Connect With Us

The Prentiss-Zimmerman Quad or just “the quad.” You can find me doing loops around the quad after lunch with a colleague, in the evening pushing a stroller, or on the weekend with a friend. No matter the season, the mountains create a beautiful backdrop and Adirondack chairs dot the grassy center.

The senior class trip right before Commencement Weekend. As a chaperone, this event means late nights, early mornings, and being in the wilderness with 130 students, but it's also a welcomed chance to disconnect and spend quality time with the seniors and my faculty friends before the year ends.

This moment happens every day: family-style lunches with the entire school! This moment keeps us all connected even when it feels like we are running in a million different directions. Students and teachers make announcements and there’s always a quote of the day. I love the routine of this and the unexpected moments within this time—birthday claps for several students, a poem read, a sports team recognized for a big win the previous night, and skits during Irving-Marshall Week.

My seat at Table #36 in the dining hall. I love being able to connect with our entire school community there every weekday, and especially on advisory lunch days! These family-style meals are a way that I've gotten to spend quality time with so many members of our community over the years.

The Moving-Up Ceremony at the end of each school year. The event marks the growth of our students from year to year, similar to a birthday or an anniversary. It reminds us that our students are growing up and maturing, and I always find it to be a profound and proud moment to savor.

One moment that was incredibly special for me was the graduation of the Class of 2020. My work as a student adviser began four years prior, and the graduation of this class marked the first time I witnessed students’ four-year journey so personally from start to finish. What an incredible group of students. From their admission interview to receiving their diploma, their time with us goes quickly, but it is life-changing for them and for us!

Irvine Memorial Chapel. Our Chapel is a living museum, and I love how rich it is with history. It's humbling to think about the generations of Mercersburg faculty and students who sat in the pews before us.

Likely connected to my love for the Chapel, my favorite tradition is the candlelight ceremony leading up to the holidays. Filled with music and decked out in local greenery, the Chapel is at its finest!

Nothing beats when I came to visit for my interview and received my campus tour with a Blue Key tour guide. With students and faculty saying “hello” and introducing themselves to me along the way, I felt like I was already part of the family and knew this would be my next home.

The Edwards Room. The history of the Academy surrounds me there. I see the hand-carved woodwork, the beautiful chandeliers, the older volumes of books, and the Tiffany stained glass windows—reminders that this was once a bustling dining room and a library.

I love the "Moving Up" ceremony in the Chapel when we pass the leadership on to the next class and physically see the seniors step aside as they prepare to graduate. Seeing the changed faces of each rising class as they move into the seats vacated by the class before them brings me great joy.

One of my favorite moments was when a formerly homesick ninth-grade advisee wanted to serve the dorm as a prefect to new ninth graders to help them through that transition. He went on to become a mentor within his college fraternity and is still helping his classmates transition to the workforce in the job he landed after graduating from college.

Standing outside the library at night when it’s lit up. Lenfest Hall is beautiful regardless of the time of day, but there’s something special about this building at night—quiet and picturesque from the outside but illuminated from within by students and faculty working, meeting, talking, and studying.

Declamation following Irving-Marshall Week. The mere act of bravery that students exhibit in choosing to declaim is impressive in its own right, but the hard work, time, and emotion that’s delivered by every declaimer year after year is almost awe inspiring.

Some of the most fun I’ve had while “working” has come while sitting at the duty desk in the dorms in the evening or on a weekend. You see everyone in the dorm and interact with students and other faculty in ways you might never expect. Whether it’s just catching up, joking around, discussing school, debating a topic, etc., those informal conversations are some of the most meaningful and entertaining experiences I could ask for.

The quad space between the Chapel and the library. The view of the mountains in the background when facing the library is simply breathtaking, and I find it to be a reminder of just how blessed I am to be associated with the Academy.

I just completed my first year, so I have yet to identify my favorite Mercersburg tradition!

Grabbing a school van at least once a month and taking some of the basketball players and other students to the barbershop in Hagerstown, Maryland, on a Saturday morning. As much as the guys looked forward to getting a haircut, I equally enjoyed being able to bond with them and getting to know them while off campus—something I will continue to do while at Mercersburg.