Friday and Saturday evenings, Proctor’s theater department presents Beauty and the Beast in the Wilkins Meeting House. The Disney classic adapted for the stage features well known songs, plenty of drama, and wonderful comedic timing by members of the cast. For seniors Cope Makechnie (Belle), Jay Piere (Lumiere), Addie Lindley (Babette), Grey Bechok (Maurice), Cyrus Davis, Matt Arruda, Drew Childs, and Jacqui Morris this weekend provides one final opportunity to share their talents on stage!
Since its earliest days, Proctor’s passion for skiing and snowsports has pulsed through its veins. Known as the “School on Skis” throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Proctor’s commitment to snowsports has continued to grow through significant investments in both infrastructure and program over the past decade. The award winning Proctor Ski Area, an on-campus, FIS certified alpine and Nordic race venue with full-snowmaking, serves as home base for more than 150 snowsport athletes each winter, including Proctor’s elite USSA alpine program. Proctor is now proud to announce it has been awarded Podium Certification at the Bronze level by U.S. Ski and Snowboard!
During a visit to the Dartmouth Entrepreneurship (DEN) for Project Period, Dartmouth’s Director of Entrepreneurship,Jamie Coughlin, described innovation and entrepreneurship as THE 21st century skill students must possess as they enter the workforce. Over the past three years, Proctor has taken Jamie’s advice and run with it through the development of new courses in Social Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship, the adaptation of existing courses to focus heavily on hands-on innovation projects, and the introduction of semi-annual Innovation Nights to showcase student projects each fall and spring.
This spring’s weather has created significant challenges for Proctor’s tennis and golf teams. The rain (and even snow) haven’t stopped boys’ varsity tennis, girls’ varsity tennis, and varsity golf squads from competing, and winning, against the Lakes Region’s finest. Both boys’ varsity tennis and golf boast undefeated records, while girls’ varsity tennis holds a 5-2 record, as teams head into their respective Lakes Region Tournaments Wednesday afternoon. We were able to catch up with team captains and seniors to reflect on their success this spring.
Proctor's Mountain Classroom program set our sights on Salina, KS as we departed South Dakota. We visited The Land Institute to learn about their plant breeding programs as a part of our food systems curriculum. From Salina, we drove due east to Green Sulphur Springs, WV where we hiked into the hills for our wilderness solos.
Dave Pilla was talking about this in a report to the board of trustees last weekend when he and two of his students, Eliza Orne and Kevin Barry, talked about the stewardship of Proctor’s lands. The concept of thinking seven generations into the future (about 140 years) is attributed the Iroquois laws. It’s about the ripple of today’s decisions, about caring for more than a moment. If we cut this stand of white pine, what’s the impact? If we plant chestnut trees at Elbow, how does the next generation benefit? Or the generation after that? This concept may not have the currency it should in today’s ‘now’ world, but I had the chance this week to spend Wednesday with three individuals, who over a significant portion of the school’s history, helped set the course of Proctor, shaped its arc, and ensured that actions of the past would ripple into the future in positive ways. These are seven-generation thinkers.
As the year comes to an end and we prepare to watch the Class of 2017 head off to their many college destinations, we are always conflicted. Where is she going to college? Did he get off the waiting list at so-and-so University? Why do we do this? We cannot help ourselves. We have read the articles by Frank Bruni, analysed the data showing the lack of correlation between elite schools and economic success, and the longitudinal studies showing that happiness cannot be ranked by US News and World Report.
I think that I speak for all of us when I say I was a little hesitant to travel to Lisbon, Portugal. After studying the language for a handful of days, the only thing I could confidently say was "Uma mulheres esta nadando" (the women are swimming) and "ola!" (Hello!). Soon though, when our plane our plane flew over Lisbon and started to descend and touch down, all my worries about the language flew away and I was left with excitement and anticipation for the week ahead of me.
