Alex Eissenstat ‘25
Feb 3, 2023
Mercersburg Academy is home to over 400 students from different backgrounds, all with unique life experiences. This diversity is a wonderful strength of the Academy, but it can also make students with less represented identities feel isolated and unable to connect with others who hold the same identity. To alleviate this, the Academy has established affinity spaces for several identities represented across campus: Black, LatinX, Body Image, Deafness and Hearing Loss, Neurodivergence, LGBTQ+, International Student, and First Generation/Low Income. Each group is run by an adult leader who either shares the group identity themself or is picked based on their familiarity with the issues associated with that group identity.
Director of Library Services and Affinity Space Coordinator, Alexandra Patterson, explains, “[affinity spaces] provide a space to talk about one's identity with others who hold the same identity.” With affinity spaces available, students can find ways to connect with others who share the same identity in a space that feels more comfortable with those who have more understanding of the issues a student may be facing. Jamar Galbreath, Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), said, “There are shared experiences among identities, particularly among non-dominant identities that can make us feel isolated. Affinity spaces are a great way to connect over those shared identities.”
Affinity spaces meet periodically throughout the year, and the identity of the members remains completely confidential. This results in the spaces being more comfortable for students to join and partake in. Patterson, affinity space leaders, and the DEI office hope to continue to meet the evolving needs of the student body, and to always have spaces to meet the needs of all student identities.
Mercersburg Academy is home to over 400 students from different backgrounds, all with unique life experiences. This diversity is a wonderful strength of the Academy, but it can also make students with less represented identities feel isolated and unable to connect with others who hold the same identity. To alleviate this, the Academy has established affinity spaces for several identities represented across campus
Director of Library Services and Affinity Space Coordinator, Alexandra Patterson, explains, “[affinity spaces] provide a space to talk about one's identity with others who hold the same identity.”
Each group is run by an adult leader who either shares the group identity themself or is picked based on their familiarity with the issues associated with that group identity. Affinity spaces meet periodically throughout the year, and the identity of the members remains completely confidential. Please consider signing up!