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MERCERSBURG MAGAZINE SPRING 2017
Patrick Madden ’18
Monk Phan ’16
Veronica Tatone ’16
Blue Review 2016 Wins Gold Medal, Two Students Receive Honors for Cover Design The 2016 edition of Blue Review, Mercersburg’s annual journal of juried student creative writing and fine art, has received a Gold Medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The publication received an overall score of 958 in its annual critique; publications scoring between 800 and 1,000 points earn a Gold Medal and will continue in the competition for Gold Crown and Silver Crown awards. In addition, Blue Review staff members Patrick Madden ’18 and Monk Phan ’16 earned a second-place Gold Circle Award in the CSPA’s category of cover design for literary or literary/art for magazine publications. Phan and Veronica Tatone ’16 served as co-editors of Blue Review in 2016. Phan is in his first year at Parsons School of Design, while Tatone is attending Hampshire College. Madden is a member of Mercersburg’s 11th-grade class. Faculty members Kristen Pixler and Michele Poacelli are the advisers to the student staff—which included more than 20 students working on the literary, art, and digital sections of the publication. (The staff prepared a digital companion to the printed piece for the first time in 2016.) “This is a true testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff,” Pixler says. “I’m thankful for our students and for the support we receive from everyone at Mercersburg.” Student leaders of this year’s Blue Review staff include Lauren Ingram ’18 (literary section), Christy Zhang ’17 and Barbara Fitzsimmons ’17 (arts section), Elizabeth Im ’18 (poetry), Julia Mitchell ’18 (prose), and Chloe Yang ’17 and Katie Brennan ’19 (digital section). The Columbia Scholastic Press Association is affiliated with Columbia University in New York City.
Burg’s Eye View
CAMPUS NOTES
Fall speakers in Mercersburg’s 2016–2017 Monday Evening Lecture Series included Mirenka Cechová, who performed a dance piece accompanied by Nancy Jo Snider on cello to serve as the Ammerman Family Lecture in September, and Jeremy Schaap, who delivered the Schaff Lecture on Ethics and Morals in December. Cechová, a Czech director, choreographer, performer, and scholar, performed her acclaimed work The Voice of Anne Frank in the Burgin Center for the Arts’ Simon Theatre. Cechová presented the U.S. premiere of The Voice of Anne Frank at Mercersburg in 2010, and later performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The event marked her third visit to Mercersburg (she also completed a residency on campus in 2013). She holds a Ph.D. in physical theatre direction and mime from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU), and is a past recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship for lecturing and research at American University in Washington. Snider, who accompanied Cechová on cello, is a member of the Opera Lafayette Orchestra and performs regularly in a variety of chamber and period instrument ensembles in a range of venues, including the Kennedy Center, Rose Theatre Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, and L’Opera Royal de Versailles in France—in addition to experimental stages and living rooms. She is director of the music program at American University, where she is a senior professorial lecturer and a past recipient of the school’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year award.