The month plays with us, teases us, and teaches us. On Thursday the outfield of the baseball field poked through the snow, brown patches with just a barest hint of green. It was reasonable to contemplate leaning against the white Carr Field fence to listen to the pop of the ball in gloves and the crack of the bat. A week of sun could have gotten us there, maybe ten days. But this morning there is a winter storm warning posted with snow tallies predicted to range from 12 to 20 inches. A quick scan of the Weather Channel calendar reveals more snow possible next week. The infield, the mound, and the outfield will be under snow for longer than expected. Lesson #1: Patience.

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of the immensity of the decision our families make when they decide to invest in a Proctor education. Since Friday’s Admissions Revisit Day is the final step in the decision process for our accepted students and their families, we thought we would share three pieces of advice with our visitors. 

Project Period 2017 is a wrap as we jump through the icy puddles around campus on this cold, rainy opening day of classes. This morning, we published a Flickr Album with over 350 photos from the 35+ projects that immersed themselves in small group learning opportunities around the country. Key to the success of Project Period each year are the alumni who partner with faculty to explore their area of expertise.

Whether it’s hiking around the mall in Washington, DC or to the top of Mount Washington, walking the streets of downtown Boston or downtown Franklin, New Hampshire, the power of Project Period, Proctor’s four day, immersive small group program that kicks off the Spring Term each year, remains the same. While we pride ourselves on an educational model that features academic courses rooted in experiential learning, Project Period provides an opportunity for students and faculty to join together to explore their passions outside of the classroom. 

The start of each academic term affords the opportunity for faculty to gather for designated in-service professional development. Past professional development days have welcomed guest speakers to campus, while other days rely on internal expertise to share innovative teaching practices and project based learning. Today, faculty gathered in academic departments to further refine our approach to fulfilling our mission as a school. 

The past few days have felt more like mid-January than mid-March. Bitterly cold north winds test the strength of the flags flown outside Maxwell Savage Hall as we continue to dig out from the foot and a half of snow dropped by Winter Storm Stella throughout the day Tuesday. With campus void of students during Spring Break, we have time to reflect on the energy our students provide us and their role in our collective work as a school.

Calvin Johnstone '15 (Bates College '19) shares the second in our series of Young Alumni blogs on life in college for Proctor graduates. Calvin experienced tremendous growth during his four years at Proctor, participation in Learning Skills, European Art Classroom, and both the varsity football and baseball programs. Read Calvin's thoughts on Proctor's ability to prepare him to be a collegiate athlete at Bates College! 

After reviewing Proctor’s largest pool of applicants we've ever seen (over 600 applications for roughly 100 spaces for the 2017-2018 school year), our Admissions Team delivered decisions to each applicant at 12:01 AM last night. For accepted students, the next month becomes a time of weighing options and finding the school that will best meet their needs and challenge them to grow into the young man or woman they desire to be.

The other night, Emily, Grifin, Ian, and I were sitting at the top of the aqueduct and watching the city lights. Suddenly, Ian started to say something along the lines of, “Do you guys realize how cool this is? That we live here? That we’re sitting up here night now?” Thoughts like these had been stirring in the back of my mind for the past few weeks and I was happy to see that it had been in theirs, too.

The winter athletic season has come to a close for the vast majority of Proctor athletes and coaches. However, Proctor’s USSA/FIS ski program season continues well into March with more than a dozen skiers competing at the Eastern Championships later this month. For the thirty skiers involved in Proctor’s elite level ski program, this season has seen unprecedented success alongside remarkable individual growth in all areas of boarding school life on the snow and off.

In his end of season remarks to the community at last Friday's athletic awards assembly, Gregor Makechnie '90 shared an excerpt from Mike Krzyzewski's autobiography, A Season is a Lifetime, recounting the remarkable journey an athletic season provides its athletes and coaches. As much as things may remain the same from year-to-year within a team, never does the same group of individuals share the same journey. With Sunday's 53-48 win over St. Andrew's School (RI), Proctor's girls' varsity basketball team arrived the same destination as they did last year (NEPSAC CHAMPIONS!), but the journey itself was wholly unique! 

Mountain Classroom spent its final week and a half in the Sespe Wilderness east of Ventura, California. The Thacher School graciously allowed us to use a property they own in the wilderness area called Patton’s Cabin for our finals. The cabin meant that everyone was able to stay dry in the midst of a historic deluge that turned the Sespe Creek into a muddy, rapid-filled river.

Last Sunday afternoon I walked through the Norris Family Theater to the sound of power drills and pieces of the set for The Foreigner thumping to the ground. The living room, the fireplace, the windows, and the doors – everything was gone. Where the night before there had been the beckoning magic of Cooper and Amanda conjuring a separate reality, now screws clattered to the floor and lumber was being stacked. Jacob pushed through with a broom, a visual cue to the lessons of deconstruction. Moment passes to moment, season to season, term gives way to term. 

This was our last excursion. It was the last time we were all going to be together in a house. We were never going to cook meals together again or go out for history excursions with Ryan. It was very bittersweet.

Head of School Mike Henriques shared a few words at the start of Monday’s assembly about the richness of the past weekend as he went from one event on campus to another. Student performances have been on display (in athletics, arts, and academics) over the past two weeks, with the center of attention at the Wilkins Meeting House and a celebration of the arts at Proctor!