From the Head of School
A Vision of Greatness
G
reat schools require a vision of greatness not only from their leaders but also from every member of the community, a vision which includes the imaginative consideration of all the possibilities of life in that community, the ability to see things not only as they are, but also as they might become. From curriculum to athletics to arts to discipline to the very buildings themselves and the land on which those buildings stand, everything about a great school must have as its purpose a vision for the nourishment of the mind and body and soul of young people. Creating and sustaining such a vision require hard work, sacrifice, leadership, and commitment. He was only 28 in 1893. Princeton had bestowed on him a Ph.D. in 1891. The following year he went to Franklin & Marshall College to teach and coach, but that work wasn’t an ideal fit. One day the call came from Mercersburg to be headmaster. This call was the defining moment he had dreamed of, and William Mann Irvine seized it without ever looking back. In reality his defining moment was also ours—the birth of Mercersburg Academy as we know it today. Seizing that moment was comparatively easy as compared to playing the hand that was dealt him. As Irvine himself noted years later: I found an institution which was very much rundown. It was swamped with debt and the sheriff was almost ready to foreclose. There was in use one building and four acres of ground. Five or six other educators refused to become the Head Master at Mercersburg. My youth and enthusiasm persuaded me to accept the difficult job of building up the school. Where others saw little but a history of closures and limitations, Dr. Irvine dared, instead, to see bright horizons. While others were flummoxed by the situation of the present, Irvine was already focused on the possibilities of the future. Clearly in those early days he knew the odds. He once reminisced, “I now often wonder why people gave us their boys at that time. We had little to offer but promises; it was all on paper.” Fortunately for those students and their parents, a promise was a promise for Dr. Irvine; his resolve was, undoubtedly, steadfast and authentic. I also imagine that his first visit to the campus—in spite of its dilapidated state at the time—was
as much a defining moment for him as an aspiring, young educational leader as it has been for virtually every student and faculty member who has staked a claim here through the years. He looked around and somehow knew that this was where he belonged. His youthful inspiration gave way to a mature vision, and once he committed that vision to paper and started to work, the promise and prospects of this great school were as good as settled. One hundred twenty years later, that vision—our history—continues to unfold every day in the lives of our students. I see it in their faces as they move around this magnificent campus and prepare themselves for a world hugely different from that of Irvine’s era, availing themselves of all the requisite skills and technologies and approaches required for early 21st-century life rather than the late 19th century. Mercersburg students today continue to shape and define their character according to the motto Irvine established: hard work, fair play, clean life. For all that is new and patently modern on campus today, the Mercersburg character that Dr. Irvine strove to establish and sustain is completely alive and active and relevant. Schools like ours typically have significant celebrations marking their 125th year; no doubt, Mercersburg will celebrate thusly in five more years. But a school doesn’t turn 120 years old every day either. So on this occasion, I ask you to take a moment to reaffirm that you are Mercersburg’s, and Mercersburg is yours. Travel wherever you may in life and soak up as many life experiences as possible, but know that your feet will also always be planted here. The campus and the faces change, the curriculum and styles of teaching shift to address the times, but the core values remain deep and enduring. And the principal thing required of us in 2013 is to be responsible stewards to strengthen and sustain the wonderful vision born many years ago. Happy 120th birthday, Mercersburg.
Douglas Hale Head of School