Thoughts on Leadership and the Future

It is that time of year when we inevitably look ahead. The seniors look ahead to college and commencement.  The upper middlers look ahead to leading the school in significant, important, and challenging ways.  All underclass students choose their classes for 2008–09 and wonder what the next year will be like for them academically.  With their advisers, teachers, and others, I hope they develop a good vision and picture of their success while they work on the tools they need to reach that vision.

Every spring term I speak with the upper middlers about their roles for senior year.  Later in the term they will experience  the Leadership Academy. As our AFG (Accreditation for Growth) leadership group of faculty and students continues to move ahead with the leadership goal for students, the team members have interesting debates on what defines leadership.  The definition of leadership is a much more difficult question than it appears on the surface, and we try to choose elements that will be most helpful to teach and promote in students as they move ahead in the world.  More...

Commencement Events Scheduled

 


Friday, June 6

• 4:30 p.m.  Head of School's Reception—North Cottage Garden
• 5:30-6:30 p.m.  Buffet Dinner—Ford Hall
• 7 p.m.  Baccalaureate—Chapel

Saturday, June 7

• 8:30-9:30 a.m.  Continental Breakfast—Ford Hall
• 10 a.m.  Carillon Recital
• 11 a.m.  Commencement Exercise—Commencement Stage
• Buffet Luncheon—Ford Hall

Spring Break Trip Spurs Great Season

The winning scores speak for themselves:

Mercersburg 22, Central Dauphin East HS 1

Mercersburg 20, Lancaster Country Day School 2

Mercersburg 7, Lawrenceville School 5

Mercersburg 18, Cumberland Valley HS 12

The women's lacrosse team has had an amazingly successful start to its 2008 season, highlighted by the April 5 win over Lawrenceville, the first win over the Big Red in the program's history. Was this great beginning jump-started by the spring break trip to South Carolina? Quite possibly.  What started as a simple idea in November became 14 players and three coaches journeying 700 miles to Hilton Head Island on March 8.

There they joined five high schools, four colleges, and local teams for a spirited five days of lacrosse. With visits to the University of South Carolina, the University of Mary Washington, and Davidson College adding to the fun, the girls had seven packed days of intense practices, thrilling games and team camaraderie.

What did the team learn during the week away?

"We learned that you cannot lead if you can’t follow, that leaders aren’t just seniors or veteran players, but also are freshmen or beginners. Individual goals, such as increasing a save percentage or scoring points, were subordinated to our primary aim of achieving perfection. "

"...Living in the Mercersburg bubble separates us from the outside world, but when venturing out into it together as a team, we learned that our school’s bubble in fact extends everywhere. So although we are a tight-knit group, we learned this week that we are a part of an enormous Mercersburg community."

-Anika Kempe '09

Read the blogs from the trip.        Check out our other sports teams.

Exciting Speakers Highlight Spring Term

Ammerman Family Lecture –

Scientist, conservationist, and author Tim Flannery, presented the Ammerman lecture on March 31, in the Simon Theatre as part of the school’s 2007-2008 Monday Evening Lecture Series.   

Flannery believes that human activity is drastically altering the earth’s climate, and that soon these changes will have a devastating effect on the planet. He wants to mobilize the social and political will to address this problem before it’s too late. In his provocative book, The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, which debuted on the New York Times bestseller list, Flannery tells the fascinating story of climate change over millions of years to help us understand the predicament we face today.

Flannery, a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and The Times Literary Supplement, also contributes to ABC Radio, NPR, and the BBC. He is the former director of the South Australian Museum and is currently a professor at Sydney’s Macquarie University. In 2002, he spent a year as professor of Australian studies at Harvard University, where he taught in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. In 2005 he was honored as Australian Humanist of the Year and in 2007, he was named Australian of the Year.

Class of ’48 Lecture -

On April 14, esteemed lecturer and author, Marcelo Suarez-Orozco presented the Class of ’48 Lecture.  Suarez-Orozco has made an incalculable cntribution to the worldwide discussion on the far-reaching implications of immigration and globalization. A member of the National Academy of Education, he is currently the Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education at New York University. The co-founder of the Harvard Immigration Projects, he has also served as that university’s tenured professor of human development and psychology, as well as its Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education and Culture.

Suarez-Orozco is co-author of a new book, Learning in a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society, based on a study that followed 400 newly arrived children from the Caribbean, China, Central America, and Mexico for five years. The winner of the 2008 Stone Award for the Best Book on Education, it provides a compelling account of the lives, dreams, ironies, and frustrations of these young immigrants. In Learning in the Global Era, Suarez-Orozco’s new anthology, he explores the challenges of educating a global generation of youth in our rapidly changing world.

Parent Challenge Update

It’s hard to believe this fundraising year is coming to a close. Thank you to everyone who has chosen to support Mercersburg both with financial gifts and gifts of volunteer time! Your generosity allows Mercersburg to continue preparing young people of character to make a difference in the world.

Plans are underway for the picnic and movie night prize for the winning class of the 2008 Parent Challenge. This celebration is always fun for the students and a nice break before their final academic push of the year. The big question remains—who will be the winner?
 
Only a few votes/gifts separate the classes but your gift can make the difference. Check the graph to see just how close the classes are.   If you’ve not yet cast your vote and sent a gift, there is still time to support your student’s class.  Make your gift today online or by contacting Kelly Schoenberger in the Alumni & Development Office.

Parents of seniors continue to raise funds in support of the operating budget and changes to the Ford Hall student center. Improvements there include a new bookstore, new café, game room, and TV viewing area with comfy modular furniture.  Any student in the Class of 2008 whose parents give a gift this year will have his or her name included on the Class of 2008 commemorative plaque that will hang in the center. If you have not been contacted about making a gift, there is still time to make a gift, in any amount, and have your student included.  Please email or call Kelly Schoenberger at 717-328-6142 for details.

Remember to check out the parent challenge web page after May 1st to see the final results and celebrate with us!