Ligonier, Pennsylvania

DEFINITION
Evan (adjective): cynical and upbeat; oxymoronic.

QUESTIONS
Why did you decide to go to Mercersburg?
Coed was a large deciding factor. The Burgin Center attracted me a bit. But mostly I liked the balance of the place. I love music, so I was certainly going to pursue that. And though I’m not any good at any of them, I play a lot of sports and wanted to keep doing that. You get all that at Mercersburg, plus a challenging academic structure.

Oh, and their a cappella group, Octet, is really good. I heard them when I first visited campus. The tight harmonies sounded great and were something I’d never heard before, so I knew I wanted to do that.

You should get our CD, and not just because I’m a member, or spent 13 hours designing the cover or anything like that.

What are the faculty like?
I’m fairly independent. I was never the type whose parents sat me down and helped me with my homework, but the whole “teacher as your friend” thing has been fun. We respect them a lot, but I like that they’re not people you have to show constant deference toward. For instance, I live across the hall from Mr. Cohen, and sometimes I just go over there to watch TV or hang out. I guess I never pictured myself doing that before I came here, but it all seems very natural now. I have a lot of fun with faculty as well as with kids.

What's the biggest challenge you've had at Mercersburg?
A lot of times I’ll be very, very busy with a lot of things at once. I leave my room at 7:00 in the morning and don’t return until 10:00 or 11:00. That was especially the case during Irving-Marshall Week. It’s not completely unfair if you keep organized, but you need to stay on top of things.

What’s been your biggest surprise at Mercersburg?
Eric Bogosian. I was working on one of his pieces for my Irving-Marshall Declamation and it just wasn’t coming together. I was online looking for a replacement and found someone selling a DVD of Bogosian doing the piece I was going to do. So I bought it and even sent a nice note to the lady selling it saying I needed it really fast. I was so pumped when it arrived, but I watched it and it was awful. I didn’t laugh once. In a way it was kind of a relief because here’s this guy who can’t do his own material. It helped me lower the bar for myself.

What are you most looking forward to?
There are constantly options here. I played soccer for 12 years. When I got here, I ran cross-country for the first time instead. You can try anything here. I might have far too many AP courses lined up. I’m looking forward to lots of Latin and biology.

And given that I chose Mercersburg in part because of theatre, I should probably do some. As a lark I joined the ski team instead of doing the school musical. It’s the first time in five years I haven’t been in a musical. Ski team was great and I learned a lot. But I’d like to get back on stage. And Ms. Mufson, the theatre director, isn’t going to let me get out of it anyway. She’ll make sure I’m in at least a few acting endeavors before I leave Mercersburg.

LISTS
Activities:

• Octet
• Karux (yearbook)
• Class president
• Ski Team
• Marshall declaimer