The Geography of Your Life

Welcome from an altitude of 39,000 feet and minus 74 degrees Farenheit.  I am taking a quick course in geography as I write to you for the October newsletter.  It is Wednesday, October 10, and I am two hours (1016 miles) from Dubai and a brief pit stop there before I arrive at today’s destination of Muscat, Oman, where I will visit with the director of the ABA School in Muscat.  She and I will then head off to co-chair a Middle States accreditation team for an independent school in southern India.  At age 53,  this is my first time to the Middle East and to Asia.

The screen on the back of the seat in front of me is flashing a map with facts regarding the outside temperature, the time at our final destination, and the altitude— all brought to me in Arabic, German, and English.  Next comes a map of the region; we have crossed the Black Sea and will soon be flying over the Gulf of Oman.  The Canadian woman beside me speaks French and English, and we study my guidebook to try to identify the unlabeled countries on the map.  Shouldn’t I have learned this somewhere along my educational journey?

During the opening days of school, a dormitory activity for new and returning students included getting together on their dormitory floors and explaining the “geography of their lives.”  Everyone described where they live and where they have visited in the world and located these areas on a map.  Mercersburg brings together students from 28 countries and 28 states this year;  we celebrate that diversity.  Our background and experience of place informs our world view and the collective sharing of that allows students and all community members to deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world at a time in history when that is an urgent necessity.  Just getting to know each other breaks down fears and barriers that do not need to be there.   Read more....



Fall Family Weekend

Make plans now to join us on campus for Family Weekend on October 26–28, when you can spend time with your son or daughter, to witness his or her participation in activities in and out of the classroom, and to get to know fellow parents, faculty, and other members of the Mercersburg community.  We also welcome the presence of siblings and grandparents during the weekend.

The weekend officially begins on Friday with a fall harvest festival on the front quad. This will be followed by Stony Batter's opening performance of Peter Pan in the Simon Theatre.  Athletic contests, a meeting for parent volunteers, and information sessions will also occur during the weekend.  

Sunday morning classroom visits and meetings with your child's adviser form the core of Family Weekend. Other Sunday activities include a chapel service, followed by lunch in Ford Hall and a carillon recital.  

Download the schedule.

Not Your Parents' Math Class


Step onto the fourth floor  of Irvine Hall and you’ll see what we mean. The newly redecorated math department is warm, lively, and inviting. Planned by Julia Maurer, math department head, the entire floor was designed as a cohesive space where students could enjoy discovering of math.
 
According to Maurer, warm tones are the way to go when learning math, so a deep red hallway leads to classrooms with burnt orange and gold color schemes. Colorful posters of famous mathematicians decorate the spaces.

The new flexible classrooms have tables and chairs on casters that can be arranged in any way needed to teach a particular subject or group of students.  The same room can be reconfigured multiple times a day for advanced classes or beginning ones.  A more traditional setup can be used for lower level classes;  groups of tables or a circular arrangement can be arranged for more collaborative work. Students love the new chairs, which adjust and flex, and are made from  100 percent recycled materials.

The department now includes two computer labs—one specifically for robotics and AP math courses. All classrooms include a projector, and are wireless enabled, allowing students' calculators to connect to the teacher’s laptop.

Director of College Counseling McClintick Voted NACAC President-Elect


Director of College Counseling Bill McClintick was voted president-elect of the Board of Directors of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) at its 63rd National Conference in Austin, Texas.

As president elect, McClintick, who will serve a three-year term, will lead the organization of more than 10,000 secondary school counselors, independent counselors, college admission and financial aid officers, enrollment managers, and organizations that work with students as they make the transition from high school to post secondary education.

McClintick is a long-standing member of NACAC, serving more than 25 years in a variety of capacities.  “ As a school counselor who works with a diverse student body, I witness a full range of student needs, including the intensive levels of support required by first generation college bound students," McClintick says. "It is this breadth of experience, both as a committee member and as a professional who has been on both sides of the desk, that have prepared me for the demands of the NACAC presidency.”

Founded in 1937, NACAC is committed to maintaining high standards that foster ethical and social responsibility among those involved in the educational transition process, as outlined in the NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice.

The Hicks Sport Photography Collection


by Phil Kantaros

It’s Mothers’ Day 1970.  Bobby Orr has just received the puck off a perfect give-and-go to Derek "the Turk" Sanderson.  Orr plows across the front of the goal and buries the puck in the St. Louis Blues’ net to seal an overtime win and bring the Stanley Cup to Boston for the first time in 29 years.  He is tripped by a Blues’ defenseman after the shot and that’s when the photo is taken, when Orr is in mid-air, arms out, stick high, exultant, a great player playing at his absolute best.  In the background, rows of fans are forever captured leaping up from their chairs, having just witnessed the greatest single hockey moment in this hockey-crazed city.

Just about every hockey fan and every New Englander knows the photo.  It is the only sports picture that I own, the only one that my colleague Will Willis owns, the most prominent sports shot hanging on the walls of countless Boston bars and homes.  The photo is iconic for it captures not only the best of Bobby Orr but also the zeitgeist of a city embracing the joy of victory even as it continued to drag itself through tough times.

More recently, though, I’ve found other black-and-white sports shots that also define that which draws us to sport, whether it’s the intensity, the excitement, the joy or even the occasional solitude that we see in athletes performing at their peak.  Plenty of players and coaches and fans and family who have walked the time-trodden halls of Mercersburg’s Nolde Gymnasium have seen those photos and have stopped to look more carefully.  There’s just ‘something’ that calls for a longer look.  Read more ...

To purchase photos of current student athletes, go to Renee's site at www.dotphoto.com, username=mercersburg, password=mercersburg.

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How can this newsletter better serve Mercersburg parents? Please submit your suggestions and comments to Pat Myers P'99.