By Andrew Chang ’26

On September 23, the Mercersburg Academy community had the unique privilege of engaging with Erin Jackson, who gave the Ammerman Family Lecture at the Burgin Center for the Arts’ Simon Theatre. This marked the commencement of the school’s 2024-2025 Monday Evening Lecture Series.

Jackson is an athlete with a background in roller skating, inline speed skating, roller derby, and long-track speed skating. She transitioned from inline skating to speed skating on ice and qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. In 2022, Jackson won gold in the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, making her the first Black woman to win a Winter Olympic gold medal in an individual sport. Jackson holds a bachelor of science in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida and an associate of science in computer science from Salt Lake Community College. Currently residing in Salt Lake City, Utah, she is training for the next Olympic Games and working toward an associate of science in exercise science/kinesiology. She has also been featured on news sources like CBS and NPR. 

The choice to bring Jackson in as the first speaker of the year was deliberate. Rev. Dr. Will Whitmore, the school minister, said, “We intentionally picked this person because we thought that this would be a great time to have her. While she is an athlete, she has a variety of different experiences and can connect on so many levels with our students.”

The Ammerman Family Lecture Series brings speakers of national renown to our community. These speakers offer essential perspectives on significant issues of the day, empowering young people to understand the relevance of these issues to their lives. Endowed in 1999, the series was made possible through the generosity of Regent Emeritus Andrew Ammerman ’68 and his mother, the late Josephine Ammerman, in memory of Andrew’s father, H. Max Ammerman, and his brother, Stephen Ammerman. 

Whitmore encouraged students to “pause and notice the caliber of individuals who speak to our community. It’s pretty amazing that people like this come to a school like ours and interact with us.” Following a conversation regarding the significance of the Ammerman Family Lecture, Whitmore explained, “We hope that the lectures continue to provide [the Mercersburg Academy community] with different ways of seeing the world and engaging with different experiences.”