Making A Move

McCracken successfully hid his struggles at home through the persona he created for himself: that of a dedicated, hard-working student with no worries or issues outside of school.

Although this facade stood strong for a long time, he eventually reached a breaking point.

When things became too difficult at home to manage on his own, McCracken reached out to a few close friends for help and support.

Eventually, he also shared his struggles with a few trusted teachers and counselors to help him get control of his life.

After discussing his difficult home life and desire to do more with his education with Tyrone High School Guidance Counselor Tiffany Johannides, McCracken decided to look at other options.

Johannides helped him break his legal ties to his parents by deeming him as an unaccompanied youth under state law. He also applied to Mercersburg Academy with the hope of obtaining a scholarship.

When Mercersburg offered McCracken a scholarship, the choice was clear.

“I jumped on the chance to leave,” said McCracken.

But leaving Tyrone was not without regret.

“Tyrone has always been my home, a home tainted with dysfunction and grief, yes, but my home nonetheless,” said McCracken. “Leaving was something I never thought I could do, but as the struggles and insecurities I faced removing myself from my parents and trying to establish a stable living situation on my own increased, the only way to find peace was to leave the area completely.”

The environment McCracken discovered at Mercersburg contrasted heavily with what he was used to in Tyrone.

In many ways, it was much better, but for someone who didn’t come from a family with stability and money,  it presented another set of challenges.

“Mercersburg exists in its own world, its own ‘little blue bubble’,” said Mercersburg alum Aidan Ferrin, who was also Aden’s tour guide when he initially visited the campus in January 2020. “There’s a disconnect between what occurs on campus and what happens outside, no ways to prepare students for a world that isn’t perfectly manicured grass, pre-salted paths in the winter, and a slew of people ready to help you at all times. The academics may be excellent and the campus may be beautiful, but the students graduate relatively helpless, in a world completely unlike that which they were led to assume was real.”

McCracken joined the Mercersburg swim team and began making connections with other students.

McCracken was placed into the Irving Literary Society, which became an important part of his experience at Mercersburg.

Mercersburg students are divided into two societies, Irving and Marshall, which function somewhat like the school ‘houses’ from Harry Potter.

Once per year, they participate in a series of athletic and academic competitions to earn points in hopes of being the victor for that year. The culminating event of this week is Declamation, a speech contest that is one of the most anticipated events of the school year.

Before Declamation, a rigorous audition process selects ten students —five for Irving and five for Marshall—to represent their society in the competition. McCracken was selected as one of the declaimers for Irving.

Though it is common for the speakers to select a piece written by a professional author or storyteller, Aden chose to write his own with the help of his friend Aidan Ferrin.

The piece, a collection of stories from McCracken’s life, tells of the varied ways in which his parents’ addictions affected his relationship with them and his upbringing in general; and, in the end, Aden forgives his parents for their actions.