If you ask Proctor alumni to describe the most profound experience of their lives, they will most likely discuss a memory from one of Proctor’s five off-campus programs. Over the past five years, Proctor has expanded its off-campus experience to include two-week long summer service trips around the world. This summer Proctor will sponsor two Summer Service Trips: Guatemala and Rosebud, South Dakota. Learn more about these remarkable experiences below!
The notion of project based learning was the catalyst for Proctor’s revitalization in the early 1970's when newly appointed Head of School David Fowler, Assistant Head of School Chris Norris, and many others drove the school in a new and exciting direction. For the past forty years, Proctor has led the educational world in experimenting with student-centered, project-based learning, and has developed rich school culture that intuitively embraces the core principals of student-centered learning. We understand, however, that we must never become complacent with our teaching practices, and must continue to identify new and exciting ways to bring real world problem solving into the daily life of of our students. In order to do this, we must spend intentional time BEING students.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day with our friends and families, we pause to express our gratitude for everyone in our Proctor Family! While the members of our immediate community on campus change every year, so much of what we aim to do at Proctor stays the same. Enjoy the video below as a reminder of who we were, who we are, and who we will always be!
San Juan, Puerto Rico… November 19th… The end of Ocean Classroom Voyage 2016… As these students leave Roseway and fly back to their families, there is a range of emotions. There is incredible happiness in reconnecting with their parents, siblings and friends. There is also an element of sadness in leaving the ship that has been their home for the past nine weeks. There is a feeling of accomplishment; an inner knowledge that each one of them has done something special.
When I first applied to Proctor en Segovia, I did not realize that Segovia was just one small part of a much greater experience. It was not until I actually arrived in Spain that I became aware of the journey I was about to embark on. I came to the realization that Proctor en Segovia is just the title of the program, and it acts as a large doorway.
Over the past few days, we've highlighted different members of the community who make a quiet, but powerful impact on our day to day lives at Proctor. Today we express our gratitude for the type of parents Proctor attracts: innovative, trusting, adventuresome, outside the box thinkers who wholeheartedly empower their child to suck the marrow out of the Proctor experience.
Sometimes trying to wrap it into an essay is too limiting. Sometimes it is helpful to sit down, list, and skip the culling into paragraphs. Yes, it’s messier, the untended list. It’s a bramble and kudzu filled garden, more difficult to navigate, but this week, following Scott’s blogs posts on thankfulness, I look to moments that have triggered my gratitude over the last seven days. I often worry that in our rush to the next, the whatever next, the beautiful rustle of these moments pass unnoticed. A mistake. We should let these good moments touch us. We should slow down, look around, and actually build our gratitude lists. It takes practice, sometimes work, but it yields moments that nourish hope and optimism, moments that ground the spirit. My list from the last seven days:
Every community is full of unsung heroes whose work is often outside of the spotlight, but nonetheless essential to the overall operations of a complex organization like Proctor. The efforts of Proctor’s Technology team, Housekeeping Department, and Maintenance Department have been the focus of the last three days in our Week of Thankfulness. Today our attention shifts to those individuals who serve in administrative support roles around campus.
