Mercersburg Academy - Review #19

At Mercersburg, campus felt like home almost immediately. Orientation (Inbound) helped me to adjust easily to boarding school. What amazed me most about Mercersburg was the close knit community, despite the diversity on campus. My teachers were good role models because they not only taught me in the classroom, but taught me about life. I have never experienced an environment that thrives with as much diversity as Mercersburg. I truly met friends from all over the world.

Boarding school allowed me to break out of my shell at an earlier age than most. Now that I am a senior in college, I feel that I am more independent than most students my age, and that I owe this to Mercersburg. The people I met at Mercersburg are some of the best people I know, and their friendships molded me into the person I am today.

If I could do things all over again, I would not have been as shy as I was my first week at Mercersburg. Everyone at boarding school feels out of place at first and is just trying to make a friend. It's easy to find friends; don't let boarding school intimidate you. It is nothing like the stereotypes you hear about.

I liked the closeness of the community and the academic challenges. The people are what made the school.

If you visit campus, be sure to visit every building. They are all worth checking out. All the dorms are new inside so you can't go wrong in that area. If you visit on your own, be sure to visit the chapel. It is a beautiful building.

The professors sit around a large wooden round table with students. This allows everyone to see each other and helps involve everyone in the class with the professor. The academics are very challenging, but professors are readily available for help sessions. Professors are passionate about their jobs and are encouraging and more than willing to spend necessary time in and out of class for one on one assistance.

Mercersburg's athletic programs have a lot to offer. Alpine skiing was my favorite sport, and most importantly I learned to be a part of the team. Athletic practices are a somewhat serious commitment and being a part of teams helped me to be more organized and responsible. Mercersburg encourages participation in athletic programs. When I graduated, a brand new tennis facility was erected. Mercersburg is continually improving its athletic programs.

The Theater programs improved drastically during my time at Mercersburg. Two new dance studios were built in 2000, and the staff that was hired while I was a student improved the Theater program.

Mercersburg requires a certain amount of involvement in extracurricular activities, however I did not feel pressured to be involved. I liked that I did not have to be involved in a great number of activities, but that I could be as involved as I wanted to be. I was able to explore as many or as few activities as I chose.

Dorm life was my favorite part of Mercersburg. All dorms have a common room and while I was a student Mercersburg began renovating all dorms. Mercersburg has the nicest dorms of any boarding school or college that I have ever seen. You may not have food delivered from your dorm; delivery people can only come to the gate of the school. The common room usually provides a snack closet so that you can buy snacks during study hall. You must always sign in at night with a faculty member in the common room, and must sign in guests of the opposite sex.

Mercersburg has family dining. A table proctor (student) sits at the head of the table, and a faculty member and his/her family are also assigned to certain tables. Students are assigned to tables but the arrangement changes every couple of weeks. The student proctor assigns who will go to the kitchen and get the food, and who will help clean up the table. This is called "white coat" and "blue coat". Everyone takes turns doing it. The food is actually good, and having assigned tables for required meals allows you to meet new people.

The town of Mercersburg is very small, but students are allowed to walk into town during the afternoon.There are several very good pizza places, as well as a few good restaurants. There isn't anything to do in town other than eat, but there is a ski resort ten miles away.

Part of going to boarding school is that you live around friends and teachers 24 hours a day. Social life can be somewhat limited at Mercersburg because of the small student body but within that small student body is a melting pot of people from all over the United States and the world. But I will always remember late night chats in my dorm with roommates and friends. Your social time consists of only quality time with people, because all you can really do is hang out.