Any given day at Proctor is filled with a thousand interactions: teachers, friends, dorm parents, roommates, parents, coaches, teammates, advisors, dining staff, housekeepers in dorms. It is these varied conversations, and the energy they generate, that make up the many pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is our life at Proctor.
When I asked a colleague how he was doing three weeks into the new year, his response was both honest and insightful: “Well, I am certainly not bored.” Sometimes it can feel overwhelming as we bounce between responsibilities, activities, and commitments, but the varied nature of our jobs and our life at boarding school keeps us energized unlike any other profession. We look forward to each day, largely, because we only have a rough idea of what it will hold: variety, relationships, and a shared responsibility to make this school the best place it can be. Our students feel the same way. The busyness makes us complete. Let us walk you through yesterday’s schedule to see the fullness of life at Proctor.
Faculty kick off each Wednesday with either an all-faculty meeting or department meeting before jumping into their 8:30 am first block class. Any given day of classes has students in the woodlands, in more traditional classrooms, in the technology lab learning about 3D printing, in Slocumb Hall studying studio art, ceramics, and photography, in the recording studio, in the woodshop or machine shop or forge, spending time with Learning Specialists in Learning Skills, or sampling the water in the pond for biology class, or potting plants for botany class. While we have an academic schedule that provides a framework to our academic day, the actual experience varies tremendously.
While we do not gather for assembly or advisory on Wednesdays, they are perhaps the most full days of our week as an abridged academic schedule (three class blocks instead of five) affords the opportunities for our athletic teams to compete against other independent schools in the region, and for our other afternoon programs to have an extended period of time for rehearsal, splitting wood, or traveling to a local river to kayak.
Yesterday afternoon, Proctor’s campus was a hub of activity as our mountain biking team hosted the first Northern New England Mountain Biking Series race at the Proctor Ski Area. With over 400 riders from more than 20 schools in attendance, coaches Josh Norris, Chris Farrell, Chris Grotnes, Jen Summers, and Justin Sperry deserve a huge round of applause for pulling off three separate starts and an amazing day of riding on Proctor’s trails!
On the other side of the Blackwater River, Carr Field hosted a girls jv soccer match against St. Paul’s School (a 2-1 victory for the Hornets!), while over on Farrell Field both varsity field hockey (1-0 win over Kimball Union Academy) and girls varsity soccer (0-2 loss to Austin Prep) battled in front of a great crowd.
As teams trickled back to campus from away games over the dinner hour, students shared tales of competition with their friends and faculty before heading to extra help sessions and study hall from 7:30-9:30 PM. Whether studying in dorms or in the Lovejoy Library, students prepare for the day ahead before winding down.
As our heads hit our pillows each night, we are reminded that while some days may feel long, the years are short. We embrace the busyness of each day, the feeling that we have puzzle pieces strewn about the table of our lives, because we know that without any one piece of the puzzle, our lives would be incomplete.
