Residential Life Brochure

community, Mercersburg style

You come here to learn and to grow. And you come to be part of a vibrant boarding-school community. So it’s onlynatural that Mercersburg Academy should be much morethan a school, because it’s the place where you’re going tolive for four years. Over time you will find that “going toMercersburg” and “living Mercersburg” are one and thesame, and that being here changes you and your wholedefinition of community forever.

There’s plenty to do here. Sports. Plays. Poetry readings.Dances. Barbeques. Backpacking. Extracurricular life atMercersburg is full and fun. And just when it seems morethan you could imagine, someone (you?) starts a new club.

prepping FOR THE REAL WORLD.

You know what they say: experience is the best teacher. And for a teenager, there is no experience more instructive,more fun, more personally challenging, and more attuned to helping you learn about you than residential life at Mercersburg.

Every year, our graduating seniors unfailingly confess thatover their four years here, they grew the most by way of theirexperience of living in community—24/7—with theirclassmates. There simply is no substitute.

When you live with someone for nine consecutive months,you learn a lot about that roommate (plus your hallmates) andyourself—how to behave, how to manage your own emotionswhen you’re sharing a fairly small space, and so much more.

This is the stuff that real life is made of. This is a big reasonyou come to Mercersburg.

residential life IS A FRIEND�MAKING MACHINE.

As a student at Mercersburg, you’re always in thecompany of equals. In no time you will discover that ninth and 10th graders mesh exceedingly well with 11thand 12th graders, and it isn’t uncommon to find a seniorand a ninth-grader becoming the best of friends. This isone of the supreme benefits of residential life among theopen and accepting student body that are the hallmark of Mercersburg.

And the kinds of friends you will make here will differfrom many that you would make at a day school. ConsiderMercersburg alumni: whether they are in their 20s ortheir 60s, their camaraderie speaks volumes about justhow deep these friendships are between graduates wholived in the dorm together for years. In a sense, yourMercersburg friends virtually become your brothers andsisters, because you will have been through so manythings together—so many learning experiences that willsimply never arise in a day-school setting.

campus lifeIt’s everywhere and nowhere. It’s right before your eyes

and completely invisible. It’s a bonfire and a Burgin show.

It’s hanging on the side of a mountain tethered to a single

rope, and it’s hanging with friends in Lower Ford on a

Friday night. It’s about 430 students who start out each

year working on “me being me” only to discover they’ve

morphed into “us being us.” Campus life is both the

inspiration and the outcome. You can try to describe it,

but it’s far better just to find it, tap into it, go with it,

and enjoy it, adding your unique energy, creativity,

and personality to the marvelous mix.

Campus life is community, pure and simple.

And we have a place just for you.

Doug HaleHead of School

300 E. Seminary Street, Mercersburg, PA 17236

717-328-6173 www.mercersburg.edudefine your place in

community.

R E S I D E N T I A L L I F E

C To minimize the impact on the environment,this publication is printed on paper made with 30% process chlorine-free post-consumerrecycled fiber. The paper is also FSC and SFIchain of custody certified and 100% of theelectricity used to manufacture the paper isGreen-e certified renewable energy. The inkscontain a high proportion of renewablevegetable-based ingredients.

Mercersburg Academy abides by both the spirit and the letter of the law in all its employment andadmission policies. The school does not discriminateon the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexualorientation, or national or ethnic origin.

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Mercersburg Outdoor Education

30 kayaks, a huge climbing wall, and so much MOE!

Whether it’s hiking in local state parks or trekking inPeru, MOE (Mercersburg Outdoor Education) is welloutfitted to teach you leadership, communication,endurance, respect, and clear decision-making. MOE faculty want you to make good decisions under pressure, appreciate the world around you, and be self-reliant and resourceful. And with MOE, you learn these things while clinging to the face of a cliff or sleeping in a snow cave.

A CLUB FOR EVERY TASTE | Gettinginvolved in clubs and groups on campus gives you the opportunity to meet all kinds of people who enjoy the same things you do.Here are a few of the clubs and organizations,in no particular order:

• Ultimate Frisbee• The Fifteen (literary)• Green Team • Math Club• Chorale• Asian Club• Jazz Band• Karux (yearbook)• Stony Batter

(theater)

• Mercersburg News• Tech Crew• Blue Review

(student art and lit)• Bowling Club• Burgin Center Usher• Photography Club• Ski Club• Grilling Club

HANGING OUT IN GOOD OLE FORD | It comesdown to this: you gotta love Ford Hall. It is the place toeat, drink, relax, connect, or just hang. Upstairs, Fordfeeds our entire school community with dining hallfare of great quality and wide variety. Downstairs,there’s “Lower Ford,” which is practically a communityin itself. All day, every day, you can get free coffee, tea,muffins, and the like at Mercersburg Café, not tomention smoothies and other fare for a modest charge.Lower Ford also houses our mailboxes and the studentbank, plus a store for the basic necessities and greatMercersburg apparel. On any weekend, you’re liable tofind a cookout, a dance, a movie, or an open mic night.There’s a TV, pool tables, and Ping-Pong. You canalways find a group or a friend to hang with at Ford.

