The Buzz

As residents of a swing-state, we are keenly aware of how protracted this political cycle has been. For the past two years we have seen nothing but political ads on television, a consistent view of lawn signs populating in our peripheral vision as we drive to away games, and a far-too-present rhetoric on social media that ignores common manners and unjustly links the value of an individual to his or her political beliefs. While we are all anxious for the political noise to fade into the background, we are thankful for the learning opportunities the election season provides.

Proctor’s boys’ varsity soccer team is putting the finishing touches on one of its strongest seasons in recent history. With a record of 9-4-1 heading into its season finale with Tilton School on Wednesday, Head Coach Ian Hamlet’s squad has positioned itself well for a NEPSAC postseason berth for the first time in more than fifteen years. Hamlet and two-year captain Caleb Green ‘17 (Londonderry, NH) share reflections on the season in this week’s team spotlight.

After an historic stop in Havana, Proctor's Ocean Classroom program is on its way to St. Croix and the final leg of its nine week journey. With just two weeks remaining in the voyage, students now have full responsibility for day-to-day operations aboard the schooner Roseway. Enjoy student reflections in this week's blog! 

Rain soaked the campus, and I cross the street in a mid-day downpour and noticed the Circle K wrapper. Soggy, dirt-speckled, floppy litter on the side of Route 11, so I reached to pick it up. What drives this impulse? What makes us care in this manner? To pick up after others, to tend to the place where we live? Over the course of this week I have been in several conversations about community and care, about how to nurture this impulse and how to better instill it. What can we do to better take care the Wise, Slocumb, the Brown Dining Commons, or the Adirondack shelter up at Mud Pond? Or that which is beyond Proctor? How do we awaken this instinct?

When Ilyena Kozain graduated from Proctor in 2010, returning to work in Proctor’s Admissions office and starting a crew program at her alma mater were as far from her imagination as possible. During a successful academic and athletic career at Union College Ilyena was a three-year captain of the Union Crew team and earned the distinction of taking part in the Minerva Fellows program before spending a year working at the Engeye Health Clinic in Uganda. Since her return to Proctor last fall, Ilyena has transferred the lessons she learned by trying a new sport in college to a group of Proctor students eager to not only learn about the sport of rowing, but to take on new challenges that require teamwork like any other sport.  

The image of Roseway sailing into Havana Harbor, with Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta to starboard and Castilo De Los Tres Reyes Del Morro to port was a truly powerful moment for Proctor Academy and our Ocean Classroom Program. For the first time in over 57 years, an authentic US Tall Ship sailed into Havana Harbor, and our students were able to be a part of this historic day. While there has been much press around the event, I was immediately reminded that the human-side of this story is far more powerful than the political-side, and in the end, it is the human-side that matters most for our students and their educational journey.

Throughout the year, we will share stories featured in the 2016 Proctor Magazine online. Enjoy this feature on Bob Merriam '41!

I have been in Chicago since Wednesday and flew back Friday afternoon. These are wild times in the windy city. Chicago hasn’t won the World Series since 1908 and Cubs regalia can be found on every street, white “W” towels and flags are ubiquitous, and people whisper about tickets. Who has them? How did they get them? They sell for thousands of dollars. There are whispers of forty- thousand dollars for a seat. A seat. Bars out near Rigley Field plan to charge a 200 dollars cover on game day. For that price you get to watch the game on a television close to the ballpark. That’s it. The lions outside the Art Institute of Chicago wear big, blue Cubs hats perched on their majestic heads. Clearly this city wants to roar. Is roaring hard.