Harvard.” Timoney was a pitcher and infielder for the Blue Storm, and was a key reason the team captured the Mid-Atlantic Prep League title in 2011 (its sixth MAPL title in just 11 years in the league). He was an All-MAPL selection and also

grabbed a spot on the [Chambersburg] Public Opinion’s area all-star team after batting .574 and compiling a 4-1 record on the mound, where he struck out 48 hitters and issued just seven walks in 29 2/3 innings of work. Timoney earned the team’s Swoope Baseball Trophy (awarded for sportsmanship and good fellowship) to boot. “The spring cannot come soon enough,” Timoney says. “I am excited to play at the college level and to see what the team can accomplish this year.” He is the second college baseball player in the family; Tom Timoney is a junior pitcher at UNC Wilmington. “It is a tremendous thrill to go to Harvard,” he says. “The students, faculty, city, and tradition all come together and produce so much energy. You have people in your dorm that have published books, created websites, and founded organizations—but here, they’re just your fellow classmates and friends.”

—Lee Owen

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JoiningForces

Two Mercersburg classmates came from different parts of the world to study at Stanford By Shelton Clark Palo Alto, California, home to Stanford University, is approximately 2,300 miles from central Pennsylvania. The journeys of Stanford sophomores Armine Garcia Barker ’10 and Jae Nam ’10 first went through Mercersburg, though from very different starting points. As a seventh-grader in McAllen, Texas (population 130,000), Garcia Barker took the SAT in conjunction with the Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP). Less than a year before that, Garcia Barker and her family lived across the Rio Grande in her native Mexico. “Duke sent out my SAT scores to high schools, and then, in the beginning of my eighth-grade year, I got a postcard from Mercersburg,” she says. “It just said, ‘If you’re interested in getting a brochure from us, send this back.’ So I did, and then I became really interested in the school. When I first sent the postcard back, I didn’t say anything to my parents. “Once I actually got the brochure and kind of fell in love with the whole idea [of attending Mercersburg]—the high school in my town that I would have gone to wasn’t the optimal option—my mom was onboard with helping me, but my dad was still unsure,” she adds. “He didn’t understand why we were doing this if there could be so many other options. But by the time he visited the school in January, he was in love with it, too.” Nam’s parents, by contrast, had encouraged him to apply to U.S. boarding schools. A native of Seoul, Korea, he did not

know much about the American educational system and in fact had not seen the Mercersburg campus until his arrival as a student in 2007. “My parents and I thought that the campus was very beautiful,” says Nam, “and I absolutely fell in love with the place shortly after.” The period of adjustment to boarding school was relatively short for both. “I feel like my only real adjustment was on the plane, thinking that I wouldn’t see my parents for a really long time,” Garcia Barker says. “But once I got to campus, I was just so caught up in sports and activities. I would say that freshman year was my best year because everything was new. That period was really wonderful and really full of new experiences and a lot of fun.” A four-year student at Mercersburg, Garcia Barker played volleyball and lacrosse, dabbled in swimming and track, and served as manager for the boys’ basketball team. She also participated in community service. Nam adds, “I didn’t have too much trouble making friends, and my friends were very helpful and approachable. I was lucky in that respect; I didn’t have too much trouble in academics. A challenge was balancing my academic life and my athletic life. When I entered Mercersburg, I joined the cross country team and subsequently I ran spring track.” He adds, with a gentle laugh, “That was difficult for me.” In addition to his sports career, he played clarinet in the band and served as a math tutor. While both excelled academically at

Mercersburg (both were members of the Cum Laude Society and multiple awardwinners in several subjects), each chose Stanford for distinct reasons. For Nam, currently majoring in computer science, the choice was Stanford over the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), though he was also accepted at Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Columbia, and Rice. Nam plans to take part in Stanford’s coterminal program, which would allow him to begin completing his master’s degree after his junior year, and eventually work in Silicon Valley. “Stanford was my first choice to begin with, because it was in California,” Garcia Barker says. “I have always wanted to be on the West Coast, and I visited California a lot when I was younger because I have some family here. I also wanted someplace that was challenging but also kind of felt alive. And of my top choices, Stanford was the one that felt like it had more of a mix of what I wanted: good spirit, good sports, and great academics in a large-school environment. When I visited Stanford after applying, all of the students that I met were very intelligent, but they also knew how to live a life outside of academics. That was really fun, and everyone was really friendly, and so that definitely drew me here.” It has been a banner era for Stanford athletics. In each of the last 17 years, the school’s athletic department has captured the NACDA Division I Directors’ Cup, the award given to the most successful collegiate athletic program. And in football,

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Nam and Garcia Barker

“Of my top choices, Stanford was the one that felt like it had more of a mix of what I wanted: good spirit, good sports, and great academics in a large-school environment.” —Armine Garcia Barker ’10

arguably the most visible college sport, the Cardinal went 11–2 in 2011 and earned a No. 7 ranking in the final Associated Press football poll. Quarterback Andrew Luck is likely to be the first player taken in April’s National Football League Draft. Garcia Barker, who is studying international relations with a minor in human biology, adds that Mercersburg’s English classes helped her reading and writing abilities, which are so important in her major.

Nam agrees. “I feel like Mercersburg prepared me well for my college coursework,” he says. “All freshmen at Stanford have to take three quarters of humanities. I would not have done well in this series had it not been for the education that I had at Mercersburg Academy. I took AP world history, AP U.S. history, and AP English literature. They all helped me enhance my critical-reading skills and writing skills. My teachers inspired me and had so much passion.

“I feel like I became a much more wellrounded person after attending Mercersburg. I am particularly grateful for my cross country and track experience and also the music experience. Also, Mercersburg helped me acquire the habit to study on my own. At Stanford, nobody tells you to study or even go to classes. I have done well so far at Stanford because Mercersburg taught me how to be disciplined.”

