Students Share Service Experiences
At an October 3 Community Gathering, four Mercersburg students who do community service shared their stories.
Kylee Mason ’09 spoke about service at the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County (located just across the state line in Hagerstown, Maryland); Ryan Hao ’10 represented Bikes for the World, an organization that packages and ships donated bicycles to countries like Ghana, Panama, and Costa Rica; Janice Jung ’08 talked about opportunities to work with older adults at Menno Haven, a local retirement community; and Taylor Hoffman ’08 recounted some of her experiences volunteering at Mercersburg Elementary School.
“The children are amazing, complex, full of potential and love, and they simply want someone to be a friend,” Mason said. “I want to so badly to help them; I want to be there all the time and I want to give them everything they don't have. They have given me so much knowledge, hope, and despair—I don't know how to sum it all up in a speech. All I can tell you is that they've changed me.”
Many other service opportunities exist for Academy students; faculty member Matt Maurer is Mercersburg’s director of community service. During an annual spring break trip to Costa Rica, students can serve at the Cloud Forest School; a four-day service trip to the Father Beiting Appalachian Mission Center in Louisa, Kentucky, is planned this year for a portion of the school’s Thanksgiving break.
More about service opportunities at Mercersburg.Pictured: Emily Brundage '08 with students at Mercersburg Elementary.