SPIRIT WEEK | There are spiritrallies and events all week,including a contest for best dorm-room decorations. The eventsclimax with a special AlumniWeekend, when athletic and artsevents abound, and currentstudents join visiting graduates and their families for the ancienttradition of Steps Songs at MainHall, a big bonfire, and much more.

TRIPS | We’re so convenient tofour great cities: Washington,Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Which means weregularly schedule supervisedstudent trips to any of the above toenjoy their cultural, athletic, andcommercial riches. You may go to Georgetown or maybe theSmithsonian; or you may root forthe Orioles, the Nationals, or theRavens; or just enjoy world-classsightseeing and shopping.

stay connectedSERVING OTHERS IS BIG ATMERCERSBURG | Living at Mercersburgcan push you to explore a deeper definitionof what life is. For many, that begins withcommunity service. In fact, a majority ofMercersburg students participate in at leastone service project each year.

MAPL GAMES AND BURGIN SHOWS | You won’t have to wait for a trip to “the bigcity”; instead, you can walk only a few yardsfrom your dorm to get your athletic or culturalfix. There’s plenty to take in right here oncampus with 26 varsity sports teams and asteady stream of theatrical, musical, and visualarts fare at the Burgin Center for the Arts.

Irving-Marshall WeekThe primo all-school event of this year and every year.

Irving-Marshall Week is the blowout end to the winterterm. The entire student body divides into two “societies”(Irving and Marshall) and competes in everything fromPing-Pong and wrestling to chess and swimming. Theweek culminates in a standing-room-only contest ofspirited monologues, famously called Declamation, wherethe Irving society pits its biggest talents against those ofthe Marshall society. It ends with a dinner and dance, andthe society that wins gets the ultimate prize—braggingrights until the next year’s Irving-Marshall.

structured, NOT RESTRICTIVE.

Residential life at Mercersburg doesn’t just happen. It’s a verythoughtful, intentional program that has been honed over the years toprovide the right amount of structure and supervision, yet also plenty offreedom, so that students can truly breathe and enjoy themselves in anenvironment where they know what the community expects of them.

Experienced faculty manage the entire residential life program. Alldorms have deans and live-in faculty. Mercersburg’s associate head of school is charged with establishing and maintaining the vision andoverall quality of our entire residential life experience. The director ofdormitories coordinates the communications and curriculum of thevarious dorm deans in order to keep dorm life fresh, on track, andrewarding for everyone. Dorm faculty are available all day, every day, so no students should ever feel that they lack a sensitive and informedadult to consult or rely upon, should the occasion arise. The Academyprovides both a 24-hour, professionally staffed health center and 24-hour on-campus, roaming security presence.

Mercersburg publishes the Community Handbook every year so that all students and their parents have access to the complete guidelinesthey must follow and the many services and amenities available tothem while living at Mercersburg.

ninth-graders ARE SPECIAL.

For most ninth-graders, boarding schoolis a completely new thing. That is why wededicate two separate dorms for housingninth-grade boys and girls, respectively.This way, all ninth-graders learn tonavigate Mercersburg together and theycan make new friends more quickly.

Ninth-grade residential life isn’t just aboutroommates and dorms, it’s also aboutsucceeding academically. For example, it’s the Mercersburg residential lifecurriculum that requires all ninth-gradersto get out of their dorm rooms and into atwo-hour study hall every Sunday through

Thursday evening. Faculty actively managethese study halls, with the intent that all ninth-graders have ample opportunity to develop theright kinds of study skills for success in theirfirst year at Mercersburg—and beyond.

Life as a ninth-grader has its trying moments.That is why we ask select seniors to conductPeer Groups for ninth-graders, held weeklyduring the first two terms. At each PeerGroup, the leader discusses an informativetopic of interest to ninth-graders, and, in turn,the ninth-graders in each Peer Group have anopen and supportive forum in which they canask questions and share thoughts about dormissues and life in general at Mercersburg.

Launched in 2004, MOEthrives in the MasinterOutdoor Education Center,a renovated 10,000-square-foot timber-framebarn. That’s enough spaceto hold the program’s ...

• 1,100-square-foot indoor rock-climbing wall

• 30 kayaks

• 8 canoes

• 25 bikes

• 100,000 feet of rope

MOE OFFERINGS/OPPORTUNITIES

• Backpacking

• Ice Climbing

• Mountain Biking

• MountaineeringExpeditions

• Rock Climbing

• White Water Kayaking

• Wilderness LeadershipTraining & First-Responder Certification

• Winter Camping

(theater)

• 30 kayaks

• 8 canoes

• 25 bikes

• Backpacking

• Ice Climbing

• Mountain Biking

• Rock Climbing

• Winter Camping

(theater)

• 30 kayaks

• 8 canoes

• 25 bikes

• Backpacking

• Ice Climbing

• Mountain Biking

• Rock Climbing

• Winter Camping

(theater)

• 30 kayaks

• 8 canoes

• 25 bikes

• Backpacking

• Ice Climbing

• Mountain Biking

• Rock Climbing

• Winter Camping

community.

Residential Life Brochure

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