With rehearsals for an upcoming production by the local theater company keeping me in Oswestry over this week-long break, I am hunkering down for the next few days. To keep myself busy, I’ve dusted off my squash gear from three years on the Mercersburg men’s team, learned to play badminton, and checked out more than a few books from the school library. But more interesting than what I am doing over here is what I’m hearing of back across the pond at my alma mater.
The Model United Nations organization has just returned from the Ivy League MUN Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, bringing with them a few awards. Although I am on the debate team here, I miss the people and the structure of Mercersburg MUN, of which I was president—or rather Secretary-General—for two years. I am very proud of the work that the club’s leaders are doing this year and will not—for the reader’s sake—relate any of the peculiar anecdotes either from my time or from this year as I’ve heard them. Suffice to say that a group of engaged and informed students representing the governments of the world is bound to encounter drama along the way.
Stony Batter is performing the winter musical this weekend, Into the Woods. Now I didn’t join the cast of the musical until my senior year—when I played Vince Fontaine in Grease—but my closest group of friends consisted mostly of “theater people” and I wish those still there the best of luck in what I am sure will be a wonderful production. I’ll actually be seeing some of the cast this March when they join faculty members Laurie Mufson, Jim Applebaum, and Chip Horton on the Spring Break Arts Trip to London. I was lucky enough to be on the trip last year and loved the week exploring London’s arts scene, from West End theater productions to the British Museum.
And finally, we beat Peddie! I remember that Model UN’s first fundraiser during my freshman year was the selling of alumni weekend t-shirts that read “Beat Peddie!” So the Storm’s defeat of Peddie’s swimmers last weekend was particularly appreciated over here.
Now it is time to return to what work I have left this week I suppose. Right now I’ll be drafting my assembly speech due on February 22nd in which I’ll attempt to explain America’s presidential election process to the student body here in just 15 minutes. I’ll certainly be relying on what Messrs. Kantaros and Tompkins taught us in AP US Government last year to explain the significance of the numbers 2,025 and 1,191, the acronyms FEC, GOP, and PAC, among many other nuances of our system. It will be an interesting exercise to say the least, but one of particular value as the whole world turns its eyes on the lengthiest and one of the most exciting races to date.
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