The Mercersburg Plan

!"

!

“ The Mercersburg Plan is born of the times. This is now a kind of clarion

call to ask us all together to think about what the opportunities are

and, indeed, what the responsibilities are for students who are living

in this age of technology.”

DOUGLAS HALE Head of School

“ We’re in times that really are making us look at things very di!erently

than we did just 20 or 10 years ago.”

DEBBIE RUTHERFORDAssociate Head of School

!

A MESSAGE FROM DOUGLAS HALE, HEAD OF SCHOOL

By now you have probably heard something about the Mercersburg Plan—

a strategic educational blueprint born of the times in which we live and

addressing the fact that students today simply don’t learn the way they

learned a generation ago. A sizable body of new scientific research tells us

with surety that adolescent brains function di!erently from the adult brain.

Recognizing these challenges, school leadership and faculty have assessed

every aspect of our academic and residential-life curricula. We also reviewed

simultaneously reams of authoritative research on the impact of technological

change on students. The result of that two-year study is a new commitment

to experiential learning—learning by doing—across the whole of our campus.

While the Plan is designed to keep

Mercersburg ahead of the learning

and teaching curve, it also reflects our

evolution as an institution. Learning

through practice, performance, and

practical application is not new at

Mercersburg, but this e!ort to focus and refine the techniques of experiential

and collaborative learning across all disciplines will bring us farther, faster,

in helping our students succeed in the global environment of the 21st century.

D E A R F R I E N D S ,

"

The Plan calls for every Mercersburg student to develop four critical capabilities:

astery of a specifically defined set of 21st-century skills

new technologies

international perspective

responsibility for their own education,

communities, and the planet

The Plan also calls for us to make the necessary investments to help bring these goals to fruition through fundraising in four key areas:

financial aid

Simon Student Center at Ford Hall

field house and an aquatic center adjacent

to Nolde Gymnasium

annual fund, which will provide support notably

for technological innovations and for the retention, recruitment,

and professional development of our faculty

I invite you to join us on this exciting journey. The enthusiastic commitment

of our board, faculty, sta!, alumni, parents, and friends to such a bold

undertaking will be a living testament to our undying commitment

to the traditions and democratic spirit of this great school.

“ What does a 21st-century education really mean? It means requiring that

students not only understand a topic, but also gain mastery of the whole

topic. To remain competitive and relevant, our students must set

mastery as their goal, and the foundation for that mastery must

be secured in high school.”

DOUGLAS HALEHead of School

#

%

GRANT WIGGINS ! President, Authentic Education

“ There may have been a time—300 years ago—when information was

stable enough and small enough that you could transmit it from one

person to another and have it be useful for a long period of time.

“ The problem now is that we are living in a world that requires constant

adaptation. The rate of change requires people who are adaptable,

who can get feedback and act on the basis of it. We face a fundamental

challenge to the whole notion of what it means to be a teacher with

students in a classroom.”

&

OUR SET OF "#ST$CENTURY SKILLS IS:

'

RESIDENTIAL LIFE AND THE SIMON STUDENT CENTER

The residential curriculum that is part of the Mercersburg Plan sets out

a residential-life program that is intentional, deliberate, and structured to

bring about very specific and positive results in the lives of our students.

The dormitories will remain an important aspect of this curriculum,

but our approach will also benefit enormously from the thorough redesign

of Lower Ford Hall, scheduled for renovation by September 2013.

The new student center will give students a place that is truly theirs,

where they can develop social, interpersonal, and relational skills in a

positive and inviting environment. It will feature a grill, a theater, small

performance spaces, a lounge, a game room, an outdoor patio with a fire pit,

and o"ces for a range of student-run clubs and our residential program sta!.

B U I L D I N G C O M M U N I T Y

“ My gift to the student center is in honor of my mother and father and

all the parents at Mercersburg who had the foresight to send their

children here. It was the most wonderful experience I ever had, and

I think in the long run it will be the most wonderful experience for other

children and parents.”

DEBORAH SIMON ’74Board of Regents

(

DERRY MASON ! Tippetts Dorm Dean, English, Director of Outdoor Education

“ There’s a di%erence between a ninth grader and a 12th grader. Ninth

graders and 10th graders need more structure. Every day the younger

students need to practice managing and taking care of themselves.

They are learning that their actions have consequences on themselves

and on those around them, for good and bad.

“ Citizenship is a word that seems to come and go in popular culture.

We are working on having it make a comeback. It speaks to a lot of the

values that we hold dear about how to act as a member of a community.”

)*

Photo by Maxwell MacKenzie

))

“ Any student athlete who puts time, e%ort, and energy in will typically

get back much more than the physical rewards. It’s about teamwork,

leadership, synergy, working with other people.”

