Bahia de Kino in Sonora, Mexico was home to Mountain Classroom for the past week. These videos will give you a taste of our adventures as we spent our time in the water developing kayaking skills, snorkeling, and admiring dolphins and sea lions! Our reading for classes was varied and focused on the local Comcaac tribe, wild foods, diabetes in Mexico, and Steinbeck's The Pearl. Now we are heading out of communication for the next week on solo at the Cascabel Conservation Association.
After a slow start to the season, Tuesday’s fresh snowfall provided perfect conditions for Proctor’s Nordic ski team to host a NEPSAC race at the Proctor Ski Area Wednesday afternoon. With a roster full of newcomers to the sport, this season has been a learning experience for all involved as the team has worked together to get the most out of its training sessions, to learn the basics of the sport, and to prepare its veteran racers for success in the Lakes Region League.
Watching games last Friday and Saturday in the gym and the rink – basketball and hockey –players pivoted, sprinted, shifted from offense to defense, worked to set up and break up plays, communicated with each other through eye contact, gestures, and position. Sometimes a call, a shout, and when the timing clicked all was flow. Effortless on the surface. Professional. Sports are a natural setting (not the only setting) for collaboration to blossom, for different strengths to fuse together to create team, where the critical lesson of transition is taught. And given this week highlights transition on a national scale, where we witness the transition from one administration to the next, it’s in the back of our collective minds.
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.
Three years ago, when I was having hot chocolate at a café in France, enjoying the relaxed and romantic ambiance, I knew I wanted to come back. European Art Classroom definitely became one of the strongest reasons that I love Proctor.
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.
