With back to back home games to kick off the 2021 season, Proctor’s varsity football program has been front and center this fall. Opening wins over Portsmouth Abbey (31-7) and Canterbury School (19-17) have the Hornets off to a tremendous start to the season. Relying on veteran leadership and new talent, Head Coach Ben Rulli is optimistic about what this group of young people can do as they grow together both on and off the field.
As educators, we engage daily in the unending balancing act of providing our students a sense of freedom and a sense of connection. While the pendulum of independence swings back and forth within a culture depending on the prevailing norms of the time, what we know at Proctor is that the adolescent brain biologically craves independence, and yet is only able to pursue that independence when surrounded by a nurturing community.
How many schools have a Cross Country course that winds along a beautiful river, through FIS homologated Nordic trails at a privately owned and operated ski area, and then opens into a field of sunflowers? Our guess is none. And yet this is the scenery that welcomes Proctor’s Cross Country team each day. After a year of mini-meets due to COVID-19, runners and coaches are thrilled to be back among the masses at this fall’s full league meets. With a Lakes Region meet Wednesday afternoon at the Proctor Ski Area, we caught up with senior Colin Shaver ‘22 and coaches Sarah Daney and Scott King to hear about this year’s squad and their goals for the season ahead.
As we begin the third week of classes, we remind ourselves that it is often that which we experience outside of the traditional classroom that has the greatest impact. This is what we seek to do at Proctor. To get proximate to our learning. To feel it with all five of our senses, and then to take that learning with us into our lives beyond the official end of the class block.
Shrouded in clouds and misty skies, the rigging of the Harvey Gamage framed the backdrop of Boston’s skyline to the west of Moakley Dock. Flapping aloft was a well worn Proctor flag, the same flag that flew above Gamage decades ago when it first hosted Proctor students. Each of the 28 send-offs for Ocean Classroom has been different, each special in its own way. While final hugs between the twenty-one students and their families could not happen due to COVID-19 protocols, the excitement and anticipation of the voyage ahead was evident.
The ramp up to student arrival can feel prolonged, but when we finally have our entire community together for that first assembly of the school year, it is electric.
Proctor Academy is delighted to announce a shift in fall 2021 Ocean Classroom programming aboard the Harvey Gamage of Sailing Ships Maine. For the past 28 years, Proctor’s term-long Ocean Classroom program has exposed high school students to the joys and challenges of life at sea, with the World Ocean School and its schooner Roseway serving as a key partner in providing the Ocean Classroom experience for the past seven years. Due to an unexpected turn of events, Roseway is unable to host Proctor’s Ocean Classroom experience this fall. Proctor made a rapid shift to partner with Sailing Ships Maine and the Harvey Gamage for the fall trimester program.
