The Buzz

The last three weeks of weather have given Sue Houston’s Climate Science class plenty to study. The first light frost of the season came three weeks ago, followed by an 85 degree sunshine filled day, and then thunderstorms and another hard frost. We returned from Family Weekend to a muggy downpour before highs yesterday only reached 44 degrees. Who would think you would start your woodstove and run your air conditioner in the same week. While some may find rural New England lacking excitement, all you need to do is follow the weather to stay entertained!

Ocean Classroom has left Charleston, South Carolina with its next stop coming in the  Virgin Islands! Hurricane Gonzalo impacted the group's itinerary slightly, but as program director Dave Pilla wrote to families Saturday, "Safety trumps everything when at sea."

Proctor's Social Entrepreneurship class and Project Period approached Proctor alum Matt Nathanson '91 about playing a benefit concert last spring. Over the past three years Proctor has built relationships with Lemonade International, a microfinance organization in Guatemala, and Freedom in Creation, a Ugandan based nonprofit building fresh water wells and using art as therapy for a wartorn community. Nathanson eagerly agreed to play a benefit concert on Proctor's campus to support these organizations and did not disappoint Friday night! 

Each student begins his or her Proctor experience at a different stage of life. Some start as ninth graders, others do not arrive until the tail end of their high school career as juniors or seniors. On Wednesday, members of the Class of 2018 gathered as a class to complete an Independent School Gender Survey before hiking to the Proctor Cabin as a class; a tradition begun five years ago that has proven powerful.

Ocean Classroom docks in Savannah, Georgia this weekend and will have the opportunity to meet up with program director Dave Pilla who will deliver coveted mail from family, friends, and advisors!

Midterm grades have been published and Fall Family Weekend is upon us! It has been a whirlwind six weeks since Wilderness Orientation departed, and yet it feels as though this group of faculty, staff, and students has been together forever. 

As ninth graders in Freshmen Seminar create self-portraits, they discusses their identity at Proctor. It is an identity that has certainly changed since each student first went on an Admission tour the year before. They have grown physically, emotionally, and socially. Their connection to Proctor is far deeper now than it was when first visiting. Four years from now when they graduate, after thousands of shared experiences, their connection will be still deeper.

Three weeks ago today the schooner Roseway blasted its canon as it pulled out of Gloucester Harbor. Over those three weeks, the 21 students aboard the 135 foot schooner have learned how to sail, stood watch in shifts around the clock, continued to take math, literature and marine science courses, and have navigated the ship into and out of multiple harbors, including Fishers Island and Manhattan (below), where they visited last week.