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Into the Gap

a year off before college begets an “irreplaceable experience”

By Lee Owen

Becca Galey ’09 is the fourth of four children, and the third of three siblings to attend Mercersburg. Like the five other members of her immediate family, she is a citizen of two nations: Canada, where she was born and where many of her relatives still live, and the United States, where she lived for 18 of the first 19 years of her life. Beyond all those numbers, one experience Galey defines herself by is the gap year she took after graduating from Mercersburg and before enrolling at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesot a. Macalester is ranked in the top 25 among national liberal-arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Galey is the latest in a long line of Mercersburg graduates to spend a year at a British boarding school under the auspices of the English-Speaking Union, or ESU. (The program brings students from English-speaking countries to American schools.) She began in August 2009 at Wells Cathedral School, which can trace its history to an institution founded 1,100

years before and thus is one of the world’s oldest extant schools. “The concept of a gap year had always appealed to me,” Galey says. “My antennae were out in search of an opportunity— whether I wanted to take a year off, work, or do the whole ‘find myself’ thing. When I discovered ESU through Mercersburg, it sounded like a great experience. I’d be living in a boarding environment as opposed to someone else’s home. It was structured. And the fact that it was fully funded was another plus.” It wasn’t all tea at the Palace, though. Had she let them, the circumstances surrounding Galey upon her arrival at the school in southwest England could very well have turned her into a fish out of water— literally. Galey, a four-year member of Mercersburg’s powerhouse swim program, found no swim team at Wells (though at least there was a pool), and settled into her dormitory as perhaps the only boarding student at the school for reasons other than music; Wells is one of a handful of music

specialty high schools in the UK. “It was essentially a flipped experience from Mercersburg,” she says. “I was the only American there. Only 20 percent of the students were boarders, and 80 percent were day students, which definitely is a different set of social dynamics. At Mercersburg, where such a high percentage of kids are boarders [85 percent in 2011–2012], most of the students have the solidarity of not living at home.”

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Galey says she considers herself lucky to have been matched with Wells in the selection process, since the ESU program leaves many of the details of a visiting student’s experience up to the individual host school. In Galey’s case, that meant lots of flexibility on the school’s part. “In England, the junior and senior years of high school are cumulative,” she says. “Technically, I was a senior, but I obviously hadn’t taken any of the required A-level classes, which build on each other. So they gave me a lot of freedom to build my class schedule. I went to all my classes and did the work, but they didn’t require me to sit for the A-level exams at the end of the year, and they were really great about letting me travel around on my own. They were flexible if I needed to miss a day or two if, say, I was in Spain and wanted to get a cheaper flight back. It was really great.” Galey’s course schedule included English, biology, and history—including a section of U.S. history, which led to some funny student-teacher interactions in the classroom. “The history teacher, who also happened to be the dean of students, was hilarious,” Galey says. “He always said I intimidated him because I already knew all the material. It was me and a handful of other students writing papers on things like the civil-rights movement.” As her classmates crammed for the penultimate A-level exams in May, Galey was exploring Croatia and Greece. She made the most of her European tour, spending 11 uninterrupted months entirely on the continent after deciding not to go home for Christmas or any other breaks in the school calendar. “Without a doubt, I would encourage anyone who’s even considering it to do a gap year,” she says. “It was an irreplaceable experience for me. And mine was structured and in a program, which I think is important. In England, almost half the kids I went to school with ended up taking gap years, but they really didn’t do anything constructive—they sat at home, maybe worked, maybe traveled to Thailand for fun. For

me it was all about having a plan so that I didn’t take a year off just to take a year off.” Galey’s Mercersburg classmate and friend Coralie Thomas ’09 also decided on a gap year and spent several months volunteering in Ghana before enrolling at McGill University in Montreal. More recently, Eli Littlefield ’11 delayed his enrollment at Northeastern University to travel in Europe and South Africa, where he took cooking and photography classes and taught tennis in addition to meeting

“If you’re 17 and in a high-pressure high school, you can be pooped out by the time you graduate and just want to get on with college. But taking a gap year really gave me some perspective.” —Becca Galey ’09 up with fellow alumni Evan Pavloff ’09 and Harvey Gross ’11. In hindsight, Galey says her time away from competitive swimming was actually a plus for her career. She worked out in the pool at Wells about twice a week, which allowed her to return to the U.S. refreshed and ready to jump back into the world of competitive aquatics. Galey’s sister, Hannah ’05, swam at Columbia University and is attending the Georgetown University School of Medicine, and her brother, Pat ’07, swam at Albion College in Michigan (like Macalester, Albion competes at the NCAA Division III level). Pat is coaching a club swim team in the Detroit suburbs while applying to nursing school. Galey is now in her second year on Macalester’s swim team and has won the 200-yard backstroke and 1,000-yard freestyle to help the Scots to dual-meet victories this season. “I was ready to be part of a team

again when I got back here,” says Galey, who is majoring in political science and religious studies with a minor in German. (Valencia Whitehurst ’08, who graduated from Mercersburg a year before Galey, is a senior at Macalester.) “If you’re 17 and in a high-pressure high school, you can be pooped out by the time you graduate and just want to get on with college,” Galey continues. “You can be worried about whether you’ll get into an Ivy League school and what you’re going to do after that. But taking a gap year really gave me some perspective. You have your whole life to go to college, or party, or whatever. You don’t necessarily have to become a doctor by the time you’re 25.”

Travel Roster The large number of Mercersburg alumni and faculty to have studied abroad on an English-Speaking Union exchange spans several decades and includes the following participants: Sam McGredy ’49 renowned horticulturalist John Rowlinson ’67 head of broadcasting, London 2012 Olympics Chip Vink ’73 Mercersburg faculty member/ English department head Will Davies ’79 motion-picture screenwriter (Twins, Flushed Away) Michael Davies ’85 television producer (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Wife Swap) Rebecca Lowe ’99 sportscaster, ESPN UK Lawrence Jones Mercersburg faculty member/ school minister (was an ESU scholar after graduating from Lawrenceville)

Mercersbu rg magazi n e wi nter 2012

Film Session T wo serious knee injuries lead an ex - football star to his true passion By Lee Owen

David Ashton â&#x20AC;&#x2122;06 authored plenty of memorable moments as a standout football player at one of the largest high schools in Virginia, then as a postgraduate at Mercersburg and in college at Colgate University. But after two knee injuries and a move closer to his home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Ashton is working on creating unforgettable images in a different form. continued on page 38

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Ashton (in sunglasses) shooting on location in Washington

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Ashton wrote his first script during the year he spent at Mercersburg (2005–2006), which began with him determined to leave a mark on the field after he tore the anterior-cruciate ligament in his right knee as a senior at Westfield High School in Chantilly, Virginia. Six years later, Ashton is crafting his fourth film and most intricate production yet, a documentary-style piece called Mysterious Prison that features interviews with homeless men and women in Washington juxtaposed with five original stories. “I didn’t really have an epiphany that inspired me to make a film like this,” says Ashton, who was a key cog on Mercersburg’s 2005 Mid-Atlantic Prep League champion football team and played one season at Colgate before tearing the ACL in his left knee during a pickup basketball game. “It was an idea that kind of grew over a period of time. As I spent more time in D.C. and saw people living on the street or panhandling, it created in me a curiosity to want to find out how they became homeless. I had some conversations with some people on the street and remember thinking that I should

start filming them and telling their stories.” Ashton’s path to Mercersburg began, in essence, as a detour created by his first knee injury. He attended the Nike football combine for incoming high-school seniors and garnered recruiting interest from several colleges before his right knee buckled as he tackled a receiver in Westfield’s 2004 season opener against Annandale. With recovery time estimated at nine to 12 months, a postgraduate year would allow Ashton to, in his words, “get back the senior year I never had.” He toured Valley Forge Military Academy and was scheduled to visit two of Mercersburg’s MAPL rivals, Hun and Lawrenceville, but changed his plans after seeing Mercersburg. “I decided this was the spot,” Ashton says. “I loved it. I didn’t want to visit the other schools.” Ashton’s arrival coincided with a handful of other shining stars aligning for the Blue Storm and head football coach Dan Walker. The 2005 team, which went 9–1 and captured the program’s first MAPL title since joining the league in 2000, featured future professional athletes in more than one sport. Vincent Rey ’06 played at Duke and is now

