After nearly two weeks in the backcountry with little to no service, Mountain Classroom checks in from Santa Fe, New Mexico where adjunct weekend allowed for a bit of down time and a check-in from Mountain Classroom Director Patty Pond and Academic Dean Derek Nussbaum Wagler. Maya ‘23 and Charlie ‘25 share a window into Mountain Classroom Winter 2023 in this week’s blog post. 

We woke up early on Monday morning in order to catch our train to Paris. Dave and Jen told us we had to be ready to leave at 7 and so I woke up at 6 to pack and get breakfast.

Proctor’s Winter Ocean Classroom program is in transit from St. Augustine, Florida to the Florida to Key West and the Dry Tortugas. The program brings twelve Proctor students together with seven students from the MET School in Providence, Rhode Island for a one of a kind immersion learning experience at sea. As the group continues their voyage, students reflect on the learning - both in their classes and in their daily life aboard Schooner Harvey Gamage. Read more from Rex below: 

It’s a rainy early start of my journey to Europe, landing lightly at the house where the Proctor students, as well as where European Art Classroom co-directors Dave and Jen Fleming, live in Aix-en-Provence, France. 

“I wish I could be a student here.” In my first few months working at Proctor, it’s hard to count how many times I’ve heard my fellow faculty say these words. I hear it in the dining hall, I hear it when faculty speak with visiting families, I occasionally hear it when teachers are (gently) reminding their students how many wonderful opportunities they have at their disposal.

Not your usual week in Andover, NH. This week has gone by in a blink of an eye. The week started off by welcoming our head of school, Brian Thomas, into our small French family in Vauvenargue!

Proctor’s term-long off-campus programs ask students to step outside of their comfort zones, while immersing themselves in new cultures around the globe. For six sophomores this winter, Monteverde, Costa Rica is home. Living with a host family, studying Spanish, history, math, science, and literature, all while exploring the most bio-diverse region of the world affords the experience of a lifetime. Hear from students after their first two weeks abroad in their reflections below. 

During all three trimesters of the academic year since 1972, Proctor has operated an off-campus program in Spain. Rather than experiencing Spain through the transitory lens of a tourist, Proctor en Segovia students live with host families, immersed in the language and culture.

We write often about the importance of community, about how we each must play a role in stewarding this place so it is here for future generations. While we do not explicitly reference Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s notion of a Beloved Community, it is precisely that toward which we are striving at Proctor. 

The time is currently 4:19pm on Sunday the 15th of January, we are currently doing chores, that is why I am writing to you now… nonetheless, these “chores” have caused great strife as I hear the echoing cries of Nate who is on bathroom duty.

This past week in Charleston Harbor, a group of Proctor folk gathered for the send off of the Harvey Gamage and Proctor’s Ocean Classroom program. Students from Proctor and the MET Schools in Providence, RI prepared over the course of the last two weeks to learn to be mariners and how to collaborate with each other while helping to run a tall ship for the next 65 days. Led by Brooks Bicknell ‘77 in his final stint as Ocean Classroom director, the fall and winter versions of Ocean Classroom culminate with one of a kind lessons that students carry with them for the rest of their lives. 

In ancient Greece, the advent of modern day sport originated in training young boys to be soldiers. However, over time, sport became a way of connecting to and sharing an appreciation for the humanity of rivals. 

In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Exodus Ayers ‘24 of Proctor Academy is the 2022-23 Gatorade New Hampshire Football Player of the Year. Ayers is the first Gatorade New Hampshire Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Proctor Academy. The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Ayers as New Hampshire’s best high school football player. 

You know how it goes. Randy Newman’s inimitable voice and lyrics:

We are ‘educators’ by profession, but our responsibility to our students extends well beyond the walls of our classrooms. We serve as examples for our students: in the dining hall, in assembly, when we play with our own children, when we interact with our peers, and when we volunteer our time in the local community. Students arrive at Proctor having been shaped and molded by their own parents, and our role as a boarding school is to build upon the foundation their parents provided.

Later this afternoon we will welcome students back from break for the heart of the winter term. The dining hall will gradually come to life, dorms will fill with hugs, stories from the past two weeks, and anticipation of what lies ahead. Moments like tonight, when we see our students joyously reconnecting with each other, stand in stark contrast to the realities of disconnect and mental health struggles facing so many.