Proctor’s boys varsity hockey team is just three games into their thirty game schedule, losing two early season tilts due to COVID-19 protocols with other teams. Two of those three games ended on last second game winners against tough Lakes Region opponents. For this group of young, determined, hard-working athletes, the journey that lies ahead is one filled with unrealized potential. Four games at the Lawrence/Groton Holiday Tournament await the team this weekend, but before they hit the ice, we caught up with Maks Watton ‘23, Jack Robinson '22, and goaltender Donald McCarthy ‘22 for this week’s Team Spotlight. 

We have a pile of puzzle pieces on a shelf in our living room that have evaded our children’s not-so-careful clean up methodologies. This little pile makes me sad each time I see it. So many puzzles that may never feel “complete”. Even when 499 of the 500 pieces of a puzzle fit together, our focus immediately goes to that one missing piece with an outsized impact on the whole. The same can be said for a school community like Proctor’s. It is only when all individuals within a school are pursuing their purpose that we begin to feel that unique energy of potential being realized.

After a year of pandemic athletics, Proctor's fall athletic teams were anxious to take to the fields and trails. Boasting the best combined record Proctor athletics has seen in a number of years, including NEPSAC tournament bids by both girls varsity soccer and varsity field hockey, teams across the board worked hard, improved, bonded as teams, and represented Proctor well both on and off the field. Core to the success of our athletic programs this fall was the tireless work of coaches and Athletic Department staff.  

Each week Lindsey Allenby captures smiles around campus between classes, heading into or coming out of assembly, and on the way to lunch that we then post on Flickr and our social media channels. When students see the camera, there is this gravitational pull toward their friends and in an instant smiles emerge. While we know parents love seeing photos of their children smiling, there are far deeper benefits to the simple act of smiling.

As we dive into this second week of the Winter Term, we feel ourselves rediscovering the comfortable routine of our classes, advisory groups, meals, practices, and extra help sessions. The first week of each term is spent settling into campus routines. Classes often have slightly different rosters, dorm compositions have shifted, new personalities introduced and social dynamics must evolve. 

Proximate learning does not occur without risk, but it is in those moments where students are living their education alongside the issues they are studying that world views are transformed.

As the snow guns blaze at the Proctor Ski Area in anticipation of our students returning to campus, Proctor’s USS/FIS Eastern Ski program continues their two week training camp at Panorama Resort in Panorama, British Columbia. 

Professional Development days at Proctor look little like they might for a public school faculty simply because the spectrum of responsibilities extends well beyond the classroom. For most teaching faculty, time in the classroom represents only half of their job as they are also advisors, coaches, and dorm parents. Within all of these roles, our core responsibility remains focused on our mission of valuing the individual and recognizing the potential of each member of our community to stretch beyond what they had thought possible.