For more on Mysterious Prison, scan this QR code with your smartphone or other mobile device or visit www. kickstarter.com/projects/dash43/mysterious-prison.

a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals, while Josh Edgin ’06 opted to play baseball in college, beginning at Ohio State and later at Francis Marion University in South Carolina. Edgin was drafted in 2010 by the New York Mets and is a fast-rising pitching prospect in the Mets’ farm system. Also on the team was Ashton’s Mercersburg roommate, Jarvis Hodge ’06, a running back who later played football at Boise State. “We really jelled as a team quickly that year,” says Ashton, who made the All-MAPL team and played linebacker, safety, and wide receiver for the Blue Storm. “To a certain extent, you can’t really create that; either it happens or it doesn’t—especially at places like Mercersburg that often have a bunch of new players come in every season. We had a very unselfish group, especially the guys who were here already and had to compete with new guys for some of their spots. It was a really good group of people.” “To me, David Ashton really embodied what the postgraduate year can be for an individual,” Walker says. “It was obvious that he had a passion and hunger on the football field, but David immersed himself in all aspects of Mercersburg life. He exposed himself to new ideas and experiences and truly broadened himself as an overall person. And it wasn’t a one-way street—he impacted all of those around him, myself included.” Ashton ultimately chose Colgate over Bucknell and played in nine games as a freshman, earning a varsity letter for his play on special teams and as a backup linebacker. He suffered his second torn ACL the next summer, which altered his personal trajectory yet again. “After the second injury, I really started to evaluate things,” he says. “It gave me time to think about what I really wanted to do with my life. I enjoyed the season but it wasn’t the same as playing at Mercersburg or at Westfield. It had turned into more of a job than a game. That’s when I really considered pursuing film, and while I was recovering I wrote my first real screenplay.”

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“David Ashton really embodied what the postgraduate year can be for an individual. It was obvious that he had a passion and hunger on the football field, but David immersed himself in all aspects of Mercersburg life. He exposed himself to new ideas and experiences and truly broadened himself as an overall person.”

— Dan Walker, Mercersburg head football coach

Following Ashton’s sophomore year at Colgate, financial issues dictated that he transfer to George Mason University near his northern Virginia home. He majored in English at Colgate but switched to communication and media production at Mason, and made his first film, a 45-minute thriller/ horror production called Bunny Man Bridge, before taking any film or acting classes (he did not study drama, acting, digital arts, or any related subjects at any of his previous schools). “I made Bunny Man Bridge having no idea what I was doing,” he remembers. “I knew what the story was and had a good idea of what I wanted, but I was still learning a lot. At that point, most of what I had learned came exclusively from watching movies, though I really paid attention to studying them closely and learning the techniques of different directors. And from a young age, I’ve always been a very visual person and have been interested in writing and storytelling—which are two qualities that I feel have helped me in understanding and making movies.” Ashton’s second effort, Racket Punk, was created for an introductory film and video course he took at George Mason. His professor, Richard Wood, told Ashton it was the best film made in any of his classes that year. Wood worked with Ashton outside of class and gave him the courage to pursue filmmaking as a career. “The fact that he thought the work was strong and took the time to sit down with me, look at it closely, and offer feedback got me to the point where I said, ‘I can do this,’” Ashton says. “I knew I could do it if I made the necessary sacrifices, just as in football.”

Ashton completed coursework at Mason at the end of 2010 and graduated the following June. He worked on Dirty Milk, a short film he continues to edit, before deciding to throw himself into the world of Washington’s homeless. “I thought it would be great to take a camera and have them tell their stories, because of the way society labels homeless people and teaches us to stereotype them,” Ashton says. “A lot of people don’t understand them and we’re quick to judge them instead of asking them questions and wanting to know from their perspective. “At first I planned to do 10 or 15 interviews and combine it with a short story, because I never really saw myself as a documentary filmmaker. I enjoy the storytelling aspect of film and creating the characters. But it evolved from there, and now I have close to 60 interviews and instead of one short story I’m doing five.” The original stories feature mostly professional actors from the D.C. area. Some of the actors’ credits include television shows The Wire and Big Love as well as the feature films Ladder 49, How Do You Know, and Salt. Scenes for Mysterious Prison have been filmed inside Union Station, in front of the White House, and even on the Metro. “We’re shooting this thing guerrilla-style, so sometimes we’re filming in places we aren’t technically supposed to be and have to get the shot quickly and efficiently,” he says. “But for the most part, if you’re filming off a tripod and have a relatively small crew like we do, nobody bothers you.” What comes at a price is professional talent (and adequate equipment) needed to create a film. Ashton saved for nearly

two years to purchase the main camera he uses, and when modest fees for his actors and production crew (editor, cinematographer, sound) are factored in along with food, travel, equipment rental, and other expenses, money disappears pretty quickly. As such, Ashton also waits tables and works for his father’s car-wash business to finance the production—and also raised approximately $3,700 last fall through Kickstarter, a website that allows individuals to donate directly to independent projects like Ashton’s film. “We’re still trying to raise more money, because the initial budget did not cover expenses for the fifth story [which was added later], or for professional color correction, festival fees, or a potential soundtrack,” he says. Principal photography for Mysterious Prison was scheduled to wrap in February, and Ashton’s objective is to complete the editing and post-production in order to have the finished product ready to submit to film festivals later this year. “You want to get your work in as many festivals as you can, since you never know who will see it,” he says. “Some of the larger ones, especially, are a great platform for potential distributors or just people in the industry who search for talent. “Mysterious Prison really is about an issue that is much bigger than me or the film itself. I think the issue of homelessness and poverty is something that really speaks to the zeitgeist of this era. My goal and hope is not to create something that is political propaganda or a sympathy piece; I simply want to use the medium of film to promote awareness and understanding of this issue in a way that is powerful and real.”

