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After a long day of traveling from Segovia to Madrid, then hopping on a train for three hours, we got to the Sagrada Familia, a Basilica in Barcelona. This massive building has been under construction for 131 years. This Basilica is predicted to be finished around 2026. The architect was named Gaudí; his main goal was to make up for people's sins and connect them closer to God.
We tend to look up, eyes drawn to the skyline, the geometry of rooflines, the arc of hills against the horizon, the splash of stars across the night sky. The beauty, the majesty, it’s up ahead. We coach our players to keep their head up, to work to see the whole of the playing field, to anticipate. Maybe in golf or baseball you keep your head down, but that’s only temporary. Your eyes immediately rise after you hit the ball: how far will it travel? Sand trap or fairway? Base hit or triple? Maybe this proclivity to always look up is instinctual, an ingrained alertness to see what’s coming, to prepare and protect.
Proctor’s Ocean Classroom program has arrived in Norfolk, Virginia after waiting out the remnants of Hurricane Michael on Fishers Island in the Long Island Sound. As the group continues their journey down the eastern seaboard, students gain more and more responsibility running the daily operations aboard Roseway. Read the past week’s Ship’s Logs and check out photos and video from Ocean Classroom 2018 below!
On any given day, we ask our students to manage a remarkable amount of independence. They are expected to monitor sleep hygiene, get to class on time, choose to engage with or lead clubs, eat a balanced diet, complete homework assignments, attend extra help, not to mention prepare for competition and performances each afternoon. The life of a boarding school student is complex, which is why Proctor has launched a performance initiative that seeks to identify ways to support our students’ optimal performance in the classroom, on the athletic field, and in their daily lives.
With November 6 quickly approaching, the word ‘midterms’ sparks an immediate reaction: an opportunity to change course. Operating on a trimester system, Proctor has officially passed the midpoint in the Fall Term, and with that achievement, numeric and effort grades have been assigned in each course. Last weekend’s parent/teacher conferences afforded a valuable check-in on each student, and today’s release of mid-term grades should reinforce the larger dialogue around each student’s growth.
Claude Monet understood the reality that the world never stops moving as he captured moments in time with a slight blur, the movement within the moment we too often miss. Possessing the same root, the difference between a moment and momentum lies in our own desire to isolate a single period of time rather than appreciate all that is happening around that specific moment.
Proctor Academy's Ocean Classroom program enters their third week (of nine) at sea as they arrived in New Bedford, MA earlier this week. Be sure to follow their adventures with daily Ship's Log entries at the World Ocean School's website, as well as in the student journal entries in the blog post below. Enjoy!
Every year at Proctor is wholly new, yet remarkably familiar. The faces of students change over time, both as they mature and as the natural turnover of the student body every four years introduces new, eager minds ready to embark on their Proctor experience. While Proctor is not a school steeped in tradition, there are some rituals that occur each year at the same time, including the annual ninth grade hike to the Proctor Cabin.
