When Cope ‘17, Jay ‘17, Carl ‘17, and Cros ‘17 began singing “A Prayer for the Children” during Sunday afternoon’s vocal music ensemble recital, it felt as though someone pressed the pause button on life. Their impassioned voices carried the words off the page and into the hearts of the seventy-five parents and community members in attendance. “Can you feel the hearts of the children? / Aching for home, for something of their very own / Reaching hands, with nothing to hold on to, / But hope for a better day a better day.”

For the past ten weeks, Proctor's athletes and coaches have invested blood, sweat, and tears into their respective sports and afternoon activities. As with every season, the Fall Term was filled with ups and downs, triumphs and disappointments, but through every experience is an undercurrent of commitment and learning. On Thursday evening and in assembly on Friday, the community recognized those teams and athletes whose commitment, ability, and leadership were essential to a successful season. While we highlight individual award winners in this post, each member of each afternoon activity should be proud of his or her effort this fall. Congratulations to everyone! 

On Tuesday evening, five classes joined together to host Proctor’s annual Fall Innovation Night in the Wise Center while a bitter national election took place outside the Proctor bubble. Students from Engineering, Environmental Biology, AP Environmental Studies, US History, and Social Entrepreneurship showcased their final projects to the whole community through an open house atmosphere followed by individual presentations for each group throughout Maxwell Savage Hall. Innovative learning and student-led projects have long been core to Proctor’s academic curriculum, and Innovation Night allows much of that work to be shared with the entire community.

As residents of a swing-state, we are keenly aware of how protracted this political cycle has been. For the past two years we have seen nothing but political ads on television, a consistent view of lawn signs populating in our peripheral vision as we drive to away games, and a far-too-present rhetoric on social media that ignores common manners and unjustly links the value of an individual to his or her political beliefs. While we are all anxious for the political noise to fade into the background, we are thankful for the learning opportunities the election season provides.

Proctor’s boys’ varsity soccer team is putting the finishing touches on one of its strongest seasons in recent history. With a record of 9-4-1 heading into its season finale with Tilton School on Wednesday, Head Coach Ian Hamlet’s squad has positioned itself well for a NEPSAC postseason berth for the first time in more than fifteen years. Hamlet and two-year captain Caleb Green ‘17 (Londonderry, NH) share reflections on the season in this week’s team spotlight.

When Ilyena Kozain graduated from Proctor in 2010, returning to work in Proctor’s Admissions office and starting a crew program at her alma mater were as far from her imagination as possible. During a successful academic and athletic career at Union College Ilyena was a three-year captain of the Union Crew team and earned the distinction of taking part in the Minerva Fellows program before spending a year working at the Engeye Health Clinic in Uganda. Since her return to Proctor last fall, Ilyena has transferred the lessons she learned by trying a new sport in college to a group of Proctor students eager to not only learn about the sport of rowing, but to take on new challenges that require teamwork like any other sport.  

Throughout the year, we will share stories featured in the 2016 Proctor Magazine online. Enjoy this feature on Bob Merriam '41!

Each day we are reminded that while we often live in a bubble at Proctor Academy there is so much more depth to the world around us. Regular blog posts from Ocean Classroom, Mountain Classroom, European Art Classroom, Proctor in Costa Rica, and Proctor en Segovia help us emerge from the Proctor bubble as we watch peers explore the world and all its complexities.  Similarly, our involvement with Special Olympics and opportunities afforded us through Project Period further expose our students and faculty to a much broader world than our geography would otherwise allow. While Ocean Classroom made its historic entry into Havana Harbor, Proctor welcomed Julie Marner, Executive Director of Burundi Friends International, and Fabrice Bizimana, a native of Burundi and former student of Julie’s, to campus. Over the course of their four days at Proctor and Dartmouth College, Julie and Fabrice provided invaluable insights into the people and culture of Burundi, all while allowing us to live and learn outside our bubble.