Mercersbu rg magazi n e Wi nter 2012

Class Notes Submit class notes via email to classnotes@mercersburg.edu or by contacting your class agent directly. Submissions may appear online or in print. Mercersburg reserves the right to edit submissions for space or content, and is not responsible for more than reasonable editing or fact-checking. When sending or uploading photos, please submit images of the highest quality possible; some images captured by cell phones or other cameras may not be suitable for print. Class notes are also available online at www.mercersburg. edu/classnotes.

Paige Walton Diskin ’86, Leigh Walton Wood ’82, and Rob Walton ’89 surprised their parents, Mary Ann and Bob Walton ’57, with a 50th anniversary celebration earlier this year in St. Michaels, Maryland. Also joining the three-day affair were Bob and Mary Ann’s eight grandchildren, ranging in age from six to 17. (Pictured L–R: Paige, Leigh, Mary Ann, Bob, and Rob)

’44 Alice Thomas, wife of Oscar “Tommy” Fred Engh ’54 (right), president and CEO of International Alliance for Youth Sports, signs an agreement with the Peace Corps on behalf of IAYS to increase collaboration on developing and implementing youth sports programs in countries where Peace Corps volunteers work. At left is Peace Corps chief of staff Stacy Rhodes.

Gerry with the honor at a ceremony at the American Revolution Center in Philadelphia in September.

Thomas, died February 14, 2011.

Harry McAlpine 703-893-3893

Hugh Miller hcmfaia@comcast.net

’47 ’48

Barbara Tanger, wife of Jack Tanger and mother of John Tanger ’72, passed away October 15, 2011.

Bill Alexander 740-282-5810

’49

H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest received one of France’s greatest cultural honors, the Insignia of Officier de la Légion d’honneur (better known as the Legion of Honor). François Delattre, France’s ambassador to the U.S., presented

Ed Hager edward.t.hager@gmail.com

’50

Carroll “Nick” Coyne received the Eldercare Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eldercare Foundation and Home Aides of Central New York in September. The award is presented to an older adult in recognition of lifelong work, personal advocacy efforts, or community volunteerism. Tom Puffer’s wife, Patricia, died July 26, 2011. A November panel discussion on sustainable funding for the U.S. court system at the Penn State University Dickinson School of Law featured former Pennsylvania governor Dick Thornburgh as chair and U.S. District Court Judge (and Mercersburg Regent) John Jones ’73 as a guest. The event also included the presidents of the American Bar Association and

Pennsylvania Bar Association, the chief justice of Pennsylvania, a member of Governor Tom Corbett’s senior staff, and representatives from the Pennsylvania Senate and the National Governors Association.

David Genter dlgenter@aol.com

’52 ’60

David Frantz delivered the commencement address at Ohio State University’s summer quarter commencement. David is a professor emeritus of English at Ohio State and vice president of Mercersburg’s Board of Regents.

50th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012 Jon Dubbs j.dubbs@rcn.com

’62

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’66

Stan Westbrook fswest1@verizon.net

John VerStandig writes that he is a bit late in announcing his 2006 marriage to Helene Frank. John and Helene hosted his Mercersburg roommate, Skip Freedman, and his wife, Karen, when the Freedmans came to Bethesda for the U.S. Open golf tournament at Congressional in summer 2011. John and Gordon Hughes get together often for “a regular course of bridge, serious eating, and to generally have a great time,” he says. John adds that Gordon is especially fond of John’s cat, Cream Puff, whom Gordon has named “The Prince of Plumpitude.”

Classmates Doc Bisset ’65 (left) and Ben Cooksey ’65 on a fishing excursion near Hilton Head, South Carolina.

45th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012 Allan Rose angelrose152000@yahoo.com Edward Russell martnwod@bellsouth.net

Bill Ford ’68, Kendrick Snyder ’68, and Charlie Alter ’68 enjoying a summer afternoon at Ken’s home in Westport, Massachusetts.

Gene Homicki ukey@spiders.com Paul Sommerville psommerville@hargray.com

’63

Barrett Burns’ son, Christopher, passed away July 14, 2011.

’64 Phil Dunmire assumed the presidency

of the Navy League in October. Phil has been active in the organization for more than two decades and has served as a national director for 16 years. A U.S. Army veteran and former CEO of First Wisconsin Trust Company of Florida and of Merchants Bancorp of Pennsylvania, Phil has served on Mercersburg’s Board of Regents since 1997.

Andrew Ammerman ’68 is pleased to announce his mother’s 100th birthday in January 2012. Josephine Ammerman is a member of Mercersburg’s McDowell Society, the school’s most distinguished group of philanthropists; congratulations from all your Mercersburg friends.

Mac Butts macsear@aol.com Jere Keefer jsklrk@embarqmail.com

’67

40th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012

’72

Sol Gordon sgordon@solgordoninsurance.com Tom Hadzor t.hadzor@duke.edu Eric Scoblionko wekdirscobes@aol.com

Donald Lee donald.h.lee@vanderbilt.edu

’73

Chip Vink, who has taught at Mercersburg since 1980 and is chair of the English department, completed a master’s degree at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. As part of the program, he studied for a summer at Middlebury, for a summer at Oxford, and for three summers in Asheville, North Carolina. “Most of my time this summer was spent reading the core works of William Faulkner and writing poetry in the context of a poetry workshop class,” he says. Chip is Mercersburg’s head boys’ squash coach and the school’s former director of admission. His nephew, Ethan ’13, is an upper middler.

An all-new MyBurg… Your window to Mercersburg

’65

Doc Bisset is retired and enjoying the good life; he and his wife, Sandy, escape Connecticut each winter and stay in their second home in Cocoa, Florida. Doc has been busy visiting classmates Bill Worobec in Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Barry Hall in Hobe Sound, Florida; and Ben Cooksey in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Doc and Ben enjoyed a fishing trip near Hilton Head, where Ben caught a 50-pound cobia. “Now that I have time, it’s nice to catch up with old classmates,” Doc says.

Kayleigh Kiser Now available at dancequeen282@aol.com

Susie Klein susie.e.klein@gmail.com Mackenzie Kyner xo.mackenzie.xo@hotmail.com Eli Littlefield elidupre@gmail.com Shayna Rice

www.mercersburg.edu

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Marriages

The wedding of Ian McClintick ’04 and Katie Gasser, August 27, 2011, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (L–R): Brendan McClintick ’12, Chris McClintick ’08, faculty member Bill McClintick, Ian and Katie, former faculty member Chris Nelson ’73, faculty member Ray Larson, and Greg Larson ’06.

