The Buzz

Mountain Classroom camped in Malibu with Mountain Classroom alumna Christine Walshe ‘97. Malibu put us within striking distance of Los Angeles for a couple day immersion in Japanese American history. We spent our first day taiko drumming at Asano Taiko U.S., and then the next day was devoted to exploring Little Tokyo where we visited the Japanese American National Museum and enjoyed bowls of ramen. Our curricula were grounded in excerpts from Snow Falling on Cedars in English and A Different Mirror on Japanese Internment Camps in social studies. From Malibu we drove north to Arroyo Hondo where we met Gabriel, who facilitated a workshop on how to kill and butcher a goat.

Proctor Academy's boys' hockey, girls' basketball, and boys' basketball teams have earned the opportunity to play in the NEPSAC Tournament for their respective classes this week. Each of the teams will play their NEPSAC Quarterfinal game at a neutral site on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 PM as they seek a run at a New England championship. Read on for details on each of the teams and their tournament chances and links to Livestream video of games!

With NEPSAC playoffs still on the horizon for a number of our varsity athletic teams, and ski races continuing well into March break, we have not yet quite arrived at the official end of the winter athletic season. Despite this staggered end to the season, Thursday evenings team gatherings and Friday morning's assembly recognized individual award winners from winter sport teams. Congratulations to all of this season's award winners, and many thanks to all of the coaches, athletic department staff, and Proctor Ski Area crew for making this winter season a success! 

The warmth of the last couple of days, the cascade of snow melt off roofs, the pooling of puddles, the coils of mud from boots and tires speak to the change. Jackets are left behind; t-shirts are worn at the ski hill. It feels like a warm April stretch, not the third week in February. This weather change has resulted in the collection tank being muscled out of the barn and into the bed of the woods truck on Thursday. It has pushed Dave Pilla to start hooking up the collecting lines, hanging buckets, tapping trees. The sugar season is here.

Proctor's Arts Department presents The Foreigner written by American playwright, Larry Shue, and directed by Jen Summers as its winter production. The hilarious story lines follow equally powerful themes of racism, identity, and injustice as two British visitors spend time at a rural Georgia fishing lodge. Kudos to Proctor's cast and crew for putting on a tremendous show, and for fully embracing the depth of the content within the production. Enjoy this review of the play and be sure to reserve your tickets for this weekend's performances (see link at the bottom of this post)! 

I was very excited for our excursion to Barcelona, which ended up being one of my favorites. At this point in the term, I feel adjusted to the Spanish schedule and culture, and find myself feeling more and more at home with each day that passes. While I do miss being able to understand everything being said around me, it’s becoming easier to have day-to-day interactions, whether it’s buying a coffee at a cafe or going up to a stranger to pet their dog, which happens a lot.

Mountain Classroom left Arizona bound for San Ysidro, CA, which is the busiest international border crossing in the world with more than 17 million vehicles and 50 million people crossing each year. Patty Pond, our Mountain Classroom Director, joined us for the weekend organized by Centro Romero’s Carlos Correa Bernierand Dan Romero. We spent our time learning about the nuances of life in the border region through the perspectives of a local police officer, border patrol agents, and individuals who immigrated to the US. At the end of Alfie's '18 blog below you will read about Santiago from Venezuela who just started a "FundMe" campaign to which we hope you will consider supporting. In addition, throughout the term we have been challenging ourselves physically with our daily morning exercise. This weekend our training culminated with all of us running a 10K in San Diego. 

The longest and often most challenging of our three trimesters is nearing its completion with just four class days remaining before final exams and the reward of a two week Spring Break. Not only does our latitude limit our daylight during the winter months, but a shift in academic schedule to accommodate the 50% of students participating in snow sports creates inconsistencies in the academic week that unintentionally silos our community when we need each other most.