Globetrotting

This summer, Mercersburg Academy students and faculty traveled to various places around the globe: the Bahamas, France, Italy, and Taiwan. Through the generosity of Howard Flock ‘40, Mercersburg makes traveling affordable for students. Due to the flock fund, over 60 students — a majority of the Class of 2025 — participated in one of the global initiatives. 

Nikki Walker, Science Department Chair, led the trip to the Bahamas. She said, “I like a week-long trip. The group of students were awesome with flexibility and eagerness.” Her highlight of the trip was catching and tagging sharks and lobsters. “It was nice for students to see that being a marine biologist could be a career,” said Walker. 

Louisa Gunkelman ‘25, who also traveled to the Bahamas, said, “It was a great opportunity to disconnect from technology.” Gunkelman shared a memorable conversation with one of the researchers. “It was life-changing seeing the way that people in science work, and I asked one of the researchers: ‘Do you think fieldwork or writing essays is more important?’ And she was like, ‘I think the essays are more important for sure because that’s the way you educated everybody.’” 

History teacher Will Slater accompanied the students to France. He said, “Being a history teacher, I loved studying history and culture. Most of the trip was in Marseille. It was a city largely shaped by immigrant culture. Studying that was fascinating.”

Sisi Guo ‘25, who sojourned in France, shared her thoughts. “It was incredible because we got to experience so much of the French culture,” said Guo, “I think it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I suggest everyone, even if you are not in French, to sign up for the trip because you get to learn so much about the culture and immigration, which is a huge topic in the US as well.”

Dan Walker, another member of the history department, traveled with students to Italy. “I am enormously grateful for the experience to see the art and architecture and the culture and the people and food. It was just incredible,” he said. One of his highlights was climbing the duomo in Florence (Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore). Walker said, “Seeing the city from essentially the top of the city, was just an unreal experience to me. I can’t even name all the museums. The amount of history and the talent of the art and sculptures that we saw were just incredible.” As a teacher who specializes in ancient world history, Walker also appreciated visiting historical sites. “It was cool learning about the different stages of history in a place like Rome. We were able to go to Pompei, and another archaeological site called Gabii,” he said. 

Stella Johnson ‘25 also recounted going to Pompeii. “We did a really fun scavenger hunt there,” she said. She recommends the trip to students, especially if they are interested in art history, archaeology, or other related fields.

Chinese teacher Grace Abel led the two-week Taiwan trip, supported by MOE Director Chris Duffy and History Department Head Allison Stephens. Stephens highlighted some of her favorite experiences: “All the activities that we did, picking scallions, making dumplings, and trying a lot of the food were really the high points.” Stephens also noted cultural differences. “In the United States, you can really tell the difference between where the rich people live and where the poor people live. And I felt like, in Taiwan, the buildings all kind of looked similar,” she said.

Olivia Glick ’25 loved visiting Jiufen, a mountain village in Taipei. Glick said, “It was gorgeous. It was just completely unlike any sort of American town or city. And it was raining that day and it was foggy in this mountain town, so it added this super cool kind of ambiance to everything.”