Lee Banta ’06 married Madeleine Deupree ’06 June 12 in Greenwood, Virginia, with Mercersburg faculty member Rev. Paul Galey officiating. The couple resides at Woodberry Forest School in Orange, Virginia, where Lee is a faculty member. (L–R): Jane Banta ’11, Thomas Moore ’57, Madeleine and Lee, Cameron Banta ’09, Nancy Moore Banta ’77. Greg Larson ’06 and Jessie Tippen ’06 on their

wedding day, August 6, 2011, in Mercersburg. Greg is pursuing a master’s in civil engineering at Texas A&M University and is a graduate research assistant at the Texas Transportation Institute, and Jessie is completing a master’s in speech and hearing pathology at the University of Houston. She is also an extern at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

Kristin Burkhart ’02 and Michael Sites, October 8, 2011.

Michael Rodriguez ’97 and Tammy Shiffer on their

wedding day, February 19, 2011, at Walt Disney World in Florida.

Peter Steinour ’03 and Claudia de los Milagros Moreno Elera, June 11, 2011.

Nick Ventresca ’05 and Christianna Dawson, August 27, 2011.

’74 Two Chromira prints by Steve Flana-

gan were showcased in a storefront installation in September on West 51st Street in New York City. Steve’s photographs were shots of debris from the World Trade Center site that had been shipped to a scrapyard in Green Island, New York.

35th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012

’77

Harold Goodemote hgoodemote@cfl.rr.com Lindley Peterson Fleury lindley285@yahoo.com Karl McGhee Sr., father of Karl McGhee Jr. and Walter “Ernie” McGhee ’78 and

grandfather of Brad McGhee ’14, died March 24, 2011.

Karen Craig karen.craig1@gmail.com Nick Fuhrman nfuhrman@comcast.net Josh Turner jbt4@comcast.net Dave Wagner wags1262@sbcglobal.net Jay Yarid jryaridjr@yahoo.com Greg Zinn greg@zinn.com

’81

John Turner, father of Josh Turner and Charles Turner ’84, passed away July 25, 2011.

30th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012

’82

Andy Alpert adalpert@comcast.net John Ryland rylandfamily@frontiernet.net Todd Wells todd.wells@jetblue.com Duncan White duncan.m.white@accenture.com

’84

Tom Hornbaker tshornbaker@yahoo.com Betsy Rider-Williams brider-williams@goberkscounty.com

Brian Wagner has accepted the position of senior vice president and

chief marketing officer at Philips Healthcare Imaging Systems based in Andover, Massachusetts, where he and his wife Aleksandra and daughter Anastasia will move from Atlanta, Georgia. Previously, Brian was vice president and general manager with Kimberly-Clark Healthcare in Atlanta for six years.

’85

Steven Miko Burns has lived in beautiful Vancouver since 1989, and works as a cinematographer and documentary filmmaker. This spring, he was hired to shoot the Stanley Cup Finals in Vancouver and went on to film He Who Dreams with acclaimed video artist and filmmaker Dana Claxton for the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. Steven is currently working on The Real Housewives of Vancouver. He

Mercersbu rg magazi n e Wi nter 2012

Suzanne Dysard, Stacey Ekker Brull, and Steve Pessagno met earlier this year in Baltimore and attended a regional alumni event there. Stacey lives in Baltimore with her husband, Rich, and daughter, Lindsay, and works at Mercy Medical Health System. Suzanne is a sales operations specialist based in the Denver area. Steve lives in downtown Philadelphia and works for GlaxoSmithKline; he also works with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a childhood cancer charity, as part of GSK’s global PULSE volunteer partnership program.

Zania Pearson zaniazania@hotmail.com Ames Prentiss aprentiss@ivghospitals.com

Steve Pessagno ’88 and Suzanne Dysard ’88 in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood on a sunny spring day.

is in regular contact with classmates Stewart Walker, Dave Koch, and Dave Smith, and also reconnected with John Lucas ’84 and his family in San Francisco. “I love working in film and television and consider myself privileged to have a front-row seat on life,” Steven writes. “Life is never boring to say the least, especially with two teenagers now aged 17 and soon to be 15!” For more, visit www.stevenmikoburns.com.

25th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012 Louis Najera lnajera@davincigrp.com

’87

Audrey Webber Esposito awesposito@yahoo.com

’88

Rob Bertrand and his wife, Colleen, welcomed a son, James Robertson, June 15, 2011. James joins sister Nina and brother Miles.

John Brubaker’s book, Overtime Victory: Success Strategies From the Locker Room to the Board Room, was scheduled for release this winter. John, who is a Maine-based performance consultant, speaker, and author, also co-authored Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed.

’89

now without flushing toilets for the foreseeable future. We use a chemical camping toilet. Not pleasant!” Jenna adds that she always enjoys reading Mercersburg magazine and that her children look at it and think the school looks like Hogwarts.

20th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012

’92

Peggy Burns peggy@drawnandquarterly.com Emily Gilmer Caldwell emily.g.caldwell@gmail.com Chip Nuttall cliffnuttall1@comcast.net

’96

Lori Esposit Miller Heather Fraser Gallagher is a senior lorimiller234@gmail.com deputy district attorney and the chief of appeals in Lehigh County, Pennsylva- In July, Lori Esposit Miller started a job nia. She and her husband, Joe, and their as a scientific writer with Eli Lilly in two sons, Ryan and Ian, live in Fountain- Indianapolis, Indiana. She says that ville, Pennsylvania. she’s really enjoying the change from the chemistry lab. Jenna Heller and her family survived the 7.1-magnitude and 6.3-magnitude earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, which were followed by more 15th Anniversary Reunion than 8,000 aftershocks. Though she, her June 8–10, 2012 partner, Mel, and their 10-year-old children, Kahu and Mya, were unharmed, Emily Peterson the earthquakes caused severe dam- emilyadairpeterson@gmail.com age to their home and forced them to Chris Senker shovel sewage-laced silt that rose from chrissenker@yahoo.com the ground and covered more than half their property. “We are uncertain if we Michael Rodriguez writes that he and will be able to continue living here and his wife, Tammy, are expecting their we’re waiting for the government to first child. let us know the outcome of their land investigations,” she says. “We are also

’97

Calling All Alumni Military Members! Thousands of Mercersburg alumni have given of themselves by serving in their country’s military. If you are a veteran or an enlisted member of your country’s armed forces, please answer a few questions about your service at www.mercersburg.edu/military. Fall Alumni Weekend in October 2012 will feature a military homecoming. Come and meet fellow servicemembers of all ages who have shared your experiences, leadership, and courage.

Mercersbu rg magazi n e Wi nter 2012

10th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012

’02

Robert Terrell completed a master’s degree in European history at Villanova University. In September, he started work on a Ph.D. in 20th-century German history at the University of California at San Diego, where he was awarded a funding package, fellowship, and teaching assistantship.