DENISE DUPRÉ ’&'President, Board of Regents

C O L L A B O R A T I O N & T E A M W O R K

TEACHER+COACHES AND NEW ATHLETIC FACILITIES

The Mercersburg Plan lifts up the model of the teacher-coach as

foundational to the concept of learning by doing, while also calling for

the completion of our athletic center through construction of two major

facilities: a field house and an aquatic center. Together, these facilities will

make a bold statement about the position of athletics in both our academic

and residential-life curricula as a means to develop character, maturity,

and leadership qualities. When completed, all of our athletic facilities

will be state of the art.

)!

“ The language of coaching and the language of teaching have never been

closer together than it is now. The best teachers are the best coaches in the

classroom. And the best coaches are the best teachers on the athletic fields.”

DOUGLAS HALEHead of School

Field house and aquatic center

The field house will accommodate indoor practice for multiple teams

and multiple sports during inclement weather. It will also provide a

venue for events and fitness programs to serve the entire Mercersburg

community, not just our competitive teams.

The new aquatic center, long overdue, will create a facility worthy of

Mercersburg’s history of greatness in swimming and will make a strong

statement about Mercersburg’s athletic aspirations. By doubling the size

of our pool to 50 meters, the aquatic center will not only serve as a venue

to host swimming competitions but as a practice facility for diving,

kayaking, and other fitness activities.

)"

RICK HENDRICKSON ! Director of Athletics, English

“ Mercersburg has a commitment to personal fitness through our

physical education expectations. Athletics is a large part of that,

but only a part. Every student at Mercersburg engages in some

type of physical activity, thus every student at Mercersburg makes

his or her way to the Nolde Gymnasium area and the surrounding

complex. The new aquatic center and the new field house are

about programming for our current students while also celebrating

the great tradition of Mercersburg athletics.”

)#

)$

“ At Mercersburg, just as was true where I taught, teachers coach.

You don’t talk soccer at kids day after day; you get them playing soccer.

They learn by doing. And they especially learn from feedback.”

GRANT WIGGINS President,

Authentic Education

“ We really need these facilities and we need to get them soon

so that we can continue to compete.”

KARL REISNERHistory, Baseball

)%

)&

FINANCIAL AID AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY

The Mercersburg Plan emphasizes the long tradition of building,

each year, a community of students that is reflective of society at large.

This environment of diversity and equality multiplies the impact of

Mercersburg’s academic and residential-life curricula and is a signature

of the Mercersburg experience. Financial aid allows us to make sure that

school made up only of students who are very a#uent on the one end,

and, on the other end, students who have fewer resources.

B U I L D I N G C O M M U N I T Y

“ The ideal student body is the best qualified student body that you can find,

irrespective of their ability to pay for the education. Mercersburg is and

should be elite scholastically, academically, and intellectually while

remaining egalitarian socially.”

ALLEN ZERN ’61Board of Regents

)'

At present, nearly half of Mercersburg students receive financial aid. Meanwhile,

tuition has continued to increase by 3 to 4 percent every year. A!ordability is

the biggest point of concern among many families of pro-spective students

today. The size of our tuition can be perceived as a financial hurdle for families

who have no history of attending boarding schools.

Increasing our endowment and enlarging the pool of funds available

help o!set tuition expenses, but they are also applied to the other expenses

that support the extraordinary Mercersburg experience—field study in major

scholars in residence, and other key components of the Mercersburg Plan.

No student should be denied fundamental international-study experiences

because of an inability to pay for them.

JULIE MAURER ’() ! Academic Dean

“ Financial aid helps to keep all of the many wonderful opportunities

at Mercersburg available to all of our students, not just a select few.

Because of the generosity of our financial aid programs, students from

all backgrounds are able to consider taking an international study trip,

applying for a class with a travel component, or experiencing a show

in Washington, DC, as part of our curriculum. In short, financial aid

helps promote the democratic spirit of Mercersburg.”

)(

PAIGE SUMMERS ’##

“ I came to Mercersburg purely on financial aid. I would never have been

able to come here otherwise. I am so thankful. It has forever changed my

life, molded me into a better person, and truly prepared me for college.

It’s something that I will never fully be able to say ‘thank you’ enough for.”

!*

The faculty and administration have created the vision of the Mercersburg Plan.

It can only be realized if alumni, parents, and friends commit their generous

support. That vision is of a Mercersburg where:

21st-century skills;

and new technologies into teaching;

academic and residential-life curricula;

and allows us to manage tuition increases;

forms of support;

as well as the school of choice in our region.

For more information on how you can contribute to the Mercersburg Plan,

please contact the Director of Development at 717-328-6323 or the Assistant

Head of School for Advancement at 717-328-6109.

T H E M E R C E R S B U R G P L A N

“ I can’t stress enough the importance of every contribution and what

a di%erence that makes—and particularly when you think about

deserving scholarship students and the impact they have on the

Mercersburg community.”

GABRIEL HAMMOND ’97Board of Regents

300 East Seminary Street, Mercersburg, PA 17236

800-588-2550 | www.mercersburg.edu