As Mercersburg Academy opens its doors to both new and returning students, the campus is also welcoming a renovated dining hall. While scaffolding and construction currently mask Ford Hall, the school is serving meals in the Hale Field House. Students are divided on this adaptation.
Revant Jear ’28 says, “As a Main Hall resident, it's a little more convenient at times since I don’t have to worry about rushing to the dining hall especially since squash ends a little bit later.” Tristan Paulette ’27 contests, "It's more inconvenient for me because I have to walk across the track instead of a paved road.” Marcus Lee ’27 added, "It's kind of far from my classes; it's annoying to go from Irvine to the dining hall and then to Irvine.”
New student Blake Wool ’27, who has yet to experience eating at the Ford Hall location, comments, “It's too short. We don’t have enough time between periods to get to the dining hall.” Matt Krause ’26, also new, add, “I get sweaty a lot between the walks.”
The move has also created logistical problems. Robotics teacher DJ Weymuth explained, “It’s taken away from the ability to have games and events in the field house. The lines have also been longer; however, we’ve addressed that with the lane dividers.”
To mitigate the inconvenience of using the Field House, Head of School Quentin McDowell suggests, “We have some alternative spaces; we’ll probably vary the times everyone uses them. We appreciate everyone's flexibility. We’ve even had the local church volunteer for us to use their basketball courts.
FLIK dining staff Pajane Samba says, “It's challenging, but luckily Mercersburg provides us with the equipment that we need. [They] made sure that there's a new walkway out there that was built for us [to more easily transport the food]. They made sure that we have a food truck that can transport the food from one location to another. So, it's challenging, but it's not hard. We're going through it.”
Despite the mixed opinions, McDowell explains, “The judgment call is what our entire community needs versus what a portion of our community needs. This is too important for us to forgo having family-style meals and starting the year together this way, even when I know there's a negative impact.”
Despite difficulty and inconvenience, McDowell says, “We appreciate the community's flexibility. The end result is a beautiful new dining center, so we’ll have to go through some pain in the process.”