Kristin Burkhart ’02 married Michael Sites October 8, 2011, in Chambersburg. Kristin and Mike met at a wedding of mutual friends in 2008, and Mike proposed in September 2010 after the couple hiked to the top of a peak in Colonel Denning State Park near Newburg, Pennsylvania.

Andrew Miller amiller@pioneeringprojects.org

’00

Adam Chubb is playing professional basketball in Germany for Alba Berlin. Adam, who played at Penn and was invited to training camp by the New Jersey Nets of the NBA, has also played professionally in Korea. He averages 10.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for Alba Berlin, which competes in the German League and is attempting to qualify for the Euroleague, which is the highest level of basketball played outside of the NBA.

million!

PlannedGivingAd.indd 1

Ann Marie Bliley abliley@gmail.com

’01

After covering the world track and field championships for LetsRun.com in Daegu, South Korea, Emory Mort traveled to Seoul and met up with Andy Park, his freshman roommate from Fowle Hall. “We hadn’t seen each other since we graduated from Mercersburg and our beloved Octet days,” Emory says. “Andy and I went to the DMZ (demilitarized zone) between South and North Korea, then met up with Seoul resident Phil Han for a tavern dinner in the Collegetown section of Seoul.”

Nate Fochtman nfochtman@gmail.com Jenn Hendrickson jennhendrickson@gmail.com Vanessa Youngs veyoungs@gmail.com

’03

Amisha Gadani is living in Los Angeles and working as an artist-in-residence at the Evolutionary Biology Lab at UCLA. She recently installed her new animal-inspired defensive dress at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and is working as an artist research associate at Carnegie Mellon’s Studio for Creative Inquiry. Amisha’s works deal with fashion and the defense mechanisms of certain animals. She presented a lunch lecture for Mercersburg students in September. Morgan Higby-Flowers is an assistant professor of art at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Romone Penny is a national tax associate rotator at Ernst & Young in Washington, D.C.

Peter Steinour married Claudia de los Milagros Moreno Elera June 11, 2011, in Chiclayo, Peru. Peter completed Peace Corps service in Peru and began graduate school at Florida Tech in the fall.

Matt Brennan brennan1273@gmail.com Alexis Imler alexis.imler@gmail.com Tammy McBeth Armstrong tammy.l.armstrong@gmail.com

’05

Dale Statler works for Wiss Janney Elstner Associates in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. He completed a master’s of engineering program at Lehigh University last spring.

’06

Medora Hartz dora22356@gmail.com

Former Mercersburg basketball standout Eduardo Archibold Brown played for the Panamanian national team at the FIBA Americas Championship in August and September in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The event was a qualifying tournament for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, which will be held in London. (Panama did not advance to the next stage of qualifying.) Eduardo played at Le Moyne College. Griffin Burns lives in Los Angeles and is recording an audiobook version of Bobby Henderson’s 2006 book, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Between 2000 and 2010, Mercersburg received more than $40 million from alumni and friends through bequests and estate plan gifts. This generosity provided much needed support for scholarships and new facilities and enhanced programs for students such as international field study and instructional technology. You, too, can create a lasting legacy. Mercersburg offers personal and confidential services to alumni, parents, and friends. Our gift planners will work with you and, if desired, your financial advisers to help you meet your individual philanthropic goals while securing your family’s future and strengthening Mercersburg at the same time. For more information, please contact the Alumni & Development Office at 1-800-588-2550 or visit www.mercersburg.edu/plannedgiving.

2/20/2012 3:54:03 PM

Births/Adoptions

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Jackson Robert, son of Bob Snyder II ’97 and his wife, Michele, born May 9, 2011. James Robertson, son of Rob Bertrand ’88 and his wife, Colleen, born June 15, 2011.

Jenn Flanagan Bradley ’99 and her husband, Tom, welcomed a son, Thomas Bernard “Tres” Bradley III, August 20, 2011.

To Robert Lehrman ’69 and his wife, Aimee: a daughter, Juliette Nicole, August 11, 2011. To Benicio Del Toro ’85 and Kimberly Stewart: a daughter, Delilah Genoveva Stewart Del Toro, August 21, 2011.

5th Anniversary Reunion June 8–10, 2012

’07

Xanthe Hilton xanthe89@gmail.com Chuck Roberts cer2141@columbia.edu Tim Rahauser is assistant director of the annual fund in the alumni & development office at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, where he also coaches soccer. Tim is a 2011 graduate of Dickinson College.

’08 Chris Freeland freelandc@comcast.net Hannah Starr hs1218@messiah.edu Ethan Strickler stricklere@kenyon.edu John Marshall started his senior year at Virginia Tech this fall after working over the summer at the Norfolk Southern Locomotive Shops in Roanoke, where he was selected for the only mechanical engineer co-op position at the facility.

Gussie Reilly captained the field hockey team as a senior at Washington College, just as she did during her senior year at Mercersburg. Gussie ranked third on the team with 23 points (eight goals, seven assists) and earned second-team all-conference honors.

Kiersten Bell bellk@kenyon.edu Annie Birney annieb14@aol.com Ariel Imler animler@edisto.cofc.edu Robby Marsh Kurtz robert.kmarsh@gmail.com Rachael Porter rmp413@lehigh.edu Andrew Reynolds reynola@purdue.edu Bond Stockdale stockdaleb7@gmail.com

’09

Georgia Baker bakerg1993@gmail.com Nathaniel Bachtell blackburn.rovers.12@gmail.com Anne Carrasco carrascoanne@gmail.com Kevin Carroll kvcarrol@usc.edu Matt Cook matthewcook333@gmail.com

’11

Peter Flanagan cuserocks1315@yahoo.com Jill Griswold jillgriswold@hotmail.com Steven Hernandez steven112092@hotmail.com Annette Hull netters4855@yahoo.com Ana Kelly ack469@gmail.com

Emmanuel John-Teye is a sophomore majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He was featured in a Rhodes TV segment available at www.youtube.com/rhodescollege. A “faculty brat” group photo at the Larson-Tippen wedding August 6 (see page 42). Front row (L–R): Kit Larson ’97, Stephon Fullerton ’06, Greg Larson ’06. Back row: Tim Rahauser ’07, Elissa Thorne ’07, Colin Cubit ’06, Ian McClintick ’04, Shelby Hoffman ’06, Brendan McClintick ’12, Eric Rahauser ’05, Rachael Hendrickson ’06, Chris McClintick ’08, Kearsten Cubit ’10, Paul Rutherford ’06.

