On the same evening as our beloved New England Patriots convincingly won the AFC Championship over the Pittsburgh Steelers 36-17, we welcomed Eric Barthold back to campus to speak with faculty, student leadership, male athletes, and our ninth grade boys about redefining masculinity in today’s society.
We are officially more than halfway through the school year as mid-term grades were published earlier this week. In isolation, these numerical assessments of student performance provide a narrow view of student growth. This is why Proctor’s academic model integrates feedback loops (through our Official Notes system) that provide students consistent feedback not only on academic performance, but the growth process.
On Monday, we gathered as a community to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. alongside guest speaker Dr. Derrick Gay. Together, we continued the never-ending work of understanding our own identities within the constructs of a global society. As we engaged in a series of activities centered around our exploration of self, we worked to understand our blind spots and to better understand, and acknowledge, alternate perspectives.
Proctor Academy’s boys’ varsity basketball team is off to a 7-2 start as it nears the midway point in its season. As a member of NEPSAC Class AA, the Hornets compete in arguably the nation’s strongest basketball league. After narrowly missing last year’s NEPSAC tournament, this senior-laden group is doing everything in its power to make sure it earns a chance to compete for a NEPSAC championship come the first week of March.
The work of Proctor’s English Department, specifically American Literature students, will take center stage Thursday night at the Annual Hays' Speaking Prize. While this is certainly the most public display of work by students, these speeches are just the tip of the iceberg of the learning take place in the lower floor of Maxwell Savage Hall.
Last week, marketing guru Seth Godin published a blog entitled “The Awareness Threshold”. He discussed the seven step process through which people move from being unaware of an idea to awareness, to categorizing the idea based on our life experience, to forming an opinion, to experiencing the idea, to forming of a new opinion, and eventually to sharing that new opinion with others. This intellectual journey occurs daily as we learn about world events, political happenings, and new technological discoveries.
Shifting back to a regular schedule following vacation never is easy. We are incredibly fortunate to have spent the last two weeks living life at a slower pace as we enjoyed time with family and friends around the holidays. As we scroll through our social media feed this morning and see friends outside of our Proctor bubble complaining about returning to work, we are reminded how fortunate we are to live and work in a boarding school environment. Our transition back to work does not sacrifice family time, but rather expands it as we welcome students back into our lives after a two-week hiatus.
There are countless moments that define a school year. We try to capture as many as possible on video in order to share them with those in our greater Proctor Family. As 2016 winds down and we gear up for all that 2017 has in store for us, we share with you the Top 10 most viewed videos of 2016. Many thanks, as always, to the talented Ethney McMahon P'16, '20 for sharing her videography and editing talents with our team. Enjoy!
