The steady stream of prospective families through our Admissions Office over the past month resulted in a 20% increase in October tours over our five year average. While a far-too-early indicator of enrollment numbers for the 2020-2021 school year, it is a data point. There’s something intriguing about this random school plopped on 2,500 acres in the Blackwater River valley between Ragged Mountain and Mount Kearsarge. So what is it? Why are families interested in Proctor when all of the data shared by the Enrollment Management Association (EMA) and TABS on independent boarding school enrollment trend the opposite direction? 

The Proctor football program has a long and storied history of success, including three undefeated seasons in the last decade. With expectations high once again for the 2019 campaign, the team is holding true to the winning tradition of Proctor football well known throughout New England as the team boasts a 5-1 record heading into the final two games of the regular season.

Browse the news and it does not take long to recognize the current struggle we have as a society to honor the humanity of the other. A culture of polarization encourages us to seek opportunities for division, to highlight our differences rather than the bonds we share as a human race. As powerful as these voices of despair feel, they pale in comparison to the joy we experience when we actually spend time playing alongside others. Today, we made a powerful step toward unity as we welcomed our friends from Special Olympics New Hampshire to Proctor’s sixth annual Special Olympics Fun Day. 

When we pause long enough to listen, to truly listen, we can softly hear purpose as the background music to our journey through life. We begin to piece together good out of bad and recenter ourselves on that which holds the deepest meaning in our lives. 

Begun in the fall of 2014 by Ilyena Kozain '10, Proctor's crew team enters its fifth season on the water. With twenty students involved in the program, Proctor's boats are rowing as fast as ever. The cold waters of Lake Sunapee, the team's home training venue, and countless blisters are a price worth paying for the beautiful scenery, wildlife encounters, and endless supply of stories that emerge as the season unfolds.

Traipse through the New England woods long enough and you will run across old stone walls bisecting a dense forest. Follow those walls and you will likely find an old cellar hole. Once a home, these remnants transport you to a different era when Proctor’s 2,500 acres were clear cut pasture sprinkled with farms of hardworking men, women, and children scraping a living off the rocky soil. An era when connection was found through human interaction, walking to your neighbor’s home to help bring in the hay, share a meal, repair a wagon. An era when it was acceptable to care deeply about those walking through life with you to show your emotional investment in their well-being. 

Fall Family Weekend 2019 kicks off with the 29th Annual Proctor Invitational Golf Tournament at Lake Sunapee Country Club Thursday morning, followed by an open house at Mike and Betsy’s home for all parents later that evening. On Friday, parents are invited to attend two classes followed by all-school assembly, athletic practices, and Parent/Teacher conferences before a two Friday evening games. On Saturday morning, boarding families and day families are invited to gather for socializing and breakfast in the Brown Dining Commons before Parent/Teacher conferences and athletic contests round out the weekend. Parents, click below for a complete schedule for Fall Family Weekend and read on for advice on how we believe you can get the most out of the weekend ahead.

Perhaps my voice is not the right one for this blog post. It’s a voice that did not choose the situation I was born into, but most certainly has benefited from it. A voice that has only recently started to grapple with the privilege my family experiences. A voice that will unlikely know what it feels like to walk through daily life with an experience other than that of the majority. A voice that harbors guilt for this privilege, yet is reluctant to give it up.