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Obituaries ’28

F. Ward Coburn Jr., August 31, 2011. (South, Marshall, track, Stony Batter) A graduate of Yale University, Ward was a retired chairman of the board of the C.K. Whitner Co., where he served as treasurer and controller. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. He also served on the board of trustees of St. Joseph’s Hospital and was active in the Reading Chamber of Commerce, the Independent Dry Goods Syndicate, and the Community Chest Board. Ward lived in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. His wife, Mary Louise Mercer Coburn, died in 1996. Survivors include two daughters (including Jocelyn, who is married to Walter Whitmoyer ’55), five grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

’29

Hobart D. Lewis, April 1, 2011. (Laucks, Marshall) Hobart graduated from Princeton University and worked in advertising before going to Reader’s Digest in 1942 to work for the publication’s founders, Lila and DeWitt Wallace. He spent 22 years as an executive editor and became vice president in 1961. Hobart traveled with Richard Nixon’s first presidential campaign and eventually took on more of the company’s executive administrative duties, retiring in 1976. He was preceded in death by his wife, Edith, and a daughter. Survivors include two sons, a daughter, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

’37

Adam W. Martin, May 22, 2011. (Main, Marshall, track, Stony Batter) A graduate of Lafayette College, Adam was a teacher and high school principal until his retirement in 1982. He is survived by his wife, Pat Wood Martin, a son and daughter, four grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.

Homer H. Stuart, July 23, 2011. (Marshall, News Board, Les Copains, Camera Club president, KARUX) Homer graduated from Williams College with a bachelor’s degree in political science. While waiting to be called into the service, he joined the Grace Steamship Line, making four trips to South America. He served in the Navy for four and a half years during World War II in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. In 1950, he joined Hickok & Boardman, an insurance agency in Burlington, Vermont. He retired in 1978. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Mary Dean McLellan, two daughters and a son, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Donald S. Stackhouse, August 28, 2011. (Irving, Blue & White Melodians, Band, Glee Club, Melodians, KARUX, Press Club, Stamp Club) Don earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and

Obituaries was a captain in the Army Air Corps in World War II, serving in Scotland, England, France, and Germany. He spent approximately 20 years in finance for subsidiaries of Vick Chemical, Richardson Merrell, and Allied Chemical before transitioning to the executive recruiting field. In 1977, he founded Star Recruiters in North Plainfield, New Jersey. He retired in 1983. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Elizabeth, two brothers, and a son.

’41

John E. Gentzler Jr., July 16, 2011. (Marshall, soccer, track) John attended Ursinus College for two years before enlisting in the Army. He was the owner and operator of Keystone Milling Company in Littlestown for 36 years and served in the Army as a tank commander in Germany and France during World War II. John’s wife, Dorothy Leib Gentzler, preceded him in death. Survivors include three daughters, a son, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

’42

Harry W. Preis, July 25, 2011. (Marshall, El Circulo Español) Before graduating from Lafayette College, Harry spent four years in the Army in World War II, serving with the 103rd Infantry at the invasion of Anzio. He was the former owner and president of Preis Companies, and lived in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Survivors include his wife, Nancy.

’45

Harry E. Emlet Jr., September 4, 2011. (Keil, Marshall, Concert Band, Choir, Chemistry Club, track, football, Cum Laude Society) Harry was discharged from the Army in June 1947 and returned to Princeton University, which he had entered in 1945. He was an executive with ANSER (Analytic Services Inc.), a research organization working on contract for the Pentagon. He retired in 1991. Harry and his wife, Elinor, died in an automobile accident in Falls Church, Virginia. They were preceded in death by a daughter and are survived by a son.

’46

Arthur M. Peters Jr., September 4, 2011. (South Cottage, Marshall, Les Copains, Glee Club, choir, track) Art earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He graduated from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, in 1954 and worked as a special agent with the FBI from 1954 to 1958. Art was a self-employed attorney-at-law from 1958 to 1996, continuing in the practice of law from 1997 to 2007 as a partner in a firm in Danville, Virginia. He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Georgene Hoffman.

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’48

film version of Simon Gray’s play, The Common Pursuit, for Great Performances.

’49

K. Wallace Reynolds, September 30, 2011. (’Eighty-eight, Irving, football, Octet, French Club) Wally attended Cornell University and arrived in 1960 at Redstone Arsenal, a military post near Huntsville, Alabama. He worked in the Civilian Personnel Office there and eventually rose to the position of chief of labor relations for the U.S. Army Missile Command, retiring in 1994. In his retirement he was an active volunteer at the Huntsville Botanical Garden. Wally is survived by his wife, Jewell; additional survivors include a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren.

Harvey A. Andruss Jr., July 14, 2011. (Main Annex, Marshall, soccer, Radio Club, Glee Club) A graduate of Yale University, Harvey enlisted in the Army and was in the Army Reserve as a first lieutenant for 12 years. He served as contracting vice president of St. Paul Linoleum & Carpet and its subsidiary, Armcom Distributing, for 28 years. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Ann Andruss. He is survived by his second wife, Penny; a son and daughter; three stepchildren; and four grandchildren, seven step-grandchildren, and a step-great-grandchild.

John K. Wolff, September 27, 2011. (Main, Irving, wrestling) A graduate of Lafayette College, John owned and operated EPCO Graphics and later owned Ironwood Business Center in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He was the first borough manager of New Britain (a northern suburb of Philadelphia). Survivors include Melvina, his wife of 53 years; a son and daughter; four grandchildren (including Nick Ventresca ’05); and a sister.

’50

John P. Schaefer, May 31, 2011. (’Eighty-eight, Marshall, swimming) A graduate of Yale University and the University of Michigan Law School, John spent many years as chief clerk of the Monroe County [New York] Surrogates Court. Survivors include his wife, Ann; six children; two brothers (including Tom ’49); and several grandchildren.

Panayotis Vrettacos, June 4, 2011. (Marshall, Nevin Orator, soccer captain, track, Les Copains, International Club, Chemistry Club) Pete came to the U.S. from Greece to attend Mercersburg, and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He spent 36 years with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and received his license as a professional engineer. Survivors include his wife, Anastasia, and two children.

’52

Prescott A. Crisler, April 30, 2010. (Irving, football, basketball) The son of legendary University of Michigan football coach and athletic director Fritz Crisler, Scott played football both at Mercersburg and in college at Michigan. He owned and operated Woodstar Beach Campground on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Survivors include his wife of 30 years, Carlye, three children, and seven grandchildren. John A. McQuiggan, July 30, 2009. (South, Marshall, Stony Batter, football, tennis) Jack graduated from Washington and Lee University. He was director of development for the Smithsonian Institution’s performing-arts division before co-founding Unity Theatre TV Film Company in 1979 with Academy Awardwinning actor Anthony Hopkins. He was the company’s artistic director; he served as executive producer of the documentary Project Discovery: The First Film School in Cyberspace, which was shown on PBS and Bravo, and as co-producer of the BBC and PBS

’55

’66

Lawrence R. West, November 18, 2010. (Marshall, The Fifteen, Classics Club, Bridge Club, Choir, Glee Club, Football Band, Assembly Band, Concert Band) Lawrence earned a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and a law degree from Rutgers Law School. He had a 28-year affiliation with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, eventually becoming its first assistant prosecutor. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Jeanette Voight West, his parents, and a sister.

