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M e r c e r s b u r g m a g a z i n e s u mm e r 2 0 1 3
120 t h Anniversary
Stacie Rice Lissette ’85 About Stacie Lissette Graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the George Washington University School of Law Serves on the board of directors of her family business, Utz Quality Foods (which was founded by her grandparents, Bill and Salie Utz); her husband, Dylan, is the company’s chief operating officer After law school, clerked for a D.C. Superior Court judge and practiced regulatory law for a Washington-based trade association Initially served on Mercersburg’s Board of Regents from 1998 to 2007; re-joined the Board in 2009 and serves as chair of the Admission/College Counseling Committee A member of Mercersburg’s Alumni Council from 1995 to 1998 Three of her five children are attending Mercersburg: daughter Payton ’14 and sons Max ’14 and Alex ’17 The Lissette Game Room in the new Simon Student Ce nt e r i s n a m e d i n h e r family’s honor
Any time that I come to Mercersburg as a parent or Board member I feel like I am coming home. The campus is a place with such fond memories, and I feel so lucky that my children are able to have the experience here as I did. It is not easy to part with your child at age 14, but knowing what Mercersburg did for me as a student and seeing them thrive here makes it possible to let them go. The Jones sisters—Molly Jones Mancini ’79 and Beth Jones Sisca ’82— were close friends of mine growing up in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Their father [J. Richard Jones ’48] had gone to Mercersburg, and I was able to visit them when they were students here. It was my weekend visit with Beth when I was in eighth grade that solidified my decision to come to Mercersburg. One of the main reasons I wanted to come to school here was the desire to be challenged academically. When I became a student here I was thrilled to be in classes that were truly stimulating and challenging and to be with other students who loved learning. Of course, it was also exciting to be in a boarding environment and to live with your best friends. Mercersburg does such a great job of teaching students independence while still guiding and nurturing them. This school has only gotten better over time. Not only have the dorms and buildings improved but the offerings in and out of the classroom have improved and increased. One change that frequently strikes me now is the increase in school spirit. You see students in their “6th Man” T-shirts at basketball games, the bleachers were full when the girls’ soccer team played in the state tournament on campus last fall, and at so many of the sporting events you see a large turnout of students. The school spirit and support is evident in other areas— like the dance performances and plays as well. My daughter, Payton ’14, and her friends were planning a weekend home, but they wouldn’t leave campus until after the dance competition because they didn’t want to miss seeing their friends perform. If I could go back and be a student again I would re-take Karl Reisner’s AP American History class. Kids still talk about how great that class is. I had Jim Malone for math, and he made learning math fun. I loved Paul Suerken’s 10thgrade honors English class. That was the first class I truly remember sitting around a circle discussing books. We didn’t have Harkness tables then, but sitting in a circle and actually having a discussion instead of being lectured to was such an eye-opening experience. All of the teachers I remember lit a spark in us, and my children are having that same amazing experience now as well.