’68

Margie J. Creager Prahl, April 17, 2009. Margie, who attended Mercersburg as a summer-session student, was an artist and lived in Alexandria, Virginia. Her father, Don Creager, was on the Mercersburg faculty from 1962 to 1975, and her sister, Carol Creager Bernstorf ’71, also attended the school. Survivors include her husband, Sid, and two daughters.

’70

Robert G. Sellers Jr., October 28, 2010. (Marshall, Chapel Usher, proctor, Chemistry Club, Chess Club, Caducean Club, Latin Club, Glee Club, cross country, golf) Bob graduated from Stanford University. He was a lab researcher at Stanford Medical Center and managed a lab at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Santa Cruz, California. Survivors include a brother and a sister.

’72

Gregory L. Harp, September 18, 2011. (Marshall, fencing) A graduate of the University of Portland and Colorado State University, Greg worked for Shirazi & Associates, OneRain, and as a waterquality analyst for the city of Greeley, Colorado. Survivors include his wife, Debbie; two brothers (including Tom ’73) and a sister; and numerous nieces and nephews.

’00

Sarah A. Gdula, September 3, 2011. (Swank/Tippetts, Marshall, prefect, Student Ambassador, Stony Batter production board, French Club, Chorale, Women’s Ensemble, Madrigal Singers, Inbound leader, volleyball, track & field manager) Sarah was schooled in Colorado, Wyoming, California, and Saudi Arabia before coming to

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Mercersburg. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University, where she majored in theater and Japanese. She worked as a senior fraud analyst for Bank of America and lived in Newark, Delaware. Sarah passed away due to complications resulting from an epileptic seizure. Survivors include her parents, grandparents, and two sisters, Robyn Gdula Lalime ’98 and Lindsey Gdula ’02. Mark W. Snowberger Jr., May 6, 2011. (Fowle, Cum Laude, prefect) An avid lover of music, the arts, gardening, and photography, Mark lived in the Charleston, South Carolina, area. Survivors include his parents and a sister.

Faculty/former faculty/ staff/friends Don E. Creager, June 24, 2011. Don taught religion courses at Mercersburg from 1962 to 1975 and was pastor emeritus at Trinity United Church of Christ. He moved to Fort Myers, Florida,

in 2000. Survivors include his wife, Gail, two daughters (including Carol Creager Bernstorf ’71), and several grandchildren. His daughter, Margie Creager Prahl ’68, preceded him in death. Nancy Musgrave, mother and mother-in-law of faculty members Cindy and Larry Jones, respectively, July 2, 2011. Anne Exton Scarlett, mother of Joan Scarlett Winebrenner, mother-in-law of faculty emeritus Wirt Winebrenner ’54, and grandmother of Anne Winebrenner Knuth ’79, Wirt Winebrenner III ’82, and Jon Winebrenner ’86, August 11, 2011. Richard E. Wentz, September 25, 2011. Richard taught at Mercersburg from 1955 to 1962 before founding the religious studies department at Arizona State University, from which he retired as professor emeritus. He also served parishes in Mercersburg and in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and was campus minister at Penn State University. An essay he wrote appeared in the summer 2011 issue of Mercersburg magazine. His wife, Joan, passed away in August 2011.

My Say

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During a recent two-day session with students in the Quinn-

Ferguson Honors Seminar, I presented a theory regarding the inevitable changes—significantly due to the advent of the World Wide Web—that we’ll see in American English. Though I’m not a linguist, I am a descriptivist, so I fully embrace the democratizing effect that the Internet is having on language. By John David Bennett This doesn’t mean I appreciate and promote “LOL” and “OMG,” but I like the new access the Internet provides for a previously powerless reader or writer, leveraging new seats at the table and granting immediate admittance to formerly exclusive conversations. Now and in the future, speakers of all dialects of American language can offer important, healthy revisions to the accepted form of American English—and all they have to do is log on. To some, this kind of change represents a potential, catastrophic deterioration of the language. What if we allow a dialect like Pittsburgh English, common in and around western Pennsylvania, to infiltrate? What if this “Pittsburghese” (which tells you that “the car needs washed,” asks you to “redd up” when it’s time to get things together, or wonders if “yunz are late because you went by way of Altoona”) and other such dialects taint our daily language, putting us on a slippery slope toward linguistic destruction and the breakdown of American culture? In a related discussion at the popular blog Grammar Girl, several readers weighing in weren’t kind to Pittsburghese or the people who speak it. One commented, “I’ve never heard of the term ‘needs washed.’ I would automatically deduct 20 IQ points from anyone I heard using it.” Another, dejected and surprised to learn that “needs washed” is considered improper, wrote that she “will try to curb her tongue in the future.” Unfortunately, these readers suffer a common misconception. They believe in a “correct” form of American English, a form superior to other dialects—a pure, original geometry that any divergence violates and that Pittsburghese laughably ruins. But the truth is that Standard American English wasn’t born as a pure form, followed then by rebellious dialects that fell from grace. Each version has developed organically, running parallel to the others—with Standard American English alongside since the mythical beginning. Many of the Quinn-Ferguson students seemed willing to

consider this idea, perhaps recognizing the value of all American dialects and the people who speak them. And I hope they saw that we inadvertently degrade a person and his culture when we degrade the language he and his family and his community speak. To many readers, this argument might seem like populist propaganda leading people away from a clear-headed understanding of correct versus incorrect. After all, who could imagine replacing “get ready” with “redd up”? But who imagined “madam” turning into the colloquialism “ma’am” on its way to becoming the height of verbal respect offered to a woman? Don’t accept my view of right and wrong, though. Ask Mark Twain, who in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—via his hero’s counter-intuition—tells us hard truths about America and the breach of its creeds. Students and professors discuss Twain’s convictions in classrooms around the world, but the first lesson of the novel often goes unnoticed. In the book’s “Explanatory,” placed two pages before Huck introduces himself, Twain writes: In this book a number of dialects are used…: the Missouri negro dialect;…the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the… “Pike County” dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion…but painstakingly, and with…the support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech. I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding. John David Bennett, a member of the English faculty, has taught at Mercersburg since 2007. This essay was adapted from a presentation he gave to students enrolled in the Quinn-Ferguson Honors Seminar, a seminar-style interdisciplinary course taught by Philip